Harry Sydney: Ted gets A+ for Draft
By coreyb
It's been a week since this broadcast last Monday after the draft. But you know what? You gotta save the good stuff for weeks like this. I just started diving into the WDUZ Sportsline broadcast from the day after the draft when Ted Thompson doubter extraordinaire Harry Sydney said this about his initial Packers draft grade:
I look at initial grade in the sense of Ted Thompson resisted a lot of different things, he resisted going to get - You know he could have gotten Michael Crabtree, Aaron Maybin all those different things. There's a lot of ways he could have gone - and everything fell perfectly for him to get that one guy in my opinion ... that one guy that can change the face of the team and that's that defensive nose-guard..B.J. and he went and got him. And I was impressed with that move. That kind of fell in his lap, but I was really impressed with Ted when he went up and got Clay Matthews the 3rd.. because we had talked about the USC linebackers and having to get a linebacker ... in my opinion what he did not only did he make the Packers, put them in position if these guys play through. But guess what? Their history is of making plays. He got the guys - not the guys that - oh the safe pick - he got the guys that can make this team better Right Now. I applaud him. You wanna give him a grade? He's got an A+ in my book.
You can listen to Sportsline at the WDUZ website or at Packernet.com which has mp3 versions the day after each broadcast.
Comments (3)
May 04, 2009 at 07:13 pm
You know that Harry Sydney is one smart guy....he agrees with me completely. And, if I remember correctly, he hasn't always agreed with Packer management in the past. To put it mildly, i.e.
May 04, 2009 at 07:29 pm
Yeah, El Syd has often been very critical of TT. Nice to see him giving credit where it's due.
Packernet is a classic site, btw. Living in Minneapolis, it's like my freakin lifeline during the season. You can listen live on line on www.thefan1075.com too, iirc.
May 05, 2009 at 02:07 pm
And here I thought ol' Harry had gone the way of the Do-Do. Awhile back, Harry Sydney used to write for Packer Report (which some here don't think much of-that's their business).
Actually, Harry may simply be an independent sports pundit who happened to previously play for the 49ers and then the Packers, having caught ONE pass from the Gunslinger, himself, in that time. Not that it matters much, nowadays.
Harry was also an Assistant Coach, for the Packers, during the Ray Rhodes 1999 Season. So, he had access on the inside like none of us (here) will ever get. And, a few seasons past, Harry wrote an Article that "outed" as some would say, the real issues that were occurring (back then) in Team Operations meetings, etc., which the Sporting Press never get access to, or... are told to shut up about. His Article also included the name of Ron Wolf, specifically.
I questioned the PR Publisher, at the time, and was told to go have a smoke. In other words, he didn't deny it. Yet he didn't fully stand by it, either. Not sure if it still exists in this day & age, PR now has a new Publisher and we haven't discussed Harry Sydney, as yet.
Still, the Article was LOADED with specifics and it was quite the expose', to say the least. I took it with a grain o' salt, as most of the mainstream-press were giving #4 a soft pass over the Soap Opera, as opposed to clamoring for detail(s). In fact, very few, even over at CBS SportsLine, were writing anything in the vein of (?) I want to know this or that, and why is no one asking those questions - then, they would list exact verbage.. The four-letter dang sure wasn't touching that whipping post for anything. They luv the QB, but have never really given GBP their "earned" due.
Ask yourselves - how often do they discuss Bart Starr when it comes to the old time greats of the game? The go back to Dan Marino, and that's pretty much it. Only when Favre went to NYJ, did they suddenly wash mud off Joe Namath's football grave. And, now that it's all over with, are we hearing Broadway Joe's name at all?
Bart Starr won 5 Champioships in 7 years. And, most Sports Channels can't seem to find time to discuss such greatness. Even though it's by tenure mostly, with a little luck and certainly some DNA-bred toughness for the game, Favre's "legend" is based pretty much on him taking over all of the STATS that pretty much used to belong to Dan Marino. Other than that, he gets compared to a Baseball hero, from Baltimore. Correct? They do not mention the INT stat.
Yet, little or no mention about GREEN BAY, unless it's in a bad light. So much for today's Sporting Press being fair & balanced. I don't disagree that the Packers were bad for a long long time. But, to discount, or ignore Bart Starr, a true tactician of the game, with some of the lowest INT percentages in the NFL, period? Not to mention all those 'winning' championship seasons? C'mon! Only one other QB has accomplished what Starr did, and it's prime debate material amongst fans as to who "is the better" between them. This other QB accomplished 7 Championships in 10 years. Can you name him?
Personally, i'm glad to see Harry hasn't given up writing just yet. I do believe he was let go from Packer Report for several reason(s) - one of which was a cost cutting move where more than just Harry were dismissed permanently (at least for the time being). Another reason, had to be the fact that he wrote that blazing Article about what happened back during the Ray Rhodes Era, which gives light to why Green Bay would only put up with a black Head Coach for only one season. It's certainly not how I view the Green Bay Packers-then, I'm not on the Board of Directors, either. This is just my fandom talking.
In the end, commentary about the write-up was 50/50 on who thought it was sound and who didn't. The heat over the Soap Opera wouldn't abide having adult disciplined discussion, that much was certain.
Do I think much of Harry? From his many writings, he does have a flair, so to speak. I've never met him, and neither have most of you. So, to say I think highly of him would be a detriment to him and myself. And, it's not needed before I take his evidence and give it credence. I did do some research to try and verify certain things.
Would I give the Packers an A+ for the 2009 Draft? From some points of view, I did give it an A- ... in other lines of thought, I see it to certainly be a B+ and no less. Others across the land have stated it was a C-, at best. Those writers are NOT Packerfans, nor do they think some small podunk town along Lake Michigan deserves much credit for anything, let alone NFL cudos - so, there ya go! Mel Kiper gave it an A. Not so sure, I like having Kiper in our corner, but it is what it is.
Harry is just being Harry in my view. I do give credence to the fact that he's - 1)played the game, for real, 2)Coached the game, for real, 3)participated in an NFL Team Operations work process, on the inside, where most Sports Reporters never get access to, 4)and now he's basically an average or so Sports Writer, himself. In some cases, I would simply call it blogging. Then, about half of today's news actually comes from Bloggers as opposed to actual Reporters, investigative or otherwise. So, go figure.
Don't actually mean to ramble. Then again, I guess I do. Somehow, the site of Harry's name back on the web and participating in PackerTalk just brings it out of me, it seems. I have emailed him from time to time and got responses, for our IPB site. He did not respond when I queried him on that Ray Rhodes Article, however. Maybe he was told not to, or maybe he just figured we should all take it with a grain or two and think what we will. I know this - the Pro-Favre Crowd burned Harry in effigy, right away; the Pro-GBP corwd went "ah-ha" .... that has spock logic to it. That's how much more divided things became after Harry wrote what he did.
Just the same, I like hearing what Harry has to say. It gives hope to the fact that Sites lilke this one, and even my lil ol' attempt at IPB could one day earn some real presence in the World Wide Web of PackerTalk.
(Now, hack away)