Gil Brandt on The Pack - Enjoy !!!

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Rich history, solid foundation in Green Bay


By Gil Brandt
NFL.com Senior Analyst


GREEN BAY, WIS. (Aug. 17, 2006) -- The Packers may be the most unique franchise in sports today.

The team is called the Packers because Acme Meat Packing Company was the original sponsor of the team in 1919.

The 1919 team scored 565 points and gave up 12 in a 10-1 season. Six of the points given up resulted in the team's only loss, 6-0.


The tradition of children sharing their bicycles with Packers players has gone on for some time.
On Aug. 18, 1923, the Packers became a publicly owned non-profit corporation. Today, a total of 4,750,925 shares are owned by 111,967 stockholders. The shares have some voting power but they pay no dividends; they just look nice mounted on your wall!

Lambeau Field, where the team has played since 1957, was built for $960,000. Renovation started in 2001 and completed 32 months later cost over $295 million.

There are 71,500 names on the season-ticket waiting list.

Over 100,000 people per year go through the Packers museum located in the atrium of the stadium. During the time that training camp takes place, an average of 1,200 people go through per day -- as many as 1,700 may visit the museum in a given day.

The team practices twice a day during training camp, so folks make a day of it. They go to the morning practice, then head back over to the stadium to check out the museum and store before going back to the practice field for afternoon practice.

The Green Bay Packers team store located in the stadium sold $7 million worth of Packers merchandise last year alone. And they've got everything in there -- definitely something for everybody.

Everywhere you look at Packers training camp you see history. The indoor practice facility is called the Don Hutson Center, for the great wide receiver. A restaurant in the atrium of Lambeau Field is called Curly's Pub -- after the coach who won so many games for the team.

A father will bring 6-7 kids out to the facility, and the kids will be all decked out in Packers gear, and you can just see the excitement. And these families are everywhere.

The now-famous bike rides by players on young folks' bikes started in the early 1960s and have continued for 45-plus years -- and they're still going strong.

For those who don't know, the practice field is across the street from the stadium -- maybe a block and a half -- and so a child will offer his bike to the player, the player will ride the bike, and the child will get to carry the player's helmet. It truly is one of the great scenes in all of sports.


Brett Favre and the Packers are hoping 2006 will be better than 2005.
The Packers will be a very interesting team this year. The team's defense improved statistically last year from the 2004 season and has added draft picks A.J. Hawk and Abdul Hodge, along with unrestricted free agent Charles Woodson -- who looks to be in great shape. Look for Hawk to become a future Pro Bowl player.

Five of the team's losses in 2005 were by three points or less.

On offense, the team needs a 2004-like performance from quarterback Brett Favre, who looks to be in great shape and seems to be moving and throwing like someone much younger than his age of 36.

Also returning after missing part of last season with injuries or contract problems are wide receiver Robert Ferguson, tight end Bubba Franks and running back Ahman Green. That should help an offense that ranked 18th overall in 2005.

Rookie wide receiver Greg Jennings will help the receiving corps, and he should also be a factor in the return game.

New head coach Mike McCarthy has come in and changed a lot of things, starting with the offseason program (including the weightlifting and several other aspects) and continuing on to the new offensive system, which is a West Coast offense that incorporates zone blocking by the offensive line. The defensive system under new coordinator Bob Sanders will be very much the same as 2004.

A priority for the team is to replace kicker Ryan Longwell, who left for Minnesota.

The team could easily win eight games this season if Favre rebounds -- and I think he will -- to his 2004 form.

Incidentally, coach McCarthy and I go back a long way to when he was a graduate assistant at the University of Pittsburgh and one of his first jobs that fall was to pick me up at the airport and take me to the team's workouts. What goes around comes around, as now I'm taking myself to his practices.

Trivia question: What famous college coach (still active) did Brett Favre win his first game against in college? (Answer at the bottom of the page.)

Brett Favre tidbits
1. Favre is the only player in NFL history to win the league MVP award three times (six players have won it twice).

2. Only three players in NFL history have more consecutive starts than Favre, with 221 (Jim Marshall, 270; **** Tingelhoff, 240; and Bruce Matthews, 229).

3. No one in NBA history has completed 10 consecutive years of starting with the same team.

4. Favre has had 34 game-winning comebacks and one tie for the Packers in bringing his team back in the fourth quarter.

5. Favre ranks third as a starting quarterback with 139 career wins. John Elway has 148 and Dan Marino has 147.

6. Favre needs four touchdown passes to become the second player in NFL history with 400 touchdown passes. Marino is No. 1 on the list with 420.

7. Favre needs 290 completions to become the all-time NFL leader. He currently has 4,678 and Marino is in first place with 4,967.

8. Favre needs 322 completions to become the first player in NFL history to reach 5,000 completions for a career.

9. Since Sept. 27, 1992, when he made his first start against Pittsburgh, Green Bay has won 139 games -- the most of any team during that time. Pittsburgh is second with 138.

10. Favre has thrown a touchdown pass in an NFL-record 16 consecutive playoff games (1995-2004).
 

packedhouse01

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Fabulous article. It kind of makes a person take stock of what Favre has accomplished in his career. He sure looked great last night. Let's hope that can continue. I'm still worried about that young offensive line and the kicking game still scares the heck out of me.
 

Packnic

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i see a lot of those records being broken this very year.


when Brett is numero uno on most of those list his name will forever be in the best qb of all time conversations.
 

packerfan4ever

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nice article packers are a great team,and i'm glad that we have alot of things the other teams dont have makes it kind of special :D
 

packerfan4ever

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nice article packers are a great team,and i'm glad that we have alot of things the other teams dont have makes it kind of special :D
 

NDPackerFan

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Raider Pride said:
Great article. I never knew about the bike tradition. That is amazing!

So what is the answer to the trivia question?

Also.... Number 3 has to be a typo right? NBA?

R.P.

Come on Raider, didn't you know Favre serves double-duty as the Milwaukee Bucks starting shooting guard? :lol:
 

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