A good friend of mine and big time football fan, we'll call him Seth, once said that it's not a sport if judges are involved. It took me a while to understand what he meant, because it puts definitely athletic events like figure skating out of the realm of sport. However, these many years later I have to agree with him. The less subjective judgment to determine the outcome the better. That's why hockey is undoubtedly a sport while figure skating is an impressive athletic event but maybe not quite a sport. However, if those figure skaters had to throw a ball in a hoop while being chased around by gap toothed Canadians in pads, they'd be a lot closer.

We mention this only because for the second (or maybe third) week in a row the Packers won games where, by many standards, they did not play well or at least did not play well for much of the game. I'm sure the Russian judge would have docked the green and gold a significant number of points for good bounces and favorable calls in these three games, but as we keep on saying, a win is a win is a win. The NFL season really gets hot from here on out. The bye weeks are over. Six regular season games remain. Only two NFC teams (Atlanta and Philly) seem locks to make the playoffs. All sixteen games count equally, but it SEEMS like these ones count more. For the Packers, we finally get to see exactly what kind of team they are. In the next two weeks, they get the Rams at home on Monday night, and then play the following Sunday at Philadelphia. Their main rivals in the NFC North, the Vikings, get Jacksonville at home and then play at Chicago the next week. It wouldn't surprise me and Mr. Walker one bit of the team leading after these next two games wins the division. These are big, big games folks. Go Packers!

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Let's hear it for football referees!  Those charming middle aged lawyers and bankers who take time out of their busy money making schedules to chase around huge men and, with the aid of diminutive patches of yellow fabric, control a few hours of semi-organized violence.  Every Packer fan in the world should seek out a football official to give him a hug or buy him a drink this week, because twice in two weeks the Packers have had their feet to the fire only to have one of the zebras help out a good bit.  This week it was a return gaffe by Robert Ferguson, whose fumble sure looked like a guy in purple got it, but the officials ruled it Packer ball thanks to “let me get my roster sheet again" tight end Ben Steele.  But just as James Thrash's stutter step last week doesn't really matter, a win is a win and the Packers got another one.  This week, we take another look at the Vikings game, check in to see who is heading from the on deck circle to the batter's box, and prattle on about a few other things.  Go Packers!

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Well, another very much needed win, this time vs. Washington.  As Dr. Favre said, it's a little sad that everyone is so happy to be back to 4-4.  Still, it's better than 3-5 or even worse.  The Packers really do have some hope again, they're back in the thick of the NFC North and in the middle of the muddled and not terribly competitive NFC wild card race.  Mr. Walker and I took a bye last week just like the team, but we have an unusually verbose piece to start the second half of the season.  To wit, we cover the playoff race, the Redskins victory, the upcoming game against the Vikings, and make a series of bold and probably spectacularly inaccurate predictions about the second half of the season.  Beyond that, we even review our first half predictions in the interest of fairness.  Eight games to go, and back in the hunt.  Go Packers!

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There is no room for second place.

Vince Lombardi