Lyin' Ted and the 2016 Draft Preview

Don't Believe Your Lyin' Eyes Believe What I'm Telling You

While I was hibernating I had the TV on in the background so I was absorbing by osmosis all the news that's was fit to hear and a lot more than was just plain bullshit.

When I woke up five days early I thought maybe the regeneration mechanism had kicked on because General Manager Ted Thompson had signed a major free agent (well, that was also bullshit and I knew it almost immediately because hell hadn't froze over), so I went to Plan B and figured Thompson had traded up to get the No. 3 pick from the San Diego Chargers to have the pick of the litter that was not a quarterback, but once again that didn't happen.

So I took a shower, a very much needed shower I must say, mowed the lawn, weeded the gardens and the patio, which also needed weeded, and took a second much needed shower and sat down to figure out why I was summoned from the lull in Packerland that is known as the time between being eliminated in the playoffs and the morning of the draft.

Hold That Ghost

B. J. Raji is Hoping to See Another Packer Training Camp

The Packers have five pending unrestricted free agents on defense. The biggest one, literally, figuratively and otherwise, is nose tackle B. J. Raji.
 

Raji was allowed to test the free agency waters two years ago and ended up re-signing with the Packers on a 1-year deal. He missed the entire 2014 season with a biceps injury. He didn't find any takers last year and re-signed again on a 1-year deal and played the entire season, but didn't have a breakout season despite being moved, if in name only, back to nose tackle from left defensive end.
 

When the other nose tackle, Letroy Guion, was re-signed to a 3-year deal on Feb. 12, it seemed to indicate that the Packers were ready to move on from their former No. 9 pick overall in the 2009 draft. However, late breaking news has the Packers opening negotiations with Raji during the combines.

FROM THE SUBLIME TO THE RIDICULOUS, PART ZWEI

FROM THE SUBLIME

 

If any of you are keeping score 10 posts ago in the first edition of "From the Sublime to the Ridiculous" I was talking about Mr. and Mrs. Sean McEvoy from North Carolina who had purchased a genuine Vince Lombardi artifact - his West Point sweater - from a local Goodwill shop for $0.58. At the time if was estimated the value at auction (I love Antiques Roadshow) would be around $20,000.

 

As Paul Harvey used to say, "and now for the rest of the story". The sweater was donated to the Goodwill by Ann Wannamaker, the widow of Bill Wannamaker, a fellow coach at West Point with Lombardi.

 

The McEvoys put the sweater up for auction at Heritage Auction in Dallas and the winning bid was $36,000 and after a 19.5% buyer's premium is tacked on the total came to $43,020. Add kudos to the auction house for donating their share of the transaction to Goodwill like Mrs. Wannamaker had requested.

 

THROUGH THE INTERESTING

 

Packers left offensive tackle David Bakhtiari introduced a game to the locker room that has turned into an addiction. Most of the offensive line and many others spend long nights at "The Shrine" or at Bakhtiari's house playing the board game "Settlers of Catan". I guess there's not much to do at night in Green Bay, although I have heard from a very reliable source there are some very friendly strippers near to Lambeau Field. But since James Lofton's unfortunate liaison back in the day I guess you won't be seeing any current Packer players inside or in doorways near a strip club. So game on, guys.