Geriatric quarterback Brett Favre helped the Minnesota Vikings defeat his estranged team, the Green Bay Packers, 30-23 Monday Night at the Metrodome.
Favre, 40, played brilliantly against his rivals as he completed 24 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns.
Despite his claims to the contrary, there is zero question that Favre returned to play an 18th season in the NFL primarily to exact revenge on the Packers for their decision to trade him to the New York Jets last August.
After years of being held hostage by Favre in the offseason, Green Bay’s brass finally tired of his wavering and they decided that the time had arrived to let backup signal-caller Aaron Rodgers, 25, lead their franchise.
Favre, a Green Bay icon who has essentially set every NFL passing record imaginable, was for the first time since 1992 no longer the face of the storied franchise.
Favre’s divorce from the Packers created a civil war of sorts in the state of Wisconsin.
No matter what, many fans will always side with Favre.
On the contrary, much of Cheesehead Nation had grown weary of Favre’s charades and ultimately chose Packers management over their Hall of Fame gunslinger.
Due to no fault of his own, Rodgers, who the Packers selected out of the University of California with the 24th overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft, was caught in the middle of the ugly separation.
Regardless of the outcome, Rodgers, a 2004 First-Team All-Pac-10 selection, performed admirably Monday night.
The former standout for the Golden Bears completed 26 passes for 384 yards and two touchdowns.
Rodgers, who threw an interception and lost a fumble, posted such impressive statistics despite being frenetically pressured by the Vikings defense on virtually every down.
“Below my expectations, definitely,” Rodgers said. “To have three possessions where you’re in their territory and come away with zero points, two of them are directly related to mistakes by myself, that’s disappointing.”
Rodgers was absolutely too critical of his play.
Granted, the fifth-year pro periodically held onto the ball too long.
Still, without Rodgers behind that porous offensive line, the Vikings would have utterly massacred the Packers.
After the game concluded, Favre sought Rodgers to congratulate his successor for “the way he battled.”
“I thought he hung in there,” Favre remarked. “I’ve been saying all along the guy can play.”
Last October, Rodgers signed a contract extension worth $65 million that likely will ensure that he is the Packers quarterback through the 2014 season.
Rodgers is an elite talent and a class act that is the very definition of a professional.
Plus, “the guy can play.”Did anyone else just hear Packers fans collectively say, “Brett who?”
Notre Dame junior quarterback Jimmy Clausen completed 23-of-31 passes and threw for a career-high 422 yards in Saturday’s thrilling 37-30 overtime victory against the University of Washington in South Bend.
“He played a terrific game,” Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian said of Clausen, 22, who was named the Davey O’Brien Foundation Quarterback of the Week for his stellar performance last weekend.
“There weren’t very many things that were just clean for him in the pocket. A lot of what he did was when pressure came, he was able to avoid the rush, buy time, kept his vision extremely well and made lots of plays down the field.”
Clausen, the signal-caller with the best passing efficiency rating in the country (179.3), has become a frontrunner to win the Heisman Trophy because of the ability he has shown to flourish on the gridiron during pressure situations this autumn.
“The kid (Clausen) is playing at a very, very high level,” Irish head coach Charlie Weis said of his highly-touted 2007 recruit.
Clausen has thrown for 1,544 yards and 12 touchdowns, in comparison to a measly 2 interceptions, while leading the Irish to an improbable record of 4-1.
The legend from Thousand Oaks, California has amassed his impressive statistics despite being hampered on the field this season with a turf toe injury on his right foot.
Clausen, who never lost a game in his prep career at Oaks Christian High School (42-0) and is the owner of the California state record for touchdown passes (146), has long chapped the asses of skeptics that perceive him as a flimsy pretty-boy.
Much of the negativity was born when, with brazen confidence that bordered on unlikable arrogance, Clausen announced his oral commitment to play for the Irish at the College Football Hall of Fame in Indiana after he arrived in a stretch Hummer Limousine.
At the announcement, the high school football star once named “Offensive Player of the Year” by the USA Today in 2006 predicted that he would guide Notre Dame to four national championships.
Clausen, who has been mocked for the flamboyant hairstyles that he has worn over the years, took over as Notre Dame’s starting quarterback in the second week of the 2007 season.
Clausen, behind a patchwork offensive line, was routinely brutalized on a weekly basis and the Irish concluded their 2007 campaign with a putrid mark of 3-9.
In 2008, Clausen fared a tad better and the Irish managed to win their first bowl game since 1994 and they escaped with a winning mark of 7-6.
Nevertheless, with the exception of the portly and inexplicably egotistical Weis, Clausen entered this season as the most scrutinized member of Notre Dame’s football program.
To this juncture, Clausen has stifled all of his critics and he has proven himself to be the best quarterback in the nation.
In Clausen’s junior season in high school, a Sports Illustrated feature dubbed him “The Kid with the Golden Arm.”
For the majority of his time at Notre Dame, fans only saw sporadic glimpses of a “kid” with a “golden arm.”
Mainly, supporters of the Irish simply saw Clausen as an immature “kid” both on-and-off of the field.
Jimmy Clausen has finally matured into a man and he still possesses a “golden arm.”
With a player the caliber of Clausen, the Irish no longer require luck to win.
Notre Dame needs to play sound defense and they have to protect Clausen and keep him healthy.
If the Irish can succeed in doing the aforementioned tasks, good fortunes will follow Notre Dame all the way to their bowl game in 2010.
Provided that Evander “the Real Deal” Holyfield wins his upcoming bout in November, the legendary heavyweight boxer will be considered as a possible opponent for reigning WBC champion Vitali “Dr. Iron Fist” Klitschko sometime in 2010.
“I believe that Evander Holyfield is one of the best heavyweight fighters of the last quarter century,” WBC President Jose Sulaiman told FanHouse on Monday night. “Everybody in China, Korea, Japan and all of Asia, they talk very highly of Evander Holyfield.”
Holyfield (42-10-2, 27 KOs) is expected to fight Derrick Rossy (22-2, 12 KOs) of Medford, New York on November 8 in Jeju Island, South Korea.
“So if Evander comes in and has a good showing in the fight that takes place in Jeju, I think that Klitschko might take a fight with him,” said Sulaiman.
Holyfield, 46, the only boxer to win the heavyweight title on four separate occasions, has aged like a canine and his skills have badly diminished over the years.
At this stage in his career, it would be an absolute liability to put Holyfield in the ring with a powerful fighter the caliber of Klitschko (38-2, 37 KOs).
“The fact is that a lot of people think that I’m an old man, but I’ve taken good care of myself and kept myself in great shape,” said Holyfield, who was banned from boxing in New York by the New York State Athletic Commission because of concerns for his health. “I’m looking forward to proving to people that, even at my age, my determination and the quickness that I have is still alive.”
In November of 1994, George Foreman (76-5, 68 Kos) became the oldest man to ever capture the heavyweight boxing championship of the world when, at age 45, he knocked out Michael Moorer in the 10th round.
“If they give me another opportunity, I’ll do it at the age of 47,” predicted Holyfield, who has long been linked to performance enhancing drugs.
Klitschko, 38, who owns the highest knockout percentage (92.5%) of any heavyweight boxing champion ever, is a sound pugilist who supplements his jabs with thunderous overhand rights.
Evander Holyfield was a warrior and a spectacular boxer in the late-1980’s and throughout the 1990’s.
Unfortunately for Holyfield, we are no longer in the 1990’s.
If Holyfield is able to defeat Rossy and earn a matchup against Klitschko, boxing could be on the cusp of its most recent tragedy.
The “Real Deal” is that Holyfield should have retired many years ago.
“Dr. Iron Fist” could retire Holyfield immediately to an ominous street called “Six-Feet Under.”
WBO and WBC middleweight champion Kelly “The Ghost” Pavlik will defend his titles against reigning two-time WBO welterweight champion Paul “The Punisher” Williams on December 5 at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.
The fight was initially scheduled to occur last Saturday night.
However, the bout was postponed due to a staph infection in Pavlik’s hand.
Pavlik (35-1, 31Kos) underwent two separate operations to heal his bummed hand and he said he is physically prepared to face the lanky Williams (37-1, 27 KOs).
“I still have a lot to prove,” said Pavlik, 27, a native of Youngstown, Ohio. “Even after the Williams fight, a dominant performance, there still will be a lot to prove.”
Pavlik, who is still trained by relative unknown Jack Loew of Youngstown’s South Side Boxing Gym, was the talk of the boxing world after he viciously destroyed Jermain Taylor to win his crowns in September 2007.
However, Pavlik’s stock plummeted after he was badly outclassed by Bernard Hopkins (49-5-1, 32 KOs) in a unanimous decision loss to the 43-year-old in a twelve-round non-title matchup last October.
“Critics come in boxing all the time, no matter what you do,” said Pavlik. “If I go in there and dominate Williams, people will probably say he’s a welterweight, blown-up junior middleweight, blown-up middleweight.”
Williams, 28, a fighter many onlookers consider to be the “most avoided fighter in the world,” is 6’3” tall and he has tremendous power in both of his fists.
Williams avenged his only professional defeat in June 2008 when he brutalized Carlos Quintana (26-2, 20 KOs) before the referee decided to put a halt to the mismatch.
“This is going to be a real big fight. A lot of people are asking, ‘How are you going to stand up to Pavlik’s power?’” Williams said. “I’m going to do what do best. I’m going to make an exciting fight for the fans, and an exciting fight for me.”
Williams is a very awkward pugilist and his style has posed problems for every opponent he has ever faced.
It is safe to predict that Williams will also frustrate Pavlik and force him to adjust his plan at some point during the contest.
Still, Pavlik’s immense power will ultimately drain Williams’ stamina and he will become a human punching bag as the fight advances in rounds.
“The Punisher" is a very solid fighter and he will never embarrass himself in the ring.
Unfortunately for Williams, “The Punisher” is simply not strong enough to compete with “The Ghost” and he will meet his demise in approximately the 10th round.
Pavlik is one ghost that fight fans can expect to see in the ring for a long time.
*R-I-P-C-N-G-N-S-P
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