Phil Hanrahan - Life After Favre: The Green Bay Packers and their Fans Usher in the Aaron Rodgers Era

The Green Bay Packers and their Fans Usher in
the Aaron Rodgers Era

Phil Hanrahan

This book is dedicated to my parents.

Copyright 2011 by Phil Hanrahan

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Sports Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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Paperback ISBN: 978-1-61321-020-8

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hanrahan, Phil.

Life after Favre / Phil Hanrahan.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-60239-773-6 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. Green Bay Packers (Football team) 2. Football fans--Wisconsin--Green Bay. 3. Favre,
Brett. I. Title.

GV956.G7H36 2008

796.332640977561--dc22

2009032877

Printed in the United States of America

There is no script for this.

Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, July 26, 2008

Some dreams dont come true.

lyric by Adam Schlesinger, for the band Ivy

R OOKIE COULDNT TAKE it anymore. Hed had enough. Four straight months of callers bashing Packers management for not welcoming Brett Favre back. Week after week it was Brett this, Brett that, two hours of listener calls a day. This Green Bay sports radio station was on the front lines when it came to fan feedback. What had the Favre Hornsthats what Rookie called emall riled up this Friday morning was the previous nights thrilling 3431 Jets victory over archrival New England. Favre had gone 26 of 33 for 258 yards, with two touchdowns and no picks. In overtime, he took his team 64 yards in 14 plays, connecting on 5 of 6 passes. He looked like the Brett of old. Or make that the Brett of 2007, as callers were oh-so-quick to remind Rookie. The Brett who led the Packers to 14 victories and a near Super Bowl berth. That Brett.

This one ranks right up near the top, Favre told reporters after the game, a quote that put a little ding in the hearts of Packers fans. After Jets kicker Jay Feely booted home the winning 34-yarder, Brett raised his arms in grinning triumph, just like hed done so many times for the Pack. Through ten games, Favre was leading the AFC in completion percentage. The New York Jets had won four straight. At 73, they were alone atop the AFC East for the first time since 2001.

Rookie had been at WDUZ longer than anyonehence the nickname. They didnt call him Iron Manthey saved that for Favrebut the fact remained that Rookie was sturdy, durable, a radio grinder doing twenty-five hours of sports talk weekly with his partner, Bill Rabeor. Weekdays from 69 A.M. they hosted The Fan Nation Morning Show, a drive-time program broadcast on 107.5 FM and 1400 AM The Fan, a.k.a. Northeast Wisconsins Sports Authority and Your Source for ESPN Radio. At 9 A.M. they kicked off their two-hour call-in show, Fan Line with Bill and Rookie. Guess what people wanted to talk about today?

Normally the last twenty minutes on Friday morning formed the best part of Rookies radio weekand not only because his weekend more or less started at the top of the hour. It was the Friday Fish Fry segment of the show, one in which listeners called or e-mailed to salute or slam some person in the sporting world. If you were a caller offering kudos, you asked Rookie and Bill to pop a top to the person. They cued the carbonated opening to Jim Ed Browns 1967 country hit Pop a Top, a tune that starts with possibly the worlds greatest recording of a pull-tab can being opened.

If, conversely, you were calling to rip someone, you told Rookie and Bill to dunk em in the hot fryer! With the push of a button, theyd promptly cue a sound effect of lake perch dropping into a vat of sizzling oil.

Guess who was getting kudos today?

Guess who people wanted to fry?

Pop a top to Brett! hollered Scott from Sturgeon Bay. Bretts on the train to the playoffs!

That was a twofer. Well done, Scott from Sturgeon Bay. A plug for Brett and a not-so-subtle dig at Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, who the previous summer had famously said, The train has left the station, meaning the team was moving on without Favre. Watching the Iron Man last night was awesome! exclaimed Eric from Appleton. He still has tons of fans out here. We want him to go to the Super Bowl and win it for the Jets! And now Brian from Neenah was on the line. Crack open a tall cold one for number 4! he trumpeted. Brett knows how to win the close ones! To think we could have had him for another year!

Rookie and Bill popped a top. Multiple tops. Whoosh!

Mike from Green Bay called with payback on his mind. Get that deep fryer going! he shouted. You saw what Brett did last night. I wanna deep-fry all those Favre bashers! Cook em up!

Sizzle, sizzle, fry.

Todd from Oshkosh had it in for the Packers general manager. Lets deep-fry Ted Thompson! he crowed.

At this point Rookie finally lost it. After sixteen weeks, ten hours a week160 hours of his lifehearing the same thing over and over, he had his Howard Beale from Network moment. He wasnt so much mad as hell, he just didnt want to take it anymore.

Its driving me crazy, listening to this every day! he said into his mike. Whens it gonna end?

Not till January, said Bill.

For two days before the Pats game, everyone was bashing Brett, Rookie continued. Now because of last night all the Favre Horns call in and blow! Brett this, Brett that, if only we still had Brett. Well, we dont! The Jets spent $140 million in the offseasonno wonder their records better than last year! Lets see how the Packers and Jets do over the next three years. Its been like this since August! People who just cant get over it. When are they gonna move on? Its so tiresome, speculating what it would be like if Favre was here! Hes not! Cant we talk about the guys who are here!

Rookie paused for breath. Scanning some e-mails, he groaned.

Oh my God, its all just more of the same! Its never gonna stop. Five hours a day, its all we talk about. Bretts been gone three months! Hes not coming back! People gotta start dealing with reality. When are we gonna put this to bed? Do we ever get to talk about anything else?

The show went to commercial. Drop by Brett Favres Steakhouse on Brett Favre Pass for lunch or dinner, said the chipper radio voice in Rookies headphones. It was the first ad of the break. There was no escaping No. 4. Rookie held his head in his hands.