Well, it’s been fun.

I’ll have a lot more tonight and tomorrow, but right now I need to tear down, get back to the hotel, check out, get a cab to the airport and then have my flight delayed or canceled. Good times.

I did want to make one quick note about all the nice things everyone has said about me being here and the fact that I’m a blogger doing the work of the regular beat guys. I just want to say nothing could be further from the truth. Most of us have no idea how hard these guys work and how amazing they are at what they do. Being here has really given me an even greater respect for the work we are privy to as fans of the Packers. Are some of the beat guys stronger than others? Of course, but they each have their strengths as well. And you just have no idea how hard they work. It’s extremely impressive.

So thanks to everyone for reading, commenting and chatting. I’ll have more on Twitter throughout the day and still have one or two posts I’ll get up eventually.

Thanks a million.

(For those who are unfamiliar, check out Wilde’s Mailbox here)

Greg Bedard (sub required):

You should pay attention to this list, and what happened at the Senior Bowl in general.

Since Ted Thompson was named general manager in 2005, the Packers have drafted 15 players from Senior Bowl rosters in those five drafts.

Three of the Packers’ first four selections in last year’s draft – B.J. Raji, Clay Matthews and Quinn Johnson – were standouts at the Senior Bowl and appeared on this list.

So, yeah, Thompson likes the Senior Bowl.

Tom Pelissero:

Did not pay that much attention to the Senior Bowl. The game itself isn’t nearly as valuable as tape of players’ college careers, and the Packers don’t even send their coaches to watch practices. So I’m not knocking myself out breaking that down.

Yes, I’m feeling mischievous.

Back in October, Pete Dougherty wrote the following:

Regardless of his current role, linebacker A.J. Hawk says he would like to remain with the Packers beyond this season.

That decision, though, almost surely will come down to whether he’s willing to take a major pay cut from the $4.1 million he’s scheduled to make in base salary next year.

It’s a given the Packers won’t bring back Hawk next year at that pay. They presumably would ask him to take a pay cut before releasing him, and if they do, it will be up to Hawk to accept their new offer or force them to cut him so he can sign with another club.

I just remember saying on Packer Transplants at the time that there was no way the Packers would be asking Hawk to take a pay cut considering the fact that Thompson went into 2008 willing to pay Kabeer Gbaja Biamila north of 10 million to only play on 3rd downs. Also add in the fact that the last player Thompson asked to take a pay cut was Darren Sharper, and it just didn’t seem plausible.

So when told point blank by Hawk’s agent yesterday that the team would most certainly NOT be asking his client to take a pay cut, Dougherty gives us the following:

Hawk’s 2010 salary is $4.1 million after he reached playing-time escalators earlier in his career, and he’s also due a $500,000 workout bonus. Considering Chillar’s contract extension and the possibility that Desmond Bishop offers an alternative to share time at that position, the Packers had to think about whether Hawk was worth $4.6 million this year.

No, they didn’t Pete. YOU thought about it and chose to share your musing in a blog post for all to see. You said that it was “a given”. How about a follow up saying that you were wrong? Or maybe a post how you think the Packers are blowing it by hanging onto Hawk? Give me something, anything that shows me you take ownership of what you wrote back in October – unless it’s only low-life bloggers that have, you know, some sense of accountability…

Dear Mike,

Seriously? SERIOUSLY?

Two days. You wrote that TWO DAYS after the debacle in the desert. I was just starting to ease into the offseason when you go and pen what can only be described as a fan’s lament in your ‘column’ for today’s Green Bay Press Gazette.

TWO DAYS.

Aren’t you supposed to be the professional here? The dispassionate observer? Oh, sure I understand, it’s an opinion column and that’s what you’re doing – giving your opinion. But the fact that you choose to write about the officials and the blown calls in the playoff game in Arizona a full two days after the game, speaks to the fact that you are clearly more fan than journalist.

Yes, it hurts. You know who it hurts? Fans.

You write:

A day after the game, Rodgers and Packers General Manager Ted Thompson downplayed the crucial final missed call. They didn’t want to sound like sore losers, and they knew there were other factors contributing to the loss…

They knew there were other factors. The fact that you completely disregard them in favor of crying about the officials, from your perch as Sports Editor of the Green Bay Press Gazette, is a sad commentary on the state of the institution where the Packers franchise was born.

Packers fans deserve better.

Sincerely,

Aaron.

For those of you not on Twitter or who missed it after the game yesterday, a recap.

It all started with:

Playing with Yahoo!’s playoff scenario generator, if everything goes according to plan today including Minn win…

To which I responded:

MIN isn’t going to win.

Which prompted the following back and forth:

GB: …There isn’t much chance of the Packers not playing Arizona in 1st round. And, no @Aaron_Nagler, the Vikings won’t lose to Bears

AN: I sense a Twitter-Bet coming on….

GB: If the Bears beat the Vikings, I will take a Twitter pic with something of CheeseheadTV. For a week.

GB: And your Twitter pic will just be a picture of a sheet of paper saying ‘Greg Bedard rules.’

AN: That’s a bet. And yes for those asking – straight up. No spread.

GB: Done. I’m not even looking for my CheeseheadTV football because I won’t need it.

As the kids like to say – It is on like Donkey Kong.

I love me some beat reporting when it comes to the Packers. I hold our guys and gals in the highest regard. I also like to think that I don’t shy away from calling them out on their bullshit.

So it is this afternoon as I peruse the transcript of Mike McCarthy’s remarks to the media, the day after a heartbreaking one point loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Now, what is the media there in the auditorium for? To get information for their news outlets so that they might get said information to the fans and the general public. And what do the fans want to know today, the day after a heartbreaking one point loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers?  I can name any number of things, from Mason Crosby’s status to Capers’ reasoning for only rushing three on the last drive. You know what’s NOT on the top of my or ANY fans ‘need-to-know’ list?

Where is Johnny Jolly today?

You know what? I could give a shit where Johnny Jolly is one day after a heartbreaking one point loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. And yet, what is the first question asked of McCarthy today?

Is Johnny Jolly away from the team today?

I mean – are you serious? Are. You. Serious?

Now I know what some of you are thinking – obviously this was asked by Greg Bedard as he’s been all over the Jolly/drug charge story…no?

No.

At this very moment, Bedard and Tom Silverstein are on a bus on their way from Cleveland to Detroit for a connecting flight to Green Bay after their plane from Pittsburgh had to make an emergency landing. I kid you not. So who was it? I want, nay, need to know. Much more than I need to know Johnny Jolly’s whereabouts one day after a heartbreaking one point loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.  You know, if reporters are going to waste our time by asking about Johnny Jolly’s whereabouts, they should maybe take a look at another, as of yet, underreported aspect of the story – mainly how completely and utterly ridiculous the whole thing is.

Alright. I’m done. And if this was asked by a member of the national media…if by chance, say, John Clayton was in attendance and I missed it – I humbly apologize to the best local beat reporters on the planet.

I’ve been listening to quite a little bit of Jason Wilde on his various ESPNMilwaukee radio appearances lately. Whether it’s Green and Gold Today, The D-List, or Homer’s show, there’s basically not an episode I miss. (Though the crew on the D-List can get a bit tedious with its penchant to wander off in all directions, topic wise. Of course, I say that as someone who works with Corey Behnke…but I digress.)

Something came up on said D-List on Tuesday morning, I believe, that has really been grinding my gears ever since. Basically, Drew Olson, Dan Needles and…Trenni? (No idea.) were spurred on by a reader’s email to complain about McCarthy leaning so heavily on the pass on Monday night and not running the ball enough. Trenni (again, if anyone can help me here, I have no idea who this woman is…), in particular, was very upset about the lack of running plays.

I just don’t get it.

How many more years does McCarthy need to be coach until people will finally give up on the idea that he is EVER going to field a power football team? That he is ever going to ‘lean on the run’ as it were? It’s never going to happen people, no matter WHAT happens with the weather. People see the cold and automatically assume the running game must be featured. That’s just not the case, especially, and this is the key, when there is no wind down on the field. It can be 5 degrees out, but as long as there’s minimal wind, I have no problem with McCarthy coming out in 5 wide, going shotgun and letting Rodgers do his thing. That’s what this team IS for God’s sake. And it’s what the NFL has become, like it or not. It’s been said hundreds of times but it bares repeating:

You don’t run to win. You run when you’re winning.

This is especially true in the Packers case where they have, arguably, one of the top 5 quarterbacks in the league and one of the, again arguably, top 3 receiving corps in the league. Why on EARTH would McCarthy then turn around and hand the ball to an admittedly steady but unspectacular back like Ryan Grant? There’s no reason the weather, again barring major wind gusts, should force the playcaller to take the ball out of the hands of his best players.

And it just stupefies me that people still don’t seem to get that.