Hello friends,

Well the quarterbacks on the two teams I follow and root for most were in the news for different reasons. First Brett Favre's retirement. It will get a lot of emotions and reaction on this blogosphere and in the sports world in general. No matter how you feel about him and what you think of his career or how iy ended if it has ended for sure, you have to respect him and admire him as a legend. He has most of the passing records, he's won a Super Bowl and lost another one dramatically to John Elway and the Broncos and he led the Packers back to the brink of a Super Bowl with a tough loss in the NFC Championship last year where he threw an interception against the Giants which led to a game winning field goal and an apperance in the Super Bowl where the Giants ended up winning the championship.

We can all sit and debate whether or not Favre should have retired now and come up with a lot of reasons why he should come back or retire, but in the end that is Brett Favre and his family's decision. It is his body which he played every game the last 17 years almost more remarkable than Cal Ripken's streak in baseball, and it his his life to decide what he wants to do next with it. As football fans if he doesn't come back and he still might. Remember Michael Jordan was 99.9 % sure about retirement after leading the Bulls to their sixth championship in 1998  after making the final shot to win, but he returned with the Wizards a few years later so who knows. If not  Favre certainly has a date in Canton Ohio at the Pro Football Hall of Fame where he will likely be a first ballot Hall Of Famer in 2013. Good luck Brett. You will be missed by NFL Fans.

As for Ben Roethilisberger the Pittsburgh Steelers current quarterback who led them to a Super Bowl Championship two years ago, he just got his personal pay day in a contract extension of $102 million over eight years. The Steelers  are usually a very conservative organization and don't usually even pay their star players this kind of money so Ben and the Steelers will definitely have the football crazy Pittsburgh market on his and their back to do well and win. He'll have to do it without his best current offensive line blocker Alen Faneca who signed with the Jets, but Pittsburgh has always been good at replacing their key players in the system over the years and they keep winning so good luck to him and the Steelers and the future.

It's too bad these two great quarterbacks couldn't have met on the field in November 2005 when the Steelers beat the Packers 20-10 at Lambaeu Field. Roetlisberger was injured at the time and Charlie Batch quarterbacked for the Steelers that day.. The Packers and Favre were not at their best either going through a miserable 4-12 season so it's too bad we couldn't have seen a great matchup between a legend and a current up and coming quarterback. It's just kind of interesting to see these two stories come together at the same time.

Well I'll look forward to your comments. Best wishes friends and have a great and productive day.  fenfan

Hello friends,

In this post I want to talk mainly about the latest in the NFL and a few other things that are happening in sports lately. So what was the biggest moment in the NFL last weekend. Was it Adrian Peterson running wild in only his eighth NFL game setting a new single game rushing record with 296 yards and his second 200 yard rushing game overall. Was it the Colts Patriots on Sunday afternoon which turned out to be a pretty good game 24-20 Patriots but not the shootout everyone expected in Super Bowl 41-1/2. Or how about Big Ben Rothlisberger and the Steelers throwing 5 touchdown passes in the first half against the Ravens in a 38-7 win in the rain on Monday night in front of all the Steeler Super Bowl legends who were being honored. Nice throwback jerseys as well Steelers. And oh yeah to my buddy fishrmn congatulations to Brett Favre and the Packers on their 7-1 start but you'll still need a running game as the cold weather starts and the playoffs come later on.

Anyway I'm looking forward to the start of the second half of the NFL season this Sunday when Adrian Peterson and the Vikings visit the cold Lambeau Field and the Packers in Adrian Peterson's first great cold weather outdoor test. Remember back in the 1990's the great Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders rushed for only minus one yard against a great Packers defense in the playoffs so I'll be interested to see how Adrian Peterson does this weekend and beyond as we push towards playoff time in the NFL. The Steelers have a divisional game in the AFC North against the up and coming Browns who are only currently a game behind the Steelers, but they're still a young team and I like the Steelers this weekend as they make their push towards a division title and the playoffs after that. I think they can play with the Patriots and Cots and they have a matchup with the Patriots on December 9th. However I've learned that regular season wins don't always mean a great deal if teams meet in the playoffs again and sometimes the regular season winner will lose the playoff game so I don't know how excited you can get about the regular season wins. Just play as well as you can get in the playoffs and go from there. Even if a team has to play on the road in the playoffs they can win sometimes if they're the better team or have they have the momentum. We'll see and hopefully they'll be some good playoff rematches this year.

Another matchup I'm looking forward to in the NFC later this month of November is the Packers at the Cowboys on Thursday November 29. It's on NFL Network so it will be harder to find without satellite besides local areas but it will be quaterback Tony Romo of the Cowboys who's from Wisconsin against his boyhood idol Brett Favre who's never won in Dallas and it will be interesting to see how this game comes out and if they meet in the playoffs as well. Finally will the Patriots go 16-0 or 19-0. I don't know but I think it will be hard for a few reasons. Teams occasionaly slip up although that doesn't appear to be the Patriots problem, coaches sit players but Bill Belichick will play everyone even in a 52-7 win like the had against the Redskins a few weeks ago. So what will happen. They''ll probably trip up against some inspired team when they're coasting or trying to get ready for the playoffs. And if they do get in the playoffs I wouldn't want to be the team that wins all their regular season games, but loses in the playoffs so we'll see friends and enjoy the rest of the season and best of luck to your teams.

Finally one last comment outside the NFL. In college basketball last night there was an upset as Gardner Webb beat Kentucky in an early season non conference game just like Appalachian State did to Michigan in footballl. Ironically both are from North Carolina. But as big an upset as these both are it doesn't surprise me as much as it used to because of the increasing parity in college sports. Even George Mason in the Final Four a few years ago didn't seem as big as it would have 20-30 years ago because athletes don't stay in college as long and they go to the smaller schools more often when they're turned down by the big ones.

Well I look forward to your comments friends and we'll talk soon again. Have a great and productive day and best wishes always friends. Your pal. fenfan