Greetings from Green Bay, where my retired neighbors are making me look bad
as usual by keeping their lawns manicured to an inch of their life.
Almost all of the recent news will allow you to firm up your summer Packers
vacation plans. Some upcoming dates to remember:
-- Tuesday, May 25: The Packers' new highlight video, "Rhodes to Success,"
premieres at 7 p.m. at the Packer Hall of Fame, hosted by FS Darren
Sharper. Sounds like the PR machine is in overdrive, with the film looking
forward to the 1999 season and including some 1998 highlights. The event is
free.
As usual, the video also premieres twice in Michigan's Upper Peninsula:
Thursday, May 27, at Recreation Lanes in Iron Mountain, with QB Matt
Hasselbeck hosting; and Tuesday, June 1 at The Delft in Escanaba, with LB
Jude Waddy hosting. Both showings are at 7 p.m. and are free.
-- Wednesday, June 2: The last offseason minicamp begins. It's open to the
public, weather permitting, with practices at the Ray Nitschke Field just
east of the Don Hutson Center. Practices are at 10:10 a.m. Wednesday and
Thursday, June 2 and 3; 10:30 a.m. Friday, June 4; off the weekend of June
5-6; 10:10 a.m. Monday and Tuesday, June 7 and 8; 11:15 a.m. Wednesday,
June 9; and 10:10 a.m. Thursday, June 10. There are no afternoon practices.
If it rains, they'll be inside the Hutson Center.
-- Saturday, June 19: The remaining tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. through
Ticketmaster for the Monday night, Aug. 23 preseason game against the
Broncos at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison. No word on the price, but they
were $34 for UW football season ticket holders, who had 1st crack at them.
Tickets will be available from Ticketmaster at (920) 494-1414 in Green Bay,
(414) 276-4545 in Milwaukee and (608) 255-4646 in Madison; at all Boston
Stores and some Piggly Wiggly stores in Wisconsin; and online at
ticketmaster.com
-- Sometime in mid-June: The two-day tent sale at the Packer Pro Shop at
Lambeau Field, usually on a Friday and Saturday. Lots of Packers retail
merchandise and the occasional authentic jerseys, practice gear (most of it
XXL and larger) and turf shoes is on sale at deep discount. Never any
stars' stuff among the authentic gear. Not always worth a trip, but that's
subjective, of course. Always a zoo when it opens. If you want to know
exactly when it is, check the Packers web site or drop me a line. They
haven't announced the dates yet.
-- Wednesday, July 7: The stockholders' meeting at Lambeau Field. Likely to
be much the same as last year, with dull reports, an occasionally
entertaining question-and-answer period and video highlights. The Packers
say more concession and merchandise stands will be open.
Stockholders can expect to see all the usual suspects renominated to the
board of directors. Even though president Bob Harlan said last year that
the Packers welcomed qualified nominations for the board, there will be no
new faces. We know that thanks to Jim Hershberger of Valley Cottage, N.Y.,
who is overseeing an entertaining but thus far unsuccessful campaign to
nominate his brother Jerry Hershberger of Racine to the Packers' board of
directors as "The Fans' Man." Jim says, "Like Willie Wood, we are small,
but tough." To learn more about their campaign, contact Jim at
jeep41@mns.com
-- Monday, July 26: Players start reporting to training camp.
-- Friday, July 30: The 1st full practice session of training camp. No word
yet on how long training camp will be open to the public, though it could
be the 1st 3 weeks of August or perhaps even a little longer.
The Packers plan to double the number of bleachers outside the Clarke
Hinkle Field along South Oneida Street (the main practice field) and put up
bleachers outside the Nitschke Field just to the east on Packer Drive.
Because some people come from great distances to see training camp, the
Packers also plan to offer packages that include tickets to the Lambeau
=46ield tour, Hall of Fame, Packers Experience and a guaranteed seat on the
bleachers for practice. I have no other information on this, so I suspect
you'll have to keep an eye on the Packers' web site for more details.
-- Saturday night, Aug. 7: The intrasquad scrimmage returns to Lambeau
=46ield. It isn't free anymore. The Packers say they'll charge "a small fee"
-- no word on how much -- but may include fireworks after the scrimmage and
perhaps a short talk by GM Ron Wolf, coach Ray Rhodes or some players. More
details on this as they become available.
-- Finally, if you are planning a trip to any Packers game, home or road,
preseason or regular season, the Green Bay-based Packer Fan Tours has its
1999 brochure ready for you. Call them at (920) 490-0220 or check the web
site at www.packerfantours.com
All trip packages include tickets, transportation, lodging, tailgate
parties and plenty of extras. They also have ticket-and-tailgate-only
packages for the road games. They have no trip or activities planned for
the Sept. 19 Lions game at the Silverdome, though, probably because of
Detroit's tough policy on ticket sales for that game.
Now, a couple of other odds and ends ...
-- QB Brett Favre is cutting back sharply on personal appearances and
autograph signings in Wisconsin. He simply wants more time for his family.
=46avre has dropped his Milwaukee-based marketing agent and will have all hi=
s
appearance and endorsement offers go through his agent and friend, James
"Bus" Cook of Hattiesburg, Miss.
-- Ron Marth, a Milwaukee-area memorabilia dealer, was put on probation for
selling forged Favre autographs. He cooperated with the feds, giving the
IRS a list of more than 21 Packers players and coaches he'd paid in cash
and checks for autograph appearances. The IRS and Wisconsin tax officials
are checking to see whether everyone paid their taxes on that money. Some
paid promptly, and some paid after Marth got into hot water.
-- CB Tyrone Williams has signed his 1-year, $934,000 tender offer as a
restricted free agent. Talks continue on a long-term deal.
-- Offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis talked the other day about how he's
preparing for the season. Asked whether he has any regrets thus far, he
laughed and cited his promise to open up the offense, letting Favre throw
deep more often. A quote from him: "I'm going to do that, but I wish I
wouldn't have said it. Now when fans see me, they always say, 'All right,
Sherm, you're going to open it up.' I wonder what they'll be saying after
the 1st game if we run it 50 times and throw it 15."
Lewis is revising the playbook, going through every play in the Packers'
computer database since 1994, keeping what he likes and dropping what he
doesn't. Each week's game plan will have about 50 plays from a variety of
formations. He'll continue to script the 1st 15 plays, as Mike Holmgren
did, and likely will continue to work from the press box.
In next month's minicamp, the Packers will work with the shotgun formation.
=46avre likes it, but Holmgren didn't. In training camp, they'll work hard a=
t
improving the short-yardage offense, which was dreadful last season. A
quote from Lewis on the latter: "Once in a while, we'll go deep to keep
teams from putting 8 or 9 (players near the line of scrimmage), but most of
the time it's just a matter of who wants it more."
-- A proposal for a Packers license plate was added to the 1999-2001 state
budget, but still needs the approval of the Legislature and Gov. Tommy
Thompson. It would cost $85 when issued, then $70 every year after, with
$25 going the Boys and Girls Clubs of Wisconsin. This proposal has been
around for several years, but always has died in the Legislature.
As always, your comments and questions are welcome at jeffash@netnet.net
This week's sources: Green Bay Press-Gazette
(http://www.greenbaypressgazette.packersnews.com), Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel (http://www.jsonline.com/packer/news/) and Packers
(http://www.packers.com) web pages.
-- Recent adventures with Evan, to whom our longtime reader Kevin in
Chicago says, "Just remember ... in T-ball, the coach is not a pi=F1ata!" Ah=
,
T-ball. Wednesday was parents' day at his T-ball class in the gym at the Y.
Every ball to be fielded turns into a scrum among several kids. Evan wants
to field every ball, including those hit far from him. We have a way to go
on baserunning, too. Evan hits the ball, runs to 1st, then takes off to
field the ball hit by the next batter. But he is enthusiastic, and that is
what matters. For the record, Evan throws left (and throws well most of the
time), and bats right. This morning, we have softball practice, and Evan
will come along, wearing his batting helmet and running around on the
playground beyond the center-field fence. After softball practice is over,
we'll get out our big orange bat and big plastic ball and have our own
batting practice. ... Evan also had his 1st preschool field trip this week,
taking the bus to the library. It's the same bus we take downtown on
payday, so it's familiar to Evan, who sat near his teacher and offered
steady commentary, identifying the sights along the way. ... Evan also got
his 1st detailed report card from preschool, and we learned he enjoys
science and music (a nice combination), has good table manners (not that
you would ever know at home), but has to be reminded to pick up his things
(no surprise there; his room looks like a landfill).
That's it.
As usual, if you wish to show your appreciation for these Packers updates,
volunteer or make a donation to the charity of your choice.
Thanks, Jeff
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