Smoke, Fire, Eggs and Whathaveyou
By Aaron Nagler on Nov 13, 2009 with 79 Comments
By now you’ve read, or at least heard about, this story from Don Walker over at the Journal Sentinel regarding a part-time maintenance worker who was seemingly fired for a comment he made to Mike McCarthy during the week before the Viking game. Read the story and then come back to me.
Done? Good.
A couple things before people get out-of-hand with “McCarthy is losing it!”-type statements. I find it incredibly difficult to believe that the story, as told by Wood himself to Walker, is as innocent as he makes it out to be. I spoke with Walker on the phone this morning and, as he intimates in his story, Wood initially wanted nothing to do with this event being publicized. In fact, according to Walker, Wood ‘begged him not to write about it’.
I find that interesting.
Look, it could very well be that things happened the way Wood says they did. Maybe McCarthy really was/is that sensitive. In fact, it doesn’t speak well for McCarthy’s side of the story for him to say, as he did on the radio this morning, “I did not fire anyone”. Well of course you didn’t coach – but that doesn’t mean you didn’t have him fired.
But all that said – I simply find it impossible to believe that, with ALL the things going on in his world, Mike McCarthy would go out of his way to find out who Wood was, find his superiors, and have him fired – all in the week he was preparing for Brett Favre and the Vikings to come into Lambeau Field. If that is indeed the case, then Patrick Crayton was  more right than he knows – the Packers are indeed cracking up.
One final point: I also find it interesting that the Green Bay Press Gazette has, as of 11:30 est, nothing whatsoever about this up on their site. Yes, it’s the Journal Sentinel’s story – but it concerns McCarthy and the public perception of him. That alone makes this worthy of attention from the second largest outfit that covers the team. Their silence could be fuel for conspiracy theorists who posit that the paper is very much in-bed with the team when it comes to being quiet on matters that reflect negatively on the organization. To be clear – that is not my take – but I’ve been sold that theory enough to know that the Press Gazette would be wise to at least acknowledge the story to avoid the accusation.
UPDATE: It would seem I missed the AP story the GBPG put up a few hours ago. But really – that’s almost worse.
UPDATE II: Interesting when you look at the AP story somewhere other than the GBPG. Notice anything?
Finally, for the record, I reached out to the Packers this morning to try and get something, anything, more than the statement mentioned in Walker’s piece. I have not yet heard anything but when/if I do, I will be sure to pass it on.
UPDATE III: McCarthy at his presser today:
He made a comment to me, I made a comment to him, it’s not the worst thing that’s been said, but I would not say it to a fellow employee
Doesn’t exactly sound like “Get them ready to kick butt” to me…
Filed Under: Mike McCarthy
[...] yes between work, family and the firing heard around the Blogosphere, I am way behind. But fear not – the oldest has a sleepover and the wife is going out for [...]
I wonder if Mike Wood can play RT. Maybe thats why he was let go.
MM: Daddy, daddy Donnie said bad things to me.
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TT: That’s all right Mikey I take care of that naughty man.
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TT: (speed dial maintenance) Alan fire the bastard.
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MM: Thank you Daddy!
I heard this guy had been talking to the head turf manager in Minnesota on a packer-supplied cell phone as well as making his comments. Wood thinks he could have a few more good years of groundskeeping in him if he only worked for a team with astro-turf. Packer’s management is considering filing tampering charges.
My take is that the dude doesn’t want to be scrutinized, because he hopes he can get his job back someday. He probably loves the Packers as much as we all do, and he knows MM is on his way out.
Jesus, MM ADMITS they exchanged comments. Then, ADMITS he tried to find out who he was and who his supervisor was. Then, when asked if he had the guy fired, says “It was a one minute conversation.”
Don’t let it hit you on the way out, Mike. This is Dan Devine type stuff.
I don’t know where the truth lies in this latest sordid development in Packer World.
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I do know, however, that four key twats have been active players recently in Green Bay’s descent back into a 1970s/1980s-like Black Hole: (i) Ted Thompson; (ii) Brent Lorenzo Fauve; (iii) Mike McCarthy and (iv) Mark Murphy. In that order, too, I would say.
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One of that ugly foursome is gone, and at least another will be gone soon. Anyone see any disquieting patterns of disgraceful behavior in the time that this foursome (now threesome) has been around? Is it a coincidence that things have gone downhill for the franchise since these Four Horsemen of the Clueless Puds Club have engaged in acts of territorial pissing and other assorted power trips?
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I will concede, ever so slightly, that we can resist judging Mark Murphy too harshly. For now. But my god, his little trip to Mississippi in 2008 with a briefcase full of millions read like a goddamned Elmore Leonard novel. He has hardly inspired confidence.
This is a dispute over who said what. The Packers HR people had to investigate it. In my opinion, if there are no witnesses, then the investigator has to make a judgement call, and may rely on any past transgressions, if any, by either MM or the accused. If there was no prior history of similar conduct, I would think that the Packers would have treated the 20+ year employee with a warning. Termination is awfully harsh otherwise. No, I am not a lawyer.
Make that “Five” Horsemen of the Clueless Puds Club. I inadvertently omitted my hero, the noble and sage sports agent Bus Cook, from my list of franchise-killing twats.
CSS
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You must be one lonely puppy, you just can’t get you mind off your favorite past time sport – unfortunately its not foot-’balls’. Talking about Favre on a GB blog seems a lot more natural than your favorite metaphor.
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If you have some sexual hangup, try a porn blog and save us all your misery and low class satire…maybe you can cross the tracks in GB and find you a woman with your $50 bucks who can make a real man out you…
CSS – greenbaypackerbob
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Done. No more personal back and forth, ok?
Folks
No one on this blog is saying Wood was smart in what he did, but for MM to have him fired over it is crazy.
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If MM wants to beat up on somebody, how bout the Vikings or Dallas, not some part time 22 yr. grounds worker. It looks desparate for a guy who is a coach of a professional football team.
greenbaypackerbob – how do you know McCarthy had him fired? In fact, how do you know McCarthy didn’t ask for the guy’s name so he could talk to him at a latter point? You don’t and neither do I. MM said he was ‘taken aback’ when he read the story this morning. I believe him.
MM admits that he exchanged comments with him which led to his dismissal. On the Packers.com he admits he ‘asked what the guys name was”… a jury would ask, “why?” – if it meant “zero” to him as he goes on to say, then what was his interest in the name? And when asked if he would like to see “the man get his job back” he would not comment anymore.
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I’m sure he did not do it personally but it was the result of his exchanges (my opinion of course)
Technically, a jury wouldn’t ask anything. It would be a lawyer.
touche, but jurors, would sure ‘think’ it.
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I believe from the comments on this blog a lot of your posters are ‘thinkers’ too and why many would agree with the assesment!
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In a civil suite ‘evidence beyond a reasonable doubt’ is not the standard all you need is sufficient evidence (51+%)— (just ask OJ where his heisman went .. lol)
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– sorry to get edgy with CSS but his comments were personally directed at me and were offensive (please don’t fire him)
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lol
@ Aaron – I apologize to you and you alone for not respecting civil discourse on your blog and taking the ‘troll’ bait so to speak. It really is a shame that some posters come here with no intent of contributing to a conversation. I’ll ignore the trolls moving forward, should have done so to begin with.
Okay, I’m not saying that that guy said what he said he didn’t say (that’s one confusing sentence
), but if he did, why should he be fired. It doesn’t sound like he meant anything bad about it, and that he wa just trying to motivate McCarthy, tell a joke, or both. This I’d just stupid.
Hey McCarthy, you are an NFL coach, a job only thirty-two people in the whole world get to do. In my opinion, your not doing a very good job right now. Why do you need to take it out on an employee who, from the sound of it, has given more to our great franchise than you have.
Sorry if I’m being overcritical and a jerk, but this doesn’t sound very fair to me.
Of course McCarthy got him fired. Whether he personally called for his firing or not, we’ll never know. But the guy didn’t get canned for what he said–he got canned for whom it said it to…McC.
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And let’s just say these firings happen all the time (even though they don’t). It’s STILL another black mark on this current Packers administration. Even if this type of firing is standard policy of the team or the league, I cannot believe somebody didn’t step up and say “wait a minute….we’re going to look like fools yet again if we fire this guy.” But no one did, and here we are.
Aaron, one last comment and I’m off this topic.
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I’m glad to exchange ideas with anyone on this blog, both with whom I may agree or disagree without believing I have any privy insight into someone’s ‘intent’ (how could I, I don’t know anyone personally on the site).
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But all should share in this rule equally and not have to take the abuse of those who would use foul language to try and get a point across because they don’t like a particular person’s stance on history or a topic under discussion.
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e.g. call it the ‘goose and gander’ fairness law…
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Anyhow, enough on that issue…see you after Sunday (e.g. and there’s no secret Davinci Favre code in that statement, trust me!). Go Pack.
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lol :>)
Ruppert – all good points!
By the way, why does an ad for Vikings tickets keep popping up on the site. Have you really attracted that many trolls, or is Minnesota trying to corner the Packer fan market for tickets
I saw an ad for Vikings tickets on nfl.com. They’re giving away $20 in free food coupons with 2 tickets to a home game. So basically, they can’t even sell out by giving away free food!!
Just one thing:
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If the guy insulted McCarthy, and it gets out that he insulted him and nobody did nothing. How would that appear? Would it seem like McCarthy doesn’t have balls?
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It’s a no-win situation. You keep the guy, you sound like a pussy. You fire him, you sound like Hitler.
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That, given that he insulted him. It’s another issue if it was an innocent comment like “go team”, which IMHO is ludicrous to think that was all that he said.
McCarthy doesn’t seem to have balls when it comes to this team, so maybe this is how he took out his frustration.
Says a lot about McCarthy. He’s got a team that just lost to the Buccanners, he’s calling plays that make know sense at all, he’s making idiotic comments every time someone points a camera at his stupid face, and, in general, his football team is descending lower and lower every week, and this is how he spends his time? Going out of his way to have a maintenance guy fired for taking to him. From the way things look, this guys given more to our franchise than Mike and his foolishness ever have, by spending more than twenty years of his life at Lambeau because it was the team he loved. He is a true Packer fan, who has been treated very unfairly by the team he has dedicated himself to. If this makes sense to anyone, please explain it to me. I’m really at a loss here.
Like the guys on Lambeau live/Green and Gold today said… DUDE, STFU and do your job. Loved the analogy “If you were an assembly worker for GM and the CEO came walking through, would you say… hey how’s that bailout going”??? NO, know your roll, blend in, and STFU!
GBP 4 LIFE
I just sent my resume to the Packers. I read there was a job opening for a janitor.
All it would take to drastically change the tone of the supposed comment from benign to inappropriate would be adding in a few words at the end of it.. like, “For a change” or “unlike last time”. Example:
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“Hey, Coach, let’s get the boys ready to kick some ass this weekend…FOR A CHANGE/UNLIKE LAST TIME”.
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I have to agree with a few other posters- as a person who has some experience in hiring/firing employees in the past, as well as dealing with poorly behaving persons in the general public, it is alarming how often grown adults will lie through omission in an attempt to make themselves look “clean”. People tend to refuse to take responsibility for their own comments anymore. It is also unlikely that a multi-million dollar corporation that deals with the ticky-tacky nature of professional sports athlete contracts would make a huge error in a basic HR firing scenario, but that said, who knows.
As William stated:
“Much Ado About Nothing”