Bleacher Report - Articles by Megan Fowler

An Open Letter to Aaron Rodgers

Megan Fowler — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 06:21:27 -0500

Nov. 25, 2008

Dear Mr. Rodgers,

You owe me $355. That is what your three interceptions last night cost me.

I’m not usually a betting woman; I don’t play the lottery, or go to the casino, or even play bingo. I only "gamble" when I’m sure I can win.

Last night, I bet on you to cover the spread (five points) against Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. I didn’t even need you to win the game, just lose by less than six points.

At the half, being down 24-21, I felt like we really had a chance. But then that interception in the third, and the game unraveled.

I have never been so disappointed in a team in my life.

Not only did you lose, you pulled a Brett, throwing more interceptions than TD passes, pushing the team to a record under .500 again.

The New Orleans Saints are not necessarily a better football team than the Packers, but they sure looked it last night.

Interceptions don’t win football games. Neither does a run game that goes nowhere. Air the ball, be confident in your receivers and take some risks. You sure can’t do worse than yesterday.

Play with pride. Even if you’re down, compete. You might not win, but at least you’ll look better losing than if you give up.

Next time you’re the underdog, cover the spread. That’s all I’m asking. I’d love to see you guys in the playoffs and winning another Super Bowl, but for now I’ll work with picking Green Bay as an underdog and winning.

About that money? Get the coach to sign the cheque. I have a feeling it should come from him anyways.

Is It Mr. Rodger's Neighbourhood Now?

Megan Fowler — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 05:38:04 -0400

Two weeks into the 2008 NFL season, and the naysayers are starting to quiet down. Aaron Rodgers has now officially established himself as an NFL-calibre quarterback, right? The Packers have won two games, which is more than the Dolphins, Bengals, Browns, Jaguars, Texans, Chargers, Chiefs, Lions, Vikings, Rams, and Seahawks combined.

Rodgers has thrown for over 500 yards in those two games, putting more than 70 points on the board. All signs are pointing to a seamless transition from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers.

But wait.

If one looks more closely at the first two games, it's possible that Rodger's baptism by fire hasn't come yet. Jon Kitna still threw three interceptions at Ford Field on Sunday, and Rodgers was also far from perfect. In Week One, the Minnesota defence was spotty at best, allowing far more points than it should have.

The real test is going to come this Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys. Good luck, Mr. Rodgers. You're going to need it.

"Super" Shawn Horcoff is in Edmonton to Stay

Megan Fowler — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 04:34:36 -0400

Since Darryl Katz officially took over the ownership of the Edmonton Oilers, there's been a bit of a spending spree going on. He hasn't matched the fiscal output of Tampa Bay's new owners ($85 million for 11 years for Vincent Lecavalier), but there is definitely a new stamp on the team.

The biggest new deal is that of Shawn Horcoff, and his six-year, $33 million deal which is essentially guaranteeing him a position on the team until 2015, unless he wants out or the team can't use him anymore.

Perhaps calling him "Super Shawn" is a little bit excessive. He is, however, one of the best players on a mediocre (at best) Oilers club. Sure, there were some flashes of brilliance from the younger guys (Nilsson, Cogliano, Gagner, Penner, Gilbert, Glencross), and some fairly solid goaltending from Mathieu Garon, but for the most part I think that the Oilers are in serious need of a marquis player.

Is Horcoff that marquis player? No. He's not going to carry the franchise to a Cup. He won't ever score 40 goals. He'll probably never have 50 assists. He may never even have another chance at winning a Stanley Cup.

What he will do is play at 100% every game, and enjoy himself while doing so. One of the best things about Horcoff is that he loves to compete, and he will always play his heart out.

In a world where loyalty to an organization is questionable at best (David Beckham? Brett Favre?), Shawn Horcoff does seem to embody that quality. Of course, so did Brett Favre. Let's hope Horcoff never takes the Oilers down that road.

Holding Out For A Hero: Why Brett Favre May No Longer Fit That Bill

Megan Fowler — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 06:35:25 -0400

The sports industry is a strange one. There aren't too many other places where people who perform in a mediocre fashion can get the kind of pay that pro athletes get on a daily basis.

In most other industries, mediocrity is not rewarded, and the underperformers are removed from their jobs. Because of this quirk, pro athletes enjoy a status that many of us can only dream of. They do, however, live in a world that is entirely different from ours. We would be remiss not to acknowledge at least that.

We tend to put a lot of stock in what professional athletes do or say. When they say they bleed a teams colours, we believe them. When they tell us that there is nowhere else they would rather play, we understand exactly what they mean. When they insult our city and make us feel like we are second-class citizens because their trophy wife from St. Louis hates the cold winters, we get angry at them.

We feel for them when personal tragedy strikes, even though if the same thing happened to us, there is no way one of 'them' would feel for one of the mere mortals of the world. We have spent so much time raising these athletes up on these high pedestals that when they do something human, we lose faith.

The Brett Favre saga in Green Bay is far from over. While it's obvious that many people love both the team and the QB, most are forgetting to look at the root of the problem: Brett Favre himself.

In March, when Favre tearfully announced his retirement, many thought that he'd try to come back anyway. We also thought that the Packers would move on without him and try to bring Aaron Rodgers into the mix as their No. 1 without having to worry about Brett Favre in the spotlight.

Both sides were wrong in how they handled this, but Favre has come out looking like a fool.

If we are to take what the team says at face value, then they did everything possible to both convince him to retire and then convince him to come back. If we take what Favre says the same way, then the team did push him out and hasn't exactly opened their arms to him.

Of course they haven't. In March, they had committed to moving on without No. 4 and have not strayed from that path yet. Favre, on the other hand, spent a while on his property in Mississippi, enjoying the good life without having to worry about the next year.

But a good athlete can't just go away. They have to try again to see if they've still got it. Joe Montana did it. So did Mario Lemieux. Michael Jordan. Some of the best names in pro sports came back with mixed results. The difference between these guys and Favre is that he CAN still compete at a high level because it's only been six months since he threw his last pass in an NFL game.

Favre knew all along that he was going to make a comeback. The Packers knew all along that it was going to happen as well. Fans knew, the media speculated. None of this is surprising to anyone. What is surprising to me is how a guy who has for so long simply gone out and played the game without worrying what anyone thinks or says is now looking and sounding like a petulant 5-year-old who wasn't allowed to have a snack before dinner.

Favre has given Packers fans some of the best and worst times in the team's history. He has also managed to maintain the importance of football in the NFL's smallest market. No matter what, Brett Favre can fill a stadium, whether at home or away.

All of the accolades given to him were well deserved. When he announced that he had a problem with prescription painkillers and alcohol, we rode through the low with him. When he threw for 399 yards the day after Big Irv died, we all rode that high. We felt that we were a part of the success, and that he really was larger than life.

Now, however, he seems to have fallen from his pedestal, and it's all been his own doing. He asks for a release, the Packers said no. They're not going to risk him playing in their division. They won't trade him. They'll keep him and he'll play if he wants to. But every time he steps onto the field, there will be a little less luster on him because he'll have reminded people that he's not a god among men. He's simply a man. A hero in the eyes of some, but a spoiled brat in the eyes of others.

For so long, Brett Favre has been high on his pedestal, and while he definitely had the talent to be up there, we put him there in the first place. He won three MVP awards; it got higher. He won the Super Bowl; a little higher. He had his best QB rating ever last year; higher still. He retired on his own terms with class and dignity; he joined the heavens.

To watch him fall is a hard thing to do.

NHL Playoff Post-Mortem

Megan Fowler — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 04:17:51 -0400

As the glee from the Red Wings nail biting victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins starts to wear off, it's time for another annual rite—the playoff analysis. I'm not going to break down each round, game by game, but I do have a couple things to say about the early exit of some marquis teams.

Let's start with the champions. Did the best team win? Absolutely. Did the Red Wings play better than anyone else all year long? Of course they did. Was it everything the NHL wanted it to be? No, not really.

Maybe it's just my cynicism, but I couldn't shake the feeling all throughout the playoffs that the NHL was setting it up so that the Penguins (and the new face of the game...you know, the guy with the non-beard) would take the Cup home.

I mean, the officiating in the Stanley Cup Finals was mediocre at best, and at times abysmal. I think that the absolute worst call of the series had to be Andreas Lilja's interference of Sidney Crosby in game four. The picture clearly shows Crosby not only jumping, but pushing Lilja's head down as well. I don't care how the ref saw it; there is no excuse for garbage like that in the NHL.

If the league wanted the Red Wings to win, there would have been something said about the lopsided officiating, and perhaps something might have even been done about it.

Were the Penguins good enough to win? In a word, no. They were mediocre for the first two games in the final, and had a relatively easy time throughout the first three rounds. They went more or less untested, and I think that lack of true grit hurt them in the long run.

Not only that, but wunderkind Evgeni Malkin was not so impressive in games one through five. In fact, I'm pretty sure I didn't even see him in game four. I don't think that the Penguins were grossly overmatched, but I do genuinely believe they were outcoached and outplayed in all six games of the Stanley Cup Finals.

I think that overall the NHL should be pleased with the effort put forth by both teams in the Finals. Each game was well-played, and the last game provided more excitement than many in recent history.

That said, there were a couple surprises in the earlier rounds, namely the early exit of the San Jose Sharks at the hands of the Dallas Stars. I was mostly surprised because the Sharks should have had the skill to overpower the Stars, but they came out very very flat in the first three games. Maybe next year guys.

The summer is short, and the hockey season is long. Hopefully next year things will be as exciting as this year.

Will "The Madden Curse" Break Brett Favre, or Can He Overcome?

Megan Fowler — Fri, 09 May 2008 06:41:06 -0400

The Madden Curse, much like the SI Cover Curse, is an affliction that many athletes cannot overcome.

This year, however, the curse should be broken since the cover athlete is now retired.

Unless some act of providence prevents Brett Favre from walking ever again, it's pretty safe to assume that the "Madden Curse" will end this season. There's always the flip side though, that the curse might actually work against Favre in retirement, causing him to flip his tractor-mower or one of his oak trees to fall on him.

Come to think of it, maybe Favre retired because he knew that he was going to be on the cover, and didn't want to fall victim to the curse. Smart man, indeed.

That said, let's take a look back at the cover models for Madden's game and what really happened to all of them.

1999 - Garrison Hearst (SF)
After an astounding 1998 season (1570 rush yards), Hearst was selected as the first cover boy for John Madden's game. In 1999, he led the 49ers to a divisional playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons, where he broke his ankle and was sidelined from football until 2001.
2000 - Dorsey Levens (GB)
After being one of the leagues best running backs, Levens' appearance on the cover of Madden 2000 led to his downfall. After being used primarily as a reserve RB in 1999 and 2000, he was released by the Green Bay Packers in 2001, bounced around the league, and essentially out of the game of football by 2006.
2001 - Eddie George (TEN)
Though the season he played while he was on the cover was spectacular, the season after was abysmal. George averaged only 3 yards per carry, and rushed for only 939 yards in the 2001 season. His fumble in a divisional playoff game between the Titans and Ravens led to a Ray Lewis touchdown, and a Titan loss.
2002 - Daunte Culpepper (MIN)
After a stellar 2000 season, Culpepper struggled to make things click in 2001, throwing for only 14 TD passes, and 13 interceptions in 11 games (during which he hurt his back and was sidelined for the rest of the season).
2003 - Marshall Faulk (STL)
After leading the Rams to the Super Bowl two years in a row, Faulk rushed for less than 1000 yards, had a bum ankle, and the Rams missed the playoffs with a 7-9 record.
2004 - Michael Vick (ATL)
A mere five days after the game was released, Vick suffered a broken ankle, causing him to miss all but five regular season games. The Falcons ended up with a 5-11 record, well off their 9-6-1 from the previous season. And Vick is now in jail.
2005 - Ray Lewis (BAL)
After becoming the first defensive player to be featured on the cover, Lewis failed to post a single interception (though in the pre-cover season he posted six). Lewis performed fairly well that year, though he broke his arm in week 15, and the Ravens missed the playoffs after winning the division the year before.
2006 - Donovan McNabb (PHI)
After leading the Eagles to the Super Bowl in 2005, and finishing his 2004 season with just under 4000 yards, McNabb suffered a sports hernia during the 2005-06 season, where he aggravated it during a game against the Dallas Cowboys. McNabb elected to have season-ending surgery on the hernia, leading to the Eagles missing the playoffs
2007 - Shaun Alexander (SEA)
After having one of the best statistical seasons in NFL history, Alexander fractured a bone in his foot. The fracture caused him to miss six starts, and dropped his rushing yardage to under 1000 for the first time since 2000. His touchdown record was broken by LT (31 in 16), and Alexander has now been released from the Seahawks.
2008 - Vince Young (TEN)
After appearing on the cover, Young threw 2,456 yards with nine passing touchdowns and 17 interceptions in the season of his cover appearance.
2009 - Brett Favre (GB)
After having the season of his lifetime, Favre decided to retire after the 2007 season, despite having one of the best offenses in the league. Some speculated that his retirement had something to do with the Packers not signing T.O., or that he was simply ready to move to another team (!). Favre himself has categorically denied this, but one has to wonder if the curse will have any strength for a retired player.

Will the Madden Curse rear its head this season, or will Brett Favre's retirement end that? Hopefully the curse will die with Vince Young, and Favre will come out of his cover year unscathed, especially if he decides to come back.

Brett Favre Retirement: "Will He or Won't He?" Show Set to Begin

Megan Fowler — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:39:57 -0500

For the last six seasons, Green Bay Packers fans have been subjected to the role of audience in the annual "Will He or Won't He?" Sweepstakes Lottery.

It's sort of like watching Jeopardy, and thinking you know the answer, then finding out you were totally wrong.

On the one hand, it's not the end of the world because you didn't actually lose any money, but at the same time it's frustrating because there's nothing you can do about being wrong.

It's a tough position to be in, especially when the “prize” in question is arguably the best quarterback in NFL history.

Since 2002, Packers quarterback Brett Favre has been toying with the idea of retirement, and has yet to make a decision. He will hopefully do so before the February 29 free agency date, so that the Packers won't end up in the bottom of the league again.

Favre is also trying to reconcile his age with his ability. He's trying to make sure that his decision is best for himself, his family, and his team. He's trying to decide whether or not he's willing to make the commitment to train for another off-season to come back. He's also trying to decide it this season really was his high point, and whether it would be a good time to call it quits.

Brett Favre is my favorite quarterback of all time; he's one of my favorite athletes of all time. He's also one of the classiest athletes I've ever heard about (as long as one can ignore his substance abuse in the past).

He's the consummate sportsman, and he made it a joy to be a Packers fan this year.

More than all of that, watching Favre play football reminds me how awesome it is to get to do something that you love.

Whether or not he decides to retire, I hope he knows that his fans and admirers are from way outside of Green Bay, and Wisconsin for that matter.

Most of all, I wish that he'd hurry the hell up so I can stop checking Google News on an hourly basis.