Listen to Jerry Kramer and Mike McCarthy on Talk of Fame Radio

Although the Green Bay Packers are on a bye this week, supporters of the Pack can still get excellent information about the team's past and present if they check out the Talk of Fame Network website and listen to the recent interviews with former Packers great Jerry Kramer and head coach Mike McCarthy.

Talk of Fame is hosted by three writers who are also voters for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. They are Rick Gosselin of The Dallas Morning News, Ron Borges of the Boston Herald and Clark Judge of CBSSports.com.

Gosselin talked to me yesterday about why this particular concept was put together:

"It's a Hall of Fame-themed show. We try to tie the past with the present. We also try to bring in some historical perspective to football. We had a story today. Clark Judge wrote it. Every Thursday we have an essay. Every Tuesday we have a State Your Case story. Clark wrote about Norm Van Brocklin's NFL record of 554 yards in one game, which might fall this year with all the passing going on.

"Clark pointed out that Jim Brown had a record that fell this year to DeMarco Murray for consecutive 100-yard games. Four quarterbacks threw for over 400 yards last week. Ben Roethlisberger threw for over 500.

"So a lot of these older records are now in jeopardy. So we try to tie the past with the present. And also, we have become a historical site. Over the course of the next year, we are going to have 50 State Your Case stories out there."

Here is an example of a State Your Case story, which was done about Kramer by Borges. This is the beginning of that excellent piece by Borges:

"

When it comes to the Green Bay Packers wing of the Pro Football Hall of Fame it’s a crowded place but at least one seat remains mysteriously empty. It’s the one Jerry Kramer earned decades ago.

Why it has never been filled is anyone’s guess but when you are the only guard selected on the NFL’s 50th anniversary team locking you out seems like more than an oversight. It seems ridiculous.

How can a man selected as the best guard of the game’s first 50 years be told he wasn’t good enough to be canonized in Canton? Positioning was probably part of it.

Guard is a position often ignored by the Hall, as the Chiefs’ deserving Will Shields has come to know lately. There are nearly twice as many offensive tackles (20) as guards (12) and although there are twice as many guard positions as centers, the latter has nearly as many Hall of Famers (8). So there was that hurdle to clear but, again, after 50 years of league history Kramer was named the only guard on the all-time team by the same group that votes on Hall of Fame induction. He is the only member of that team not inducted. Why?

"

I obviously share the same opinion as Borges.

As many of you know, I have written several stories about what a travesty it is that Kramer is not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Here is my most recent article about that subject.

Gosselin finished his thoughts on what the Talk of Fame site is trying to accomplish: "We talk with Hall of Famers from the past, present and future. The other thing is, that the three of us are all voters on a Hall of Fame selection committee. So we are actually in the room.

"So we can provide some perspective as to what happened and why it happened. It's a niche that has not been addressed before, and we thought it was a good concept to get out there."

Jeff Haynes/Associated Press

Besides listening to interviews on the actual site, the Talk of Fame weekly interviews are also on the radio on Sunday mornings throughout the country. Here is a list of radio stations and their locations that have the show currently.

Gosselin then talked about the show, which will have on Kramer and McCarthy:

"It's a heavy Packers theme. With Jerry, we talked about the Packers of the '60s. For instance, we asked Jerry what he thought was the best Green Bay team then. And I thought he gave us a very interesting answer.

"And then we talked to Mike about being the coach of the Packers. The historical perspective of it all. We also talked about the quarterback position.

"We also talked about the Favre-Rodgers transition. We covered a lot of ground with those guys, both past and present."

Bottom line, if you love the Green Bay Packers, then this show with Kramer and McCarthy will bring you a very interesting hour and a half of listening pleasure.