IN APPRECIATION OF GREATNESS

Take Time to Smell the Roses While They are in Full Bloom

Mariano Rivera retired from baseball last week.

He pitched his last game of a brilliant career in Yankee Stadium, home to some of the greatest players to have ever played the game. Rivera left with dignity and class and was honored at every stop along the way in a season that will be better known for his farewell tour than the Yanks dismal record. Even in Boston the die-hard Sawx fans paid homage to the majors all-time saves record holder in Rivera who exits the stage with a staggering 652 saves easily eclipsing anyone and everyone who came before him.

There is an air of melancholy, sadness, nostalgia and sentiment that wells up in anyone who is truly

a sports fan seeing someone so great exiting the big stage. We really want to see Rivera again, in his prime, coming into the game with the sound of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” blaring in the 9^th with two on, no one out and the Yanks holding a 1 run lead and firing a cut fastball that drops every time that has baffled the best hitters in the world for nearly 20 years. To not have that, to not be able to see that is a loss any sports fan feels. The Rivera’s of the world should never grow old.

But every great athlete inevitably does.

In the past 40 some years we, as a culture, have been witness to some truly exceptional athletes,

athletes and players whose skill levels, ability and achievements have so surpassed their predecessors that some records may never fall. We have seen the brilliance and post season excellence of the 49ers Joe Montana.

Not too long before Michael Jordan was said to have saved the NBA the true saviors of a league that in the late 70’s was circling the bowl and in danger of disappearing altogether were in the polar opposite yet equally brilliant Larry Bird and Magic Johnson. When the NBA nearly vanished due to attendance, image and revenue problems along came Magic and Bird whose play was so far beyond anyone else’s at the time the only barometer by which each could be measured was the other man. The bitter, intense and sometimes violently hateful relationship between the two eventually evolved into a begrudging respect for the other, and the everlasting images will not be of Bird and Magic tearing into each in the mid-80’s in an annual Lakers/ Celtics NBA Finals Holy War but of the Olympic ‘Dream Team’ in 1992 that indelibly stamped the NBA’s superiority over the rest of the world, a Dream Team led by an aging Magic and an ailing Bird.

Arguably the greatest athlete ever was the NHL’s  Wayne Gretzky who entered the fist-in-your-

mouth NHL during the post Broad St. Bullies era of smash mouth (literally) hockey as a teenager and re-wrote the record books and single handedly changed how the game itself was played. At a time when 100 points for a hockey player (1 point for every goal and assist recorded) was considered a phenomenal year Gretzky came along and routinely posted 200+ point seasons. In 1984 his goal total alone was 92 goals, a figure that staggers comprehension. While the Mario Lemieux’s of the world came along to challenge and like the Bobby Orr’s that preceded him Gretzky exited as the sole owner of 61 separate records. 61. No other player in any sport can come close to such a total.

And we all watched with tears in our eyes as Andy Pettite and Derek Jeter, who along with the now retired Jorge Posada comprised the Yanks powerhouse ‘Big 4 up the middle’, took the ball from Rivera one last time as he exited to a well-deserved thunderous ovation.

There are few athletes who have had the combination of on field brilliance with off field class. When we see them depart as we did with Rivera we have a lump in our collective throats and a wistful longing to see them as we once did, at the top of their game in the prime of their career.

But far too often we take the exploits of our heroes for granted. Lost in the fact that Rivera is almost universally respected (witness the ovation in Boston when none other than Big Papi David Ortiz presented Rivera with yet another memento of his fabulous career) is the fact that same Mariano Rivera did not close out every game he won. In years to come the losses will fade and we’ll be left with an indelible image of a man we will nostalgically remember as perfect. Lights out.

Enter Sandman.

But Rivera was also touched by Luis Gonzalez of the D-Backs in the World Series that Gonzalez won with a walk-off base knock up the middle. And there were the same hated Red Sox roughing up Rivera and his stellar record in the famous ’04 Yankee collapse.

But heroes need to fail to be human. That’s what makes them all the more appealing. We tend to overlook and take for granted the day after day brilliance of a player like Rivera. Or Montana. Or Walter Payton. Or Bird. Or Magic. Or Gretzky.

And it is with that in mind we take time during the bye week to reflect upon and take the time to recognize that we are in the middle of watching greatness every week. It is an almost foregone conclusion that Aaron Rodgers will throw for over 300 yards with 3 TD’s and no interceptions. We expect Rodgers and Mike McCarthy to be in lockstep on every play call. We expect and have come to expect that Rodgers will lead the Packers into the playoffs again.

We forget that Rodgers is human. He is fallible. He will make mistakes. He and McCarthy will clash, most times privately and sometimes publicly. But when pressed by reporters as to the nature of the blowup both men always avoid airing their dirty laundry. Whatever problem that exists is between them and no one else's business.

But it also is too that the expectation level of Aaron Rodgers has become so high that there is no

room for anything less than perfection. That’s a standard even Rodgers himself knows cannot be met every week. So when he throws two interceptions in a game, it’s headline news. “What’s wrong with Rodgers?”  becomes the mantra. Some go so far as to question his ability to come back in the 4^th quarter.

Bull.

Rodgers has been slighted, discounted, ignored and overlooked at every juncture in his football life. With his body of work, a resume that includes the MVP Award, a Super Bowl Championship and a Super Bowl MVP award Rodgers shouldn’t even face such ridiculous questions.

The Packer faithful is legion and far too routinely harken the ghost of Vince Lombardi and his

Packers of the ‘60’s that racked up 5 NFL/ Super Bowl Championships (and one NFL Championship game loss) in just 9 years. The old guard will try to convince anyone who listens how much better Lombardi’s Packers were. There is a perception that the Packers executed the power sweep to perfection and every time it was run it resulted in a touchdown or that Bart Starr, whose pass to interceptions ratio was so miniscule that only Rodgers comes close to his accuracy, tossed a TD on every drop back.

History rounds the corners and softens the edges significantly. The truth is the Packer offense was

not the scoring machine that some will recall nostalgically. But the Packer offense was not the juggernaut this year’s Packers are.

They were a defense led dominating team whose offense did enough to win the game. Lombardi’s

Pack was a ferocious defensive team that had some all-time great players – players like Ray Nitschke, Willie Davis, Willie Wood, Herb Adderly, Dave Robinson and Bob Jeter who could have played and succeeded in any era.

There is a joke making the rounds that goes as follows:

Q ~ How many Packer fans does it take to change a light bulb?

A~ 43,896,273 – 1 to change the bulb and the other 43,896,272 to tell you how much better the old one was.

News flash for Packer Nation – the old offense was never as good as this one. Period. That includes Starr’s dynasty run, Lynn Dickey’s pinball machine scoring squad, and Brett Favre’s roller coaster thrill ride of a career in Green Bay.

Rodgers is almost the perfect quarterback in any generation. He can beat you with his arm, his legs, and his head. He possesses the best qualities of the best the Packer QB’s. He has Starr’s accuracy and Favre’s cannon for an arm. So routinely do we see Rodgers do something spectacular it takes a blip on the radar to even notice.

Like a 2 interception game.

Brett Favre was asked if he ever threw as many INT’s after a humbling playoff loss to the St. Louis Rams. When told he threw 5 picks for the day Favre, in his good ol’ boy style ruefully rubbed the stubble on his chin and said “Five? Hell, I thought it was more than that”.

We are literally in the presence of not just Packer greatness but we’re talking All Time greatness.

Dan Marino is lauded as one of the greatest QB’s to ever play the position. But the knock on Marino at the time was he couldn’t win the big one. And he never did. For all Marino’s stellar accomplishments he has exactly zero Super Bowl wins to show for it.

Favre trails Rodgers in a category – Rodgers has matched Favre’s total of Super Bowl wins and has a Super Bowl MVP to his credit. Remember Desmond Howard? Yeah… he was the MVP in Supe XXXVI. Not Brett.

And this is the same Brett Favre who dismissively said of Rodgers when he

was drafted at #24 in ’05 “I ain’t here to mentor no one. I’m here to win football games”. That was Rodgers’ welcome to the NFL moment. Remember the booing of Aaron Rodgers when Favre jumped ship? In retrospect McCarthy and GM Ted Thompson now look like geniuses. Rodgers was guilty of nothing and yet had to endure the wrath of fans who inexplicably blamed the skinny kid from Chico, California for an idol’s departure.

Rodgers got off to a rough start in his career. But he is no dummy and an incredibly quick study. He took the Pack to the playoffs in ’09 and helped put 45 points on the board against Arizona, only to lose on when he fumbled after being swarmed by the Cards’ defensive line. The pain of having to face the offseason and the invectives hurled his way did not break Rodgers.

Not by a long shot.

If anything it hardened him even further. It was the fuel that fed his fire. At every step – from high school to junior college to college to the pros - Rodgers has been put in a situation where he has had to prove himself right and his doubters wrong.

The great Bart Starr has felt the wrath of Packer fans. While the Ice Bowl is perhaps the defining

moment of the Packers and their storied history most forget that the offense all but tanked after putting up a 14-0 lead. It was only Lombardi’s will and Starr’s savvy and Jerry Kramer’s block that got the Pack into history. 4^th and goal from the 1 with 16 seconds and no timeouts? Those that were there and those that saw it on television did not have the same faith Lombardi did in his offense. Neither did the defense. Dave Robinson, newly elected to the Hall of Fame said “We’d lost confidence in the offense. They couldn’t move the ball.”

But Starr snuck it in. He should have earned a permanent pass on any criticisms just from that game alone. But his tenure as a Packers Head Coach in the late 70’s thru the early 80’s was anything but Lombardi-esque. The pupil, the fair haired boy, the heart of the Packers was soundly booed. Loudly. When Brett Favre entered Lambeau field in the hideous purple uniform of the hated Minnesota Vikings he too was resoundingly booed. Loudly.

Rodgers knows the feeling all too well. We take his subtle brilliance for granted. Rodgers will never be called a “read option” quarterback but until the Packers found a real running game this year he was just as capable of pulling the rock down and taking off. Rodger’s arm vs. Favre’s? There is a fun debate. While Favre might – might – get the nod he could never match Rodgers precision.  And Favre never developed the touch and finesse of Rodgers. When Favre fired, it was a fastball. Rodgers is a wonder playing before our very eyes.

In twenty years history will remember Rodgers as one of the greatest signal callers to have ever

played the game. And, if his career follows the same path he will be denied entrance on his first year of eligibility to the Hall of Fame. When the Packer faithful get together to talk about Johnny Shlabotnick, the new Packer QB taken in the first round of the 2032 draft their eyes will mist over and recall the skinny kid from Chico, California who could thread a needle from 45 yards, run through an entire team of helpless defenders, never threw an interception and was better than Starr. Hell, Favre will be relegated to 3^rd best QB by then in Packer history. By then Rodgers will have reached the pantheon reserved exclusively only for the greatest who ever played and will be spoken about in reverential tones.

And it is a pity Rodgers does not hear those accolades now.

Rodgers is at the peak of his powers and is worth every cent of the $43 million he’ll collect for this

year. We should all sit back and enjoy the show. This time, let’s start working on the stories of how we saw the Great Aaron Rodgers play. That may be asking too much of a fan base that can comes across as “Yeah, he’s great and all… but what has he done lately?”

That may be how some will choose to remember Rodgers. What a shame. In Rodgers’ the consistency, accuracy, skill, running ability, leadership, smarts, the whole package is on display every Sunday. Win or lose it is seldom that Rodger’s Packers are run out of the building. With Rodgers the Pack always had a chance.

Too often in life people wait to deliver a eulogy that is heartfelt and emotional. But it always rings hollow as the kind words fall on ears that can no longer hear. How wonderful would life be if each of us could hear his or her eulogy before the earth is turned? Don’t wait until it’s too late to admire and appreciate the flower while it is in full bloom. Yes, the leaves will eventually wilt and whither but we have the opportunity now to soak in every bit of its splendor.

It’s time to acknowledge and just enjoy watching Aaron Rodgers, the skinny kid from Chico,

California who no one wanted go out every Sunday and be what he is –

The best quarterback of his generation.