Fear The Chorizo

For a lake the size you're on, you probably don't need a boat lift IF you have a decent sized and sturdy dock - get some boat bumpers or add some used tires on dock posts to protect them from scraping off each other. Mentioned earlier, but I'd also recommend pounding in some rods you can secure the pontoon corners to when you aren't around that are independent from the dock. for a big pontoon like that it's always a good idea to have it secured multiple ways, and frankly if a really good tstorm with big wind gusts rolls through there it's probably less likely to get damaged if it's in the water rather than up on a boat lift that could just as easily turn into a kite. Also, get a nice cover for the boat so you're not spending a ton of time cleaning up nature's messes every time you return to the lake to use it.

Packers didn’t say anything to refute or really even defuse the situation...so do they OWN the leaks too? I think they did say some things that were good - like 'Aaron gives us the best chance to win' 'we're talking with him' 'he's our leader' and stuff like that. I don't think (but could be wrong) they said specifics about how long they see him here until after a lot of the poop had hit the fan and had flown around the internets for a day or two. At that point, I think they said stuff like they wanted him in GB 'for 2021 and beyond' or something like that. I think both sides are using the media at this point. Stories about Rodgers mocking Gute. And stories saying the Packers had offered Rodgers a new contract or extension or whatever and rebuffed. That all goes with the Rodgers is disrespected by Gute, that sort of thing. Each side is playing the PR games. I think the Packers are winning - but 'winning' might be the person standing on top of a pile of poop. Not to mention Lafleur was directly quoting stating that "I can't fathom fathom [him] not being in Green Bay. That's where my mind's at. I don't only love the player, but I love the person." That was 5 days ago.

The more I think about this, the more it appears to me like Rodgers and his team were probably planning some form of contractual stink like this before the ink dried on his current deal 2.5 years ago - the only way he got paid as much as he did the last 3 seasons was how that contract extension was structured at the back end to create wiggle room for the Packers to either work a cap-friendlier deal to finish out Rodgers' career in Green Bay or move on from him after the 2021 season. There was no no-trade clause in this contract, but Rodgers' actions this offseason are trying to force one into it retroactively by doing all this a season before Packers' brass wanted to make that sort of call on whether to commit to him until he was ready to retire or trade him - and that fact Love is already in the building gives the Packers the option to move on if they really wanted to. Throw in the trimmed 2021 salary cap situation and the leverage Rodgers was hoping to have to try and get one more mega deal done with Green Bay isn't nearly as strong as what he was expecting it could be when he signed his current deal back in 2018. EDIT: And after reading that tweet on Schefter's "article", it essentially comes down mostly to the Booyahs doing Booyah things....just stupid.

Football is full of stories of guys behaving so much worse than Rodgers is here. Crimes, drug abuse, abuse of wives and girlfriends, fights with cops, etc. Rodgers hasn't done anything like that. All he did was express (in a childish way) dissatisfaction with how the team is treating his employment. And for that, he's out. It's really something. Players who committed crimes punishable by the law have just as many or more fans wanting them off their team, don't kid yourself. There's a big component of fan frustration for a guy griping about "his employment" after making a quarter of a billion dollars, and the fact they see the good job at roster building the GM Rodgers is apparently miffed at is doing despite the player who currently accounts for 20% of their 2021 salary cap's refusal to sign a restructured contract extension that by all reports was pretty damn large. Fans also remember what Rodgers had to go through as a young player through the Favre fiasco, and have a really hard time understanding why in the world Rodgers himself wants to relive the same melodrama from the other side of the issue as a veteran QB.

So what you're saying is that 13 years ago, you would have done everything possible to placate 3-time MVP Favre, thus never giving Rodgers the opportunity to achieve those accomplishments, right? You know better than I do about Favre's play. But the differences as I see them are that it had been years since Favre was an MVP. He had been playing at a reduced level for a few years before his last year in GB. Rodgers is coming off an MVP this past season. Favre was a year older (and significantly more banged up) than Rodgers is now. So I don't think Favre had earned the deference that I'm giving to Rodgers now. 38-yo Favre seemed like the end was near. 37-yo Rodgers has never been better. Rodgers has had his collar bone broken twice, broken foot, multiple concussions, a calf tear, and a significant mcl sprain and bone bruise in his knee that have cost him significant portions of seasons and limited his performance in others - health wise he's been much, much better just like any late 30s nfl player would be. I'd actually argue Rodgers is more worn down physically than Favre was at this stage in their careers, and definitely more of an injury risk.

Agreed to an extent, but then considering the 2021 cap hit Rodgers' current deal carries for next season and his refusal to sign the initial reported extension/restructuring the Packers' brass offered, you've got to question what it is he's really looking for. Is it the simple fact he wants to basically guarantee his next (and likely final) 4-5 seasons are played in Green Bay and Love essentially becomes nothing more than a trade chip an offseason from now? If that's the case then I'd implore Packers' management to make that happen and I'd bet it would have already been done and over with when Gute was restructuring everyone left and right a couple months ago. I think it's a bit more complex than that. I think he wants to end his career elsewhere and realizes the time to put the screws hardest to the Packers to get to a team he wants to play at is now - particularly because Love isn't ready to be be the starter on this team with no preseason game experience. It's more on Rodgers' terms now than it ever will be, a full season before the Packers were likely wanting to make that decision - but he doesn't want to just come out publicly and say as much because of what he knows it will do to his legacy with Packer fans. Instead, everybody gets dragged through the mud a bit and nobody comes out smelling rosy.

Far be it from me to tell anyone else how to be a fan. And who knows what is true and what isn’t, as there are so many details and so much intrigue circulating, it’s hardly possible for all of it to be true, and equally unlikely that it is all a pack of lies. What I do know is that, as far as my fandom goes, GB winning rings is 1A and being consistently good is 1B. To the extent that Rodgers is now a cancer (which he may very well be at this point), then he is harmful to those objectives, so if sides must be drawn, I’m on the organization’s side (since they are still trying to, you know, win games in Green Bay). I want nothing but good for Rodgers personally, and seeing as he’s been compensated beyond the wildest dreams of 99.99% of humans who have ever lived, my primary concern is for his mental and spiritual health, which have seemed a bit tenuous at times over the last decade. Nevertheless, I was a packer fan before Rodgers, and one I will remain long after he’s gone. Now, this does not preclude a reckoning with the org’s responsibility for how we got here. However, that all seems pretty impossible right now given the present smokescreens, gaslighting, and emotional confusion of the moment. It seems likely that at minimum, Packers brass is guilty of poor communication at a few critical moments. It may also come to light (though I have seen zero solid evidence of this as of yet) that they were belligerent with Rodgers and bear the brunt of the responsibility for the broken relationship. This would make Gute or whoever guilty of harming the franchise, and if so, my estimation of all this would change a bit. But if we’re talking about Rodgers pouting for not getting to keep a diminished Jordy Nelson for his last season, have to watch the team draft defensive players in the first round (addressing the part of the team that is unarguably the biggest need), and (ministers of grace defend us!) see Kumerow let go from what ultimately still proved to be the most efficiently lethal offense in all of football, then that’s some pretty thin gruel. I’m sorry, but spare me the Jordan comparisons. Jordan couldn’t have GM’d the Bulls to six rings, and if Rodgers is wanting to make personnel decisions like those above (and don’t forget, he lobbied for Jimmy Graham—how’d that work out?), I don’t think he’d have constructed a roster half as good as Gute’s. If it can all be reconciled, of course, I’ll welcome him back. He’s still the best chance to bring another Super Bowl to Green Bay, no doubt about it. But if not, thanks for the memories. The franchise must carry on. And 12, for all he has done, cares little for that future to the extent it does not involve him. Understandable for him, perhaps, but this fan does not feel the same. I just think Rodgers doesn't want to be considered a laborer. Look on pro-football-reference.com and see who are the franchise leaders in approximate value. He's #2 all time, behind only Favre. And he has enough left to surpass Favre, as the most valuable player in the most storied franchise in the sport. He's #1 in completion pct, yards per game, interception percentage, QB rating. He's the best player the team will see in a very long time. You go out of your way to placate him. And he doesn't think Gutekunst has done that. Don't you think the Brewers have placated Bob Uecker over the years? Look at the way LeBron James has been treated. Teams work around the superstar talent, and accommodate him. None of us knows what has gone on behind the scenes between Rodgers and Gute. But one guy is the reigning MVP, face of the franchise. I think you find a way to keep him happy. The problem with that train of thought is if said reigning MVP/face of the franchise demonstrates that there isn't any way to keep him fully happy all of the time to avoid him throwing a tantrum at present or in the future, team management is in an impossible to please situation. To some that may appear like said player doesn't want to be considered a "laborer"....to me if that's the case he shouldn't have signed his last contract extension over 3 seasons ago that was put together by the current Packers GM. Unless that contract had explicit guarantees within it that Rodgers had final say over offensive personnel or how frequently Packers' brass had to get buy in from him for any backup QB-related moves (including draft picks), this is ALL on Rodgers for being petulant/bitter.

Basically everyone who's ever had a crappy boss is powerful enough to do something about it if they really wanted - they can quit. The difference with Rodgers isn't that he's more powerful than most, it's that he's more wealthy. Jerry Krause won 6 NBA titles with his bad interpersonal skills as a GM. One could easily say Jordan won those titles in spite of Krause because of how good he was playing the game, and despite the fact many know Jordan to be an egotistical maniac who was also very difficult to work/play with. The problem for Rodgers in this comparison is a lack of titles. And if it's true that Rodgers is calling Gutekunst 'Krause" in team chats, then he's more of a child than I had imagined up to this point. Why doesn't he just call him a big weanie instead?

It honestly could be worse....guessing Halas Hall is clamoring for that type of a problem - perhaps the common denominator lies with the mentality/actions of said HOF QBs moreso than the front office, especially since those scenarios appear to be happening 13+ years apart and the front office isn't the same people, either.

This seems to have devolved into straws grasping at straws at this point...I mean Kumerow will be lucky if he can stick on a roster anywhere in the NFL next season - maybe just maybe the GM realized he'd need that roster spot a bottom of the roster WR6 is taking up for a different position player - particularly when the offense tends to use heavy tight end and running back formations frequently (remember Tyler Ervin was on the field a bunch until he got injured for those jet sweeps, and he was listed as a RB on the roster even though he was lining up in the slot). I don't buy the cutting of Kumerow 1 day after Rodgers' quote schtick, either as a way of Gute sticking it to Rodgers - Rodgers was quoted the day before final training camp cuts were made to start last year's regular season - it's not like there was still 9 days from final cuts or in week 5 of the season and Gute just jettisoned Kumerow randomly. He was far from the only player cut the day after Rodgers opened his mouth in an interview. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if he actually knew who was going to get cut after meeting with MLF/Gute about it and went ahead and threw that quote into the media the day before it was going to happen anyways if he's already gonna be his salty self.

4)Jake Kumerow is a WR weapon...btw someone needs to let Buffalo know that as well before they tick off Josh Allen and release him

I don't believe this for a second. If Kumerow had anything to do with it, it's because it was a) the last straw after many other things happened and/or b) they made some promise to him about personnel and didn't keep it. At this point people should strongly consider the league/team "sources" that may have started this whole thing worked for The Onion...

Tom Brady pretty much got the team to do whatever he wanted and what does Rodgers see? Look at Brady's last two contract extensions with New England while Garrapolo was on their roster and find where he demanded a massive deal in terms of length and dollars in order to make sure a young QB they drafted never forces him out of town. And pretty much the only way Tampa Bay still has half their core of players that won a super bowl last season is because Brady just signed a contract extension where his 2021 cap number is less than $10M. It would actually do Rodgers a ton of good to take a very hard look at how Brady went about dealing with contractual issues - it allowed him all the chances in the world for the team around him to have cap flexibility to add where needed using all talent acquisition avenues. And he structured his deals in a way where it was palatable for his original team to let him walk and give him every opportunity to pick exactly where he wanted to go and enter on a deal where that new team could maintain its cap flexibility.

Wouldn't surprise me if right now both sides are trying to figure out how anything that could have led to this type of media angle they've picked up and run with got out to the press, and if that "source" is either employed by the Packers or part of Rodgers' team/inner circle they will promptly be canned or shunned. This doesn't seem like something willfully released by Rodgers' agent or higher ups within the Packers - it seems like something a pee-on booking flights for the front office to visit Rodgers or a contract proofreader latched on to and ran with to a reporter as gossip and it took on a life of its own given the timing around the draft. Not to mention, the reporters and talking heads know just the right timing to get a boatload of clicks for this sort of fodder, and they already started writing with this angle the second after Love was drafted without getting anything official for Rodgers or from the front office a year ago.

I've had it for about 9 months. I've only gotten about 35Mpbs not the 50 they advertise, but overall few issues with outages or dropped signal (most streaming has been smooth). There isn't a modem/router based speedtest like I can do with Spectrum, but even my 200Mbps advertised Spectrum line comes in at 150-160. You probably cant stream 4K to 3 devices, but it should handle most streaming needs depending on your circumstances. Thanks for the info! I think we're going to order and try it out for a bit to see how it does and then decide whether to return it or cancel our current service. Medicaom advertises 100Mbps for the current setup we have but tests indicate it hardly ever gets above 50 and we've had out own sporadic outages/dropped signals with it from time to time.

Sounds like you could really use a hug...and onfield performance in 2020 pretty much contradicts every point you tried to make in this post

Question on internet streaming...anyone have that TMobile home internet service that uses 5G and a gateway device they send you? Our area west of MPLS just got this service option available, and I'm contemplating dropping my local cable internet provider and trying it out if streaming speeds are ok - seems like a decent value ($60/month).

This X 1000. Aside from the top couple of picks, the NFL draft is incredibly fluid - particularly as round 1 gets out of the top 10 and then GMs are both looking at who to pick in their spot, thinking about making calls to trade up and fielding calls from other teams about possibly trading down. What is the GB front office supposed to do, have Rodgers in the draft room or on Zoom with them the whole time? And I still keep going back to simply looking at the math when Rodgers' last extension was signed in 2018, almost two full years before Love was drafted. Rodgers and his agent saw how it was structured and saw that the Packers likely had the option of either restructuring/extending the deal after 2021 or moving on. He then proceeded to have two rather pedestrian seasons based on his extremely high standard of play in 2018 and 2019, and the 2020 draft was clouded by COVID and uncertainty whether there would even be a full season. Given the information available to Gute at the time of the 2020 draft, if they had Love graded high and he fell to a spot where it made sense from a front office standpoint to slide up a few spots to grab him it's a move most GMs make. Also - Brady outlived Garrapolo in New England after he was drafted to be the heir apparent and won a few super bowls during the time they were both on the same roster. I believe he also signed a pair of small contract extensions/restructures during that same period, both of which were viewed as very team-friendly discounts. TB just drafted a QB in the 2nd round after winning the super bowl last year with Brady, just after he signed a 4 year extension that includes all kinds of cap gymnastics. It's quite interesting comparing the two in terms of contracts and perceived front office strife when an heir apparent shows up - and while not directly due to it, also very interesting comparing the number of rings as a way of sorting out which is the better approach.

So apparently Rodgers must have learned how to act like a selfish primadonna from Favre when he was around that fiasco 13 years ago...he's throwing a tantrum at the GM who's doing his job the way it should be done. Rodgers doesn't have to like it, but he can't act like he's being wronged. One thing about drafting Love in last season's draft people forget - there was far from any guarantees there would have even been a 2020 football season at this time last year. Say the 2020 season doesn't happen and we're left with Rodgers' 2018 and 2019 regular seasons to go off trying to figure out where he is as a player for 2021, which would be the last season in his current deal it would make financial sense to keep him as a Packer before either extending him or looking to trade him. Does it not make perfect sense to draft a QB you think could take over for him in a couple years if Rodgers doesn't have a huge bounceback so you don't waste a few rebuilding years in seasons 2022-2023?

So OSU is the packers' farm system for centers....fine by me - and it also allows Jenkins to play tackle and guard as needed until Bahk is back on the left side. Corner and oline were probably the two biggest roster holes heading into last night and the Packers use their 1st two picks to shore up those areas with guys that weren't reaches at the spots they were picked...nothing wrong with that approach in my book

Las Vegas, man! Las Vegas!! I wonder how much of it is trying to prove he's as good as Brady. If Brady can lead the Bucs to a Super Bowl, the only way Rodgers gets on the same plane as Brady is to lead the Raiders to the Super Bowl. If it's about winning another Super Bowl, I'm wondering if he's looking at SF's defense and thinking that's a better opportunity than GB's defense. Brady is closer to the point of requiring a Super Bowl championship ring for his second thumb than Rodgers is for his 1st thumb...there's nothing that Rodgers can do with the rest of his career in terms of title pursuits with additional organizations because of that. The truly frustrating aspect to Rodgers has to be the fact that Brady has really only directly cost Rodgers a chance at a Super Bowl in one season spanning both of their careers - despite being more talented physically as a quarterback, Rodgers just hasn't gotten to the ultimate winners circle enough (i.e. the Super Bowl)

I also think one thing Rodgers learned firsthand as a young QB is that a veteran QB's control of where he plays can vanish almost overnight with diminished onfield performance, even for a HOFer - especially after it's obvious to the front office and probably even more importantly the players in the locker room that they have someone ready to take the reins already in the building. Now would be the time for Rodgers to do everything possible to try and secure the rest of his career on his terms - before Love has had enough time to either develop or fall on his face and before father time creeps up on him any further. Taking this stand now on the heels of an MVP season, independent from whether Love is here or not, gives Rodgers his best chance at avoiding a year like Favre dealt with after being traded to the Jets - or at worst it would get it out of the way soon enough for him to pick his preferred team and have more than the twilight of his QB career left to win another title. And honestly, if winning another title is the priority, Rodgers' best chance in the short term remains as a Packer.

It showed him his money after 2021 was up in the air (business to the team) so he has MVP season and full power so now he wants to secure his money (business decision for him). In all honesty, he's smart enough to have known his money after 2021 was up in the air the day he first signed that contract extension...which was well before Love was drafted. If he's ticked about anything it's the fact Love is already in the building and the leverage he thought he would have pushing for one final huge extension is minutely diminished with a young quarterback on the roster - and I think that's his perception much more than that of the GB front office. In other words, he's made up his mind to be mad no matter what he hears from the front office. Also, you know how this would have all gone away on its own? Win one of the last 4 NFC championship games you've started - I think Rodgers took this last loss especially hard, because the previous 3 losses have been on the road and the outcomes really had nothing to do with his performance. We've heard for years from him that the Packers really needed to try and get a title game at home for a change - they did just that last year and still lost a very winnable game, one that Rodgers had multiple opportunities to go out an win in the 4th quarter. I'm not blaming Rodgers for losing that game, but I can see where the frustration from that loss is still very raw with him. He knows they were plenty good enough to win and they didn't get it done.

Without what they did with Love I doubt it gets this far/bad between them and it all would've got done quietly. I'm fairly certain he would have found something else to get upset about had Love not been drafted in Round 1 last year, too - to me it's convenient cover for the primary and likely sole reason he may currently be upset, which is the contract extension offered by the Packers isn't as lucrative as he's hoping to get and Rodgers knows now is when he has the most leverage to try and maximize that deal.

You can argue that it's a fallacy that the problem is offensive weapons...but you can also make a pretty strong argument that they've done less than just about every other contender. It isn't lost on me that the Packer FO has been moving heaven and earth the past two offseasons doing salary cap gymnastics to get their premium players extended/resigned through Rodgers' window, bringing in quality veteran free agents to fill gaping holes in their defense created under the previous GM's draft misses, all the while attempting to get Rodgers an extension that probably would have made things much easier to make more moves that would resemble "getting him help". I'm no fanboy of Tom Brady, but look at what he's done in terms of his contracts over the years and how much that has helped teams he played on going out and bringing in help.