The T.J. Rubley Hall of Shame Class

Who's in your hall?

I have a confession. Being a fan of a 9-0 team is a little boring. People come up to me at work and compliment the Packers and I smile and shrug, “Yeah, we’re good.” What can you say? I’m not complaining. I’ll take this problem every day of the week and two times on Sundays. But when you’re surrounded by people who are light years less fortunate in football glory than yourself, how do you exist without being a gloating a-hole?

This is a constant struggle for me. I have a wonderful fiancé. He’s kind, buys me things like kitties and lets me name them Clay, and he complains minimally when I disappear for hours at a time during Packer games or covering one of my many Packer related responsibilities. He has also warmed up to the Packers as a team a little. But when it comes to sports, sometimes I feel…I feel guilty. I like Manchester United, he likes Chelsea and Fulham. He’s an FSU grad and thought this year could be the year, then FSU lost three in a row. I have Wisconsin and USC (even though bowl banned we’re an arrogant bunch) in my back pocket. And the kicker, he’s a lifelong Washington Redskins fan.

It’s an okay inter-relationship rivalry, we rarely play each other, and both hate the Cowboys. Common hatred is the best way to cement a relationship. But this year I find myself fighting an uphill battle. Do you know how hard it is to say, with a straight face, “Maybe John Beck is the answer.” Or “No, I’m sure Rex Grossman can improve.”? All the while he reads the stats for Rodgers and sometimes I think wants to spit nails.

“It’s not fair.” And I shrug.

So the other morning in football team self-deprecation mood, my fiancé started in on how in his entire lifetime there is no Redskins hall of fame moments, they have no Rodgers-esque player. Instead they have a hall of shame. He then listed, and then list went on and on, every one year wonder, busted draft pick, every painful memory and every ‘Clinton Portis “let him fight a dog”’ moment he could remember.

While incredibly humorous, it gave me pause. While we Packers fans are incredibly lucky, we have some of our own Hall of Shame moments. And I’m not just talking Tony Mandarich or 30 year division winner drought. I mentioned my fiancé’s list on twitter and started thinking about the Packers list. Immediately a handful of people added the infamous T.J. Rubley to the list. While I’ve been trying for years to turn Rubley into a verb meaning: 1. grand, epic fail. 2. Having no brain, one man has taken his cause to FaceBook.  I personally despise Theron Joseph Rubley. The group, which sadly looks like it’s on its way to the archives quotes, “TJ Rubley is the single worst Packer of all time, a position which cannot be ignored. This is an attempt to clear my mind, all our minds, of this decade-old anger.”

Now this is a movement I can respect. What other demons, hall of shame moments, players from the past completely haunt us fans?

My personal Packers Hall of Shame (keeping it limited to actual memories I have and not things I read about) includes:

  1. 4th and 26th. Everyone’s favorite down and distance.
  2. Ahmad Carroll. His exhibit would be a picture of him surrounded by the number 5 en mass. 5 yards son! 5 YARDS!
  3. Ray Rhodes. There wouldn’t be a lot here. Maybe a video loop of him talking with no sound, since no one ever listened to him.
  4. Chris Jacke missing the late field goal in Raymond James Stadium in the rain on Sunday night in 1995. The exhibit would include my room as it was after I trashed in my rage that night.
  5. The picture of Holmgren grabbing Billy Schroeder’s helmet.
  6. A section of the hall will include mockups of the old Cowboys Stadium and the Metrodome, but no one will go there.
  7. Terrell Buckley running from sideline to sideline will also be played on a loop with my mother in the background yelling, “Up field!”
  8. NFC Championship Game 1995-1996 Season. A clock with 10:12 left on it.
  9. A hot tub.
  10. Ed Donatell

Thus is my introductory class into the T.J. Rubley Hall of Shame. I know there’s so many more; so tell me, what are yours?

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Comments (10)

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Farah's picture

November 16, 2011 at 09:59 am

Being alerted to the facebook page dedicated to the despising of TJ Rubley, as well as finding out his real name is Theron Joseph, just made my day. Thank God we have Aaron Rodgers to redeem the #12 for all of Packer posterity. That is all :)

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dullgeek's picture

November 16, 2011 at 10:06 am

I don't know if this list is what you were looking for, but these are some of my most painful Packers memories:

* Not stopping Young to Owens, NFC Divisional game
* Favre's interception in the NFC Championship game
* Facemask not called vs Arizona, NFC Wildcard game
* The Fridge scoring a TD on MNF
* Charles Martin body slamming Jim McMahon

I'm sure I'll come up with more...

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TheBlake42's picture

November 17, 2011 at 09:40 pm

Don't forget that Koonce recovered a fumble on the final drive, right before Young to Owens...

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foundinidaho's picture

November 16, 2011 at 10:07 am

Favre crying at his press conference.

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JohnRehor's picture

November 16, 2011 at 10:14 am

How about Mike McCarthy's moustache from '99

[img]http://blogimages.thescore.com/nfl/files/2011/02/mccarthy.jpg[/img]

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JohnRehor's picture

November 16, 2011 at 10:15 am

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Jayme Snowden's picture

November 16, 2011 at 10:19 am

I was thinking about that too. I like that in this pic it looks like he just pooped out a football.

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JohnRehor's picture

November 16, 2011 at 10:20 am

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JohnRehor's picture

November 16, 2011 at 10:23 am

Still wonder what Favre+Barry Sanders could have been. Instead, we took...

[img]http://i.cdn.turner.com/sivault/si_online/covers/images/1992/0928_large....

What a f------g fail

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Chris Carnall's picture

November 16, 2011 at 01:48 pm

Slightly off topic, but related to your post ;-) Your fiance, not content with refusing to convert to the Green and Gold, compounds this by favouring Chelsea over Man United?!?! Hmm! This is a worrying trend :-)

Great article - thanks!

Chris (North Yorkshire, UK)

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