During its nearly 90 years of existence, the Green Bay Packers have come and gone through some mighty memorable eras. Like, for instance the Lambeau and Lombardi-Starr eras. And now, one of the longest and most successful eras, that of Brett Favre, has ended, much to his fans' surprise and disappointment.

Like most native Wisconsites, I was virtually born a Packer fan. And like most kids of my generation, I became a devout fan during the Lombardi era. Bart Starr was every kid's favorite athlete. And we knew our team (and its fans) were tough--they succesfully survived the Ice Bowl!

Another generation of Wisconsin kids has witnessed a Packer era at least as great as, or perhaps even greater, than that of my generation. It began in 1992 with the coming of Coach Mike Holmgren and QB Brett Favre. For seven years the two seemed inseparable, like Lombardi and Starr. Then Coach Holmgren left but Favre remained for nearly ten more years. And many of us expected it to remain that way indefinitely (or so we hoped).

Continue reading "Closing a Chapter in the Packers' History Book"

It was a refreshing change of pace (pardon the pun) to see Scott Wimmer break the "Buschwackers'" winning streak in last Saturday's Nationwide race in Nashville. The young season had been dominated by Sprint Cup drivers--formerly known as "Buschwackers"--Cup drivers who also ran in the Busch Series (now Nationwide). Tony Stewart won the first two races, and Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, and Clint Bowyer each garnered one victory.

Not that Wimmer is a stranger to racing in both series, but this is his first NASCAR victory since 2003. Then again, his taking the checkered flag in the RCR No. 29 shouldn't be that great a surprise, since even though he's only running limited schedule this season, Wimmer's car owner, Richard Childress, has quite a bit to be proud of so far, for example, his cars' 1-2-3 finish in the Bristol Cup race.

Continue reading "Wimmer Beats the "Buschwackers""