Hearts that bleed Green and Gold are heavy with sorrow as Wisconsin's favorite adopted son leaves to lead the NY Jets. For 16 seasons Brett Favre has been the one constant every gameday. No longer will Gary Knaflec be able to say when introducing the Packer offense "and at quaterback from Southern Mississippi,#4 Brett Favre". You would have to be a hermit to not know what has been going on the past few weeks. It even made national news some nights. The thing I want to know and I'm sure most every Packer fan wants to know is "how could this have happened?" I have some interesting thoughts on this subject. I think Ted Thompson was eager to put his stamp solely on this team. And Brett was the legacy of his mentor Ron Wolf. You have to wonder if people had said to him "Boy, are you lucky Brett was here when you got this job". For those of you not buying this theory, think again. Ted was a frustrated 2nd string linebacker who really didn't amount to much in his brief playing career. He was a special teamer more than a regular every down player. Linebackers have a general disdain for quarterbacks. They think they're protected pretty boys who get most of the glory. I like a lot of the moves Thompson has made to make this team respectable again, but I think pride got in his way. Remember, Aaron Rodgers was HIS 1st round draft pick. He also must have wanted to get out of Ron Wolf's shadow and establish himself. Brett was Wolf's qb. How could he say this was HIS team when he didn't pick the field general?  Is putting one's stamp on a team more important than what is best for the team?

I also blame Brett for not handling this better. If you read my last article you know I ripped Favre pretty good for not speaking for himself. We heard from everybody else. Family, friends, ex-teammates, and any cable sports guy you could think of. What if Brett had called his own press conference and laid it all out there for everyone to see? If the fans would have heard directly from the man himself maybe there wouldn't be all the hurt feelings. Maybe there wouldn't have been all this miscommunication.I know I feel betrayed. This is a guy who always shot from the hip in life as well as games. But he hid behind other people's words.

The two guys I feel sorry for in all this mess is Coach McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers. McCarthy was caught between a rock (Thompson) and a hard place (Favre). Mike could have been selfish and said he thought Brett was the guy and had his full support. But Coach knew that the wounds suffered by his quaterback were too deep and he couldn't put the rest of the team in the middle of this mess. As for Rodgers, he didn't ask to be a part of this soap opera. He didn't lobby McCarthy to let Brett go. He just wants to be given the opprotunity to lead this team. I give Aaron credit, he didn't whine or cry when Favre was reinstated. He just said if this is going to be an open competition let the best man win.

I have one thing to say to the fans. If you are really a Green Bay Packer fan then let up on Rodgers. He dosen't deserve your disdain and ill-will. We all knew that one day Favre would be gone. And last March he retired. Everyone was all behind Rodgers then. But then the waffling and the ensuing soap opera started. I was at family night last Sunday and when some of these so-called "fans " started booing Rodgers I felt sick to my stomach. To those people I say,ask yourselves this question " Am I a Packer fan or a Brett Favre fan?" At one time you could be both. And I believe that you still can be as long as you remember that from now on it's two different things. I know that I will always be a Favre fan. But if we had to play the Jets, first and foremost I'd be a Packer fan. All I ask my friends is Never forget the past,but let's move on and back our Pack.

One last thing before I close. If you have never been to Packer Family Night you don't know what you're missing. My son Ray was able to get us tickets through his employer and we had a ball. It was a great thing for me to witness the looks on the faces of my son, his girlfriend Karen, and my wife Carol as they saw Lambeau in person for the first time. I've been there 3 times now and I'm still in awe of this magical place. I don't like to agree with John Madden often but he's right. He has always said that if there is a Cathedral to Pro Football, it 's Lambeau Field.

Well that's all for now gang. This was a long one but, an important one. The pre-season kicks off for the faithfull this Monday night against the Cinncinnati Inmates, ooop, I meant Bengals. So let's all be true fans and get behind Aaron and the guys.