TOPackerFan
Cheesehead
From Cliff Christl's blog:
"Green Bay - What happens if Koren Robinson kills somebody in Wisconsin driving drunk or fleeing the police?
Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson wore a smile late Monday afternoon as he prepared to meet the media in the Lambeau Field atrium to announce the signing of wide receiver and kick returner Koren Robinson. When that was the first question fired at Thompson following his brief introductory remarks, he turned ashen and somber as he tried to collect himself and provide an answer.
"Oh, I can't answer anything like that," Thompson said after a two-second pause. "There's issues in his past that obviously he's made some mistakes, but most of those issues are covered under the confidentiality of the NFL and the NFLPA. There's programs set up and that sort of thing, and that's where that lies."
Maybe if Thompson had given that potential tragedy some thought prior to that moment, he might have come to his senses and not been standing there. Because he hadn't, he should have answered, "The blood, or at least some splattering of it, will be on my hands."
Chilling?
You bet it's a chilling thought. When the local professional football team signs a player less than a month after he has been arrested for allegedly driving drunk at more than 100 miles an hour and refusing to stop for police, that is what should be foremost on the minds of the people of Wisconsin, most of whom are good, loyal fans of the Packers. We shouldn't be thinking about whether this troubled player can help this troubled team win an extra game or two.
This was a move that deserves no mercy when it comes to criticism and only a chilling look at what could be the most chilling consequences of it.
Maybe there's little risk if Robinson merely suffers a relapse with his alcohol addiction. But if that relapse leads to death, something that Thompson apparently viewed as the unthinkable, the damage done to the Packers will be tsunami-like.
Is Thompson really that stupid to risk the reputation, the kindred spirit and the good will that one of the most storied franchises in sports has built with its community and its fans over 80-some years?
Could Thompson not figure out beforehand that if Robinson goes astray in any way that gives the Packers a black eye he might erase almost all of the positive feelings that were created under his mentor, Ron Wolf, following the bleak 1980s, when the Packers were habitual losers both on and off the field?
Why didn't chief executive officer Bob Harlan, chief operating officer John Jones and the executive committee overrule Thompson in the case?
Is Harlan willing to risk his legacy during his final year in office on Koren Robinson not tarnishing the image of the franchise? Have the members of the committee completely lost their spine?
This is a player who has at least two strikes against him in the NFL's substance-abuse program. This is a player who has had repeated problems with alcohol over his six years in the league, perhaps leaving him on pace to become football's version of Steve Howe.
Yes, it's best if the executive committee doesn't interfere with football decisions. And, yes, it always has been pretty much a rubber stamp for whatever the general manager and coach want.
But this was more than just a football decision.
Again, and it can't be emphasized enough, this was a decision to sign a player who within the last month endangered lives in one of the most reckless ways possible.
A player who was released by the rival Minnesota Vikings because they no longer wanted to deal with the problems he created.
How many mothers and fathers, or any of you for that matter, want this player living in your neighborhood or driving your streets at night?
True enough, the National Football League isn't the Boy Scouts. It's automatically assumed that if a city has a franchise, it's going to be harboring players with arrest records, convictions, you name it.
If the Packers, or any other teams for that matter, limited itself to signing only good citizens, they couldn't compete in what some, in an attempt at dark humor, have called the National Felony League.
Nor would most people be naïve enough in these parts to believe that since the days of Johnny Blood there haven't been Packers going out at night, imbibing too much and driving. Probably most of us who live in this state, at least those of us 21 and older, have driven at some time or another after having too much to drink.
Had the Packers signed Randy Moss or Terrell Owens or any other malcontent or controversial figure, it would have drawn no quarrel here. The 1996 Super Bowl champs included players with troubled pasts. Andre Rison, Tyrone Williams, even Brett Favre come to mind.
But Robinson, at least for now, so soon after his most recent incident, can't offer anything but hollow promises that he'll get his life together and not repeat his senseless behavior that had him racing back to the Vikings' training camp in Mankato with an alleged 0.11 blood-alcohol content.
That's why Thompson and the Packers will be culpable for any calamities or tragedies that Robinson might bring to pass here. Under almost any other circumstances, it would be unfair to blame Thompson or the Packers for trouble caused by their players.
They're employers, not babysitters.
But they wouldn't deserve impunity in this case. They certainly couldn't plead ignorance.
The potential downside here so outweighs the potential gains that somebody, somewhere in the organization with any kind of authority should have had the good sense to speak up and short-circuit the move.
Then again, maybe that's why this team appears to be in a free fall and is even willing to once again risk becoming the squalor it was back in the days when no player symbolized it any better than Mossy Cade."
"Green Bay - What happens if Koren Robinson kills somebody in Wisconsin driving drunk or fleeing the police?
Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson wore a smile late Monday afternoon as he prepared to meet the media in the Lambeau Field atrium to announce the signing of wide receiver and kick returner Koren Robinson. When that was the first question fired at Thompson following his brief introductory remarks, he turned ashen and somber as he tried to collect himself and provide an answer.
"Oh, I can't answer anything like that," Thompson said after a two-second pause. "There's issues in his past that obviously he's made some mistakes, but most of those issues are covered under the confidentiality of the NFL and the NFLPA. There's programs set up and that sort of thing, and that's where that lies."
Maybe if Thompson had given that potential tragedy some thought prior to that moment, he might have come to his senses and not been standing there. Because he hadn't, he should have answered, "The blood, or at least some splattering of it, will be on my hands."
Chilling?
You bet it's a chilling thought. When the local professional football team signs a player less than a month after he has been arrested for allegedly driving drunk at more than 100 miles an hour and refusing to stop for police, that is what should be foremost on the minds of the people of Wisconsin, most of whom are good, loyal fans of the Packers. We shouldn't be thinking about whether this troubled player can help this troubled team win an extra game or two.
This was a move that deserves no mercy when it comes to criticism and only a chilling look at what could be the most chilling consequences of it.
Maybe there's little risk if Robinson merely suffers a relapse with his alcohol addiction. But if that relapse leads to death, something that Thompson apparently viewed as the unthinkable, the damage done to the Packers will be tsunami-like.
Is Thompson really that stupid to risk the reputation, the kindred spirit and the good will that one of the most storied franchises in sports has built with its community and its fans over 80-some years?
Could Thompson not figure out beforehand that if Robinson goes astray in any way that gives the Packers a black eye he might erase almost all of the positive feelings that were created under his mentor, Ron Wolf, following the bleak 1980s, when the Packers were habitual losers both on and off the field?
Why didn't chief executive officer Bob Harlan, chief operating officer John Jones and the executive committee overrule Thompson in the case?
Is Harlan willing to risk his legacy during his final year in office on Koren Robinson not tarnishing the image of the franchise? Have the members of the committee completely lost their spine?
This is a player who has at least two strikes against him in the NFL's substance-abuse program. This is a player who has had repeated problems with alcohol over his six years in the league, perhaps leaving him on pace to become football's version of Steve Howe.
Yes, it's best if the executive committee doesn't interfere with football decisions. And, yes, it always has been pretty much a rubber stamp for whatever the general manager and coach want.
But this was more than just a football decision.
Again, and it can't be emphasized enough, this was a decision to sign a player who within the last month endangered lives in one of the most reckless ways possible.
A player who was released by the rival Minnesota Vikings because they no longer wanted to deal with the problems he created.
How many mothers and fathers, or any of you for that matter, want this player living in your neighborhood or driving your streets at night?
True enough, the National Football League isn't the Boy Scouts. It's automatically assumed that if a city has a franchise, it's going to be harboring players with arrest records, convictions, you name it.
If the Packers, or any other teams for that matter, limited itself to signing only good citizens, they couldn't compete in what some, in an attempt at dark humor, have called the National Felony League.
Nor would most people be naïve enough in these parts to believe that since the days of Johnny Blood there haven't been Packers going out at night, imbibing too much and driving. Probably most of us who live in this state, at least those of us 21 and older, have driven at some time or another after having too much to drink.
Had the Packers signed Randy Moss or Terrell Owens or any other malcontent or controversial figure, it would have drawn no quarrel here. The 1996 Super Bowl champs included players with troubled pasts. Andre Rison, Tyrone Williams, even Brett Favre come to mind.
But Robinson, at least for now, so soon after his most recent incident, can't offer anything but hollow promises that he'll get his life together and not repeat his senseless behavior that had him racing back to the Vikings' training camp in Mankato with an alleged 0.11 blood-alcohol content.
That's why Thompson and the Packers will be culpable for any calamities or tragedies that Robinson might bring to pass here. Under almost any other circumstances, it would be unfair to blame Thompson or the Packers for trouble caused by their players.
They're employers, not babysitters.
But they wouldn't deserve impunity in this case. They certainly couldn't plead ignorance.
The potential downside here so outweighs the potential gains that somebody, somewhere in the organization with any kind of authority should have had the good sense to speak up and short-circuit the move.
Then again, maybe that's why this team appears to be in a free fall and is even willing to once again risk becoming the squalor it was back in the days when no player symbolized it any better than Mossy Cade."
