Wait a minute...how is the fans telling Nick what to do and what not to do any different from you telling the fans what to do and what not to do?

Now I understand it's an emotional game for these players. But it's a pretty emotional game for the fans as well. And you can't tell me that last Sunday was frustrating as all hell.

All that said, I didn't see the fan comments in question. So I don't know how bad they were. But in sports, it does look a little silly to celebrate while your ass is getting handed to you.

A good quote I read this week somewhere: "act like you've been there"

Aaron, I've been reading on this site for over a year. And I almost never write in on your posts and the chats (which I LOVE!)

But I feel as if I have to comment on this. Nick Barnett is wrong. In this specific instance it was unacceptable for him to celebrate DOING HIS JOB on one play, when he FAILED on the previous one.

Look, I know professionals miss tackles sometimes; no one is perfect, but when the game is on the line, and the Packers are losing to a team they were expected to handle easily, he just looked silly celebrating a first down run stop.

I love Nick Barnett, but I get so angry when I see players celebrating when they are losing...and especially if they have been getting dragged up and down the field all game!

BTW Aaron, you told me in a chat once about Kettle of Fish, and you recommended that I should go there. You described it as a 'Packer stronghold for New Yorkers'. I definitely want to go, what day are you guys going to be live blogging from there. Is it this Sunday?

Nick can have a playboy bunny party everytime he makes a play for all i care. All that matters is that the play was made.

If it was a run of the mill tackle that he made 5 yards downfield or more, then I'd probably be a little bit irritated. As it stood, he made a tackle for a loss. That's worth celebration. How many people yelled "Yes!" when he made the tackle? Probably most of us, that is, unless you're one of those weird silent football fans. Why can't he do the same?
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Do you want him to think about all of the bad plays that he's made out into perpetuity? Absolutely not. If his mind isn't in the moment, then there's an issue, because he won't be focused on the play at hand. The sooner he can let go of the bad plays and refocus on playing, the fewer mistakes he's likely to make in the future. As long as he beats himself for a moment after the poor plays, he should be able to celebrate after every positive play. And being the guy that he is, you KNOW he beats himself up over every missed tackle.

I really don't like any of the on field celebrating that much. But, I'm an old guy and that would never have been tolerated by many of my heros (for lack of a better term). However, I must disagree that the fans need to shut up. If it weren't for those fans where would the cash for his multi-million dollar contract come from? They have every right to comment on his actions and words. If he doesn't like it, simple, don't Tweet. In the meantime even the Favreites have the right to their say.

C'mon man. I was very obviously not talking about that one play, but rather, that play in the context of what happened for most of the afternoon.

Furthermore, I think yelling, smacks to the helmet, or a firm "let's go!!" does just as much to get your teammates fired up, as a Samurai dance. I'm sure all of Nick's teammates were plenty fired up to see him make a big play, but I sincerely doubt any of them saw him do his dance and thought, "Ohhh SHIT, Nick's breaking out his samurai dance, NOWWWW I'm suuuper fired up!!!"

Dances in general are just seem kind of lame I think, and that goes for Driver too. And they seem especially lame when you're getting crapped on by a 9.5 point underdog.

"I don't give two bits about what happened before or after"

I envy your ability to watch plays independent of the context of the game at hand. Given your statement, I guess you'd be cool with Nick doing his Samurai dance late in the 4th quarter of a 42-0 blow out loss at home to the Bears? (God forbid)

If Barnett wants to celebrate, I don't really care. However, I've always thought he was overrated. The Darrien Sharpier of LBs.
Remember how he would always refuse to be moved to the outside? I've always just thought he was a bit soft and a bit of a showboat.
Trade him for a LT.

Let's see how this works:
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Fans have the right to say what they say
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Aaron has the right to say what he says
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Aaron tells fans to shut up
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Fans tell Aaron ......
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My God where will this all end?

(insert Happy Face here - I can't do it)

For the record, I didn't say we were "losing" to a 9.5 point underdog, I said we were getting "crapped on" by a 9.5 point underdog ;)

Aaron, I'm sure Nick could give two shits what any fan thinks he should and should not do on the field. And I believe he said as much via Twitter.

Where I take exception is when you tell fans what THEY should think or say off the field. It's just hypocritical, plain and simple.

I'm just spitballing here Aaron, but I think offensive guys like Driver get a free pass because most people equate offense to winning or being able to win.

What I mean by that is, when the offense is out there cranking and doing well, the fans get fired up because they sense that a score is forthcoming and possibly a win. You don't get that same sort of sense from the defense.

I don't know if that makes sense, probably not, but that's my thoughts behind it anyway. Offense = scoring and winning; Defense = maybe not so much?

For "blogsationalism" your post works fine.
As a respected post author tho it probably doesn't. It's uncomfortable because it's just not you (tone)

Everyone - MM just anounced that Clifton is out for at least two weeks. Colledge vs. Allen - We'll find out a lot about Daryn in that game.

Sometimes you have to rant hard and get it off your chest, regardless of the naysayers. I respect that, Aaron. It helps that I agree with you, I suppose.
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Advice: A samurai knows 7 ways of killing all of you with your Caps Lock key...I would watch what I said. There's probably a samurai watching everyone of you right now.

I'm going to start a blog called "Be nice world!" -- my very first post will be a cuss-filled diatribe about how much I hate the British. But it won't be hypocritical. Because it's my blog.

Wow do i agree with you Aaron! Look I respect old-school players ("Act Like You have Been There") but at the same time I love the showmanship of other players (Deon's dances, the old Washington Redskins circle jump..ect). While out of personal preference I don't care for the Samurai Dance, there was absolutely nothing wrong with Nick doing it after he made a tackle for a loss. What no one can ever say about Nick is that he doesn't work hard. Infact, I belive he works as hard at his profession as anybody works at theirs. He may be an average player, but it is not for lack of effort or dedication to the game. I understand fans were frusterated by the performance of the whole team, but to single out Barnett and boo him after he made a play was weak and Bush League....in my opinion

Mark - I would totally read your blog. And, Aaron? Finally, some of the headed commentary I'd expected from the Rouse release. I more or less agree that Nick's celebration was genuine and acceptable, but I understand why people are upset about it. I guess I just come down on the side of "Nick was getting all his frustration out, let him."

ppl, ppl, ppl, ppl, lets channel all this anger towards the more obvious foe this weekend...the goddamn RAMS!!!!

For me I'll take the way Will Henderson would lay somebody out and act like it was nothing.

I'll address the Driver analogy. It's not the same thing. Driver's celebration comes afetr a first down conversion. If a defensive player misses a tackle on second down to set up third and short and then makes the stop on third down, then it would be the same thing.
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For the record, I was a little disappointed in the celebration but I understood why he was doing it. I even sent a tweet in his support (but he doesn't follow me) after he started talking about everybody getting on his case.

These guys make a heck of a lot of money to play a game. They need to just play the game. If the fans want to whine, complain, call names, or whatever, so long as it doesn't hurt him or his dog, they can do so and to get upset about it is pretty silly. Sure we fans can act silly and juvenile, but he needs to learn to be a professional and not let it bother him. A little of this is fun, but not while you are getting whooped by one of the worst teams in football.

I wonder if these personal demonstrations are indeed 'just trying to fire up the troops', or a 'look at me' celebration. My guess is the latter. Quite, professional leadership, as was the case with Will Henderson, in my opinion is more approperiate and inspirational. True in other areas of society.

Aaron, I think it's all about timing. It was obvious we were getting steam rolled and I think that's why some of us felt it was just a dumb place in time to be doing that. Not to mention, all he did was stop a guy for a two yard loss. I mean, if he picke off a pass or did something that acutally turned the game (or even got us off the field on third down) then I'd say it would warrant a samuri.

Damn, look what losing does to us... why do we even have to say anything about this (it does seem a little silly I give you that).

Nice Transplants with Lombardi, I'm shocked evey week when I see who you guys keep getting to come on!

Yes, respect big guy (well, most of the time ;)
I don't have an opinion one way or the other about Barnett. When a guy sheetz his drawers and tweets about it I guess I expect some unusual behavior. My mind is only on where we'll be after 4 games

I prefer when a player acts like he's been there before. When Jennings scores touchdowns, he reacts as if its just another day at the office.

Hell, when he scores GAME WINNING touchdowns, same thing.

That doesn't mean I am opposed to celebrating a little if you just scored; but not after a tackle, or reception. That's just lame.

If you're going to defend Nick for having an emotional reaction, then I think you shouldn't be so quick to turn around and attack a fan for having an emotional reaction. Sorry man, that just strikes me as hypocritical. I guess you just feel one is justified, the other is not. I happen to disagree, but that's cool.

I am with you on this one Aaron. We were still in the game when Nick made this tackle. The D needed to make some plays and Barnett made a good one. His dance fired me up and showed me that we had players still excited about trying to pull out a win. I could see if we were getting blown out but we were not, we were in a very emotional stage of the game. I would much rather see some passion in a close game than a simple high five because it says hey look at me I'm still here and I'm not rolling over.

Kevin,

I disagree, they are paid to entertain us. Yes, they are playing a sport and should act professionally, but they are there to entertain us.
How many of us will remember how Gilbert Brown played on a play - play basis in 10 yrs, not many. But I'll damn sure remember the grave-digger. I loved to see the big guy get up off somebody and do the trademark move.
They will play the best when they are the most relaxed and having fun. That means some of them want to celebrate and I say hell yeah, have some fun. As long as they don't make an offensive gesture, it's cool in my book.

The Packers are one of the teams with the fewest "celebrators" in the league. Who, besides Barnett and Driver do this kind of stuff? The Driver comparison is exactly the same thing.
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Doesn't it make more sense to "fire up" the defense when we're losing? I mean, if we're up by 20, there's not much to fire up, is there?
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Fans who complain about Barnett are overreacting. Bill Michaels is an over-reactive moron. Barnett overreacted. Frankly, Aaron's post is probably an overreaction.
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I swear, some of us Packers fans just want a reincarnation of the '60s...we bitch about guys making too much money. We bitch about celebrations. We want to cut somebody as soon as they want a new contract. I think some of us want no names on the jerseys, no celebrating, iron-fisted management, etc. It ain't 1962 any more, people. Anybody bitching about Barnett SHOULD get over themselves, and they shouldn't need somebody else to tell them.

Wait... so you want all players to "act like they've been there before" and that shows true leadership? So it wasn't exciting to see when Brett Farve used run down and celberate like crazy? Is the Lambeau Leap not cool either? Its gets kinda old and tiresome for fans to always spout this nonsense that players shouldn't show any emotion. I do not want a bunch of robots out there. I loved the fact that "Brent" helped us win games. But he also appealled to alot of us coz he played the game the way we always thought we would...with EMOTION! Again this is not directed toward those who only were criticizng "game situation" but directed at those who say "act like you've been here before" for all players...except when its not all players (see Donald Driver and Brett Farve)

Amen Ruppert!

Nagler is wrong and Carriveau is right. So what else is new?
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Also the "Samuri" has always sucked. Lame. Lame. Lame.

Corey and Aaron will get to see Rouse close to home, He just signed with the NYG's. Brandon Jackson suffered a setback with his ankle.

Barnett has history of self-absorbed celebration despite the play of his defense/team. I'm talking about that game in CHI a few years ago (Yes, it was a few years ago, but still).. You know, the one that was played after Nick Barnett was ripped by the media all week. He had a good game, and I understand his feeling vindicated after all the questions about his ability to play at a high level that week. That said, he spent the entire game gloating about the field, acting like a complete buffoon while the Packers were getting their asses handed to them. Yes, I commented on Barnett's little show last week, because it was too little too late in a game where the Packers were being humiliated. I would expect a celebration like that on a goal line stop to potentially win a game. He stopped a running back for a loss, at a less-than-pivotal moment. Professional football players do it all the time, and get right back to the huddle for the next play.
Does Nick have the right to do what he likes? Sure does. And I have the right to think it is unprofessional and inappropriate.
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Ron la Canne: "..Clifton is out for at least two weeks. Colledge vs. Allen – We’ll find out a lot about Daryn in that game."
Ron, this is the scariest thing I've ever read. Man, I certainly hope we are pleasantly surprised.

VApackerfan - Just remembered that. Absolutely classic.

Agree with you 100%, Aaron. I couldn't care less about Barnett's celebrations. I am much more of a fan of cool, but i have more important things to worry about. So do Barnett and the Packers.

The handshake was as awesome as the samurai is lame.

Wow. 60 posts...
Anyway, I totally agree with you on this one, Aaron. At least Barnett has a pulse, something this team lacks. More Barnetts and less Hawks would be awesome. Yeah, pretty much got sick of Hawk and his averageness.

Holy comments Batman.

I still don't understand why this demonstration is necessary. I don't care if it's done, but just think it's more of a 'look at me' thing. In high school my basketball coach put an end to me doing such things. It only took once. I love and respect him to this day, as it taught me a life lesson. Paid players should be more professional. If's it's OK to do the dance, then be prepared to answer why it's OK to look like a fool and miss a makeable tackle. And if fans appear to be too emotional, about an emotional deed, commented on by a very, very emotional blogger, then too bad.

Hope I did not miss the point.

I went back and counted - yes I did make three points. Love this site and your work - please keep it up and I will be a continiual participant.

The average CHTV post gets 15-20ish responses. The one that starts 'Shut the Hell Up... gets 67 (probably a top 5 post). And we wonder how Glenn Beck became so popular...

Actually I think Behnke's comment about Nagler's comment about my comment is classic. It belongs on the Mt. Rushmore of comments about comments about comments.

If that tackle for loss was the turning point for the pack to come back and win would everyone still be bitching? I highly doubt it!

It's called excitement... the defense had been stagnant for most of the game, and he was pumped to make a good play... If you're pissed about it, have you actually ever watched NB play?

I like Barnett, and a particular point of view came to mind after the play, but for the most part I forgot about it. I might not have done it under those circumstances, but he did, whatever. This initial post is keeping the issue alive by stirring the pot. Why not just let the issue die a natural death? I thought it was already over. I'm older (although not WAY older), so you might think my conservatism is related to age, but is it really necessary to tell everyone to shut the hell up about it? This is only football, and we're Americans after all (well, most of us). Express an opinion and move on, but such statements are overly polarizing and adding expletives are just unnecessary (kid's stuff). I actually thought for a moment that you might be pandering to Nick since he's been willing to come on the show. Perhaps some want to be extreme just for effect, but to me, ad hominem attacks and posting expletives should be generally left for the weak minded.