Bullshit. Retiring of numbers is stupid. 53 players, plus 10 practice squad. Only get 99 numbers as it is.
I would rather see the number removed from circulation for 10-15 years. I came to this belief after Dale Earnhardt Sr passed away. I hated the idea of seeing #3 racing around the track. And then when it came back, when that #3 was on the track, it brought up more and more stories and memories about Dale and I went, wow, if the number carriers on, so do the memories. Otherwise, out of sight, out of mind.
DO NOT RETIRE NUMBERS!
And Charles Woodson does not deserve his number retired, neither did Reggie White.
Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool
What started as a short post has evolved into something very controversial so I'll warn you in advance. I'm just killing time before I need to be doing something very important and things just got away from me.
I disagree on the retiring numbers thing. I understand what you are saying and that's why it needs to be reserved for someone truly special. If they run out of numbers maybe they can put an asterisk after the new ones.
I agree with you on Woodson. He was a great player but I just don't think he stands heads an shoulders above several other Packer DBs who probably did as much and meant as much to the Packers.
I mostly disagree with you on Reggie White. I get the reluctance because of his split career but His coming here along with Favre rejuvenated the Packers. Yes they had help but its those two who the vast majority of people think of when they think of the Packers of that era.
The Packers have retired 6 numbers Hutson, Canedeo, Starr, Nitschke, Favre and White.
Without question I'll agree with Hutson and Starr. Hutson was so far ahead of his peers at the time and Starr was the leader of the Lombardi Packers and it ddn't hurt that he was a great player as well. I don't know enough about Canedeo to say I agree without question but I wouldn't argue. Nitschke I feel falls into a similar category as Woodson. I'll agree with the nod because not only was he a great player he was who you thought of on defense at the time, much like Reggie White, which is where he sets himself apart from Woodson. Admittedly I was not around then so I don't know for sure but I do feel that even though they had many other great defensive players Nitschke was the central figure.
I already said I agree with White so that leaves Favre and IMO he belongs in the same category as Starr and Hutson. I won't go so far as to say that he was the reason for the Packer resurgence but given the exposure teams of his era had, compared to the 60's, with internet and cable and network TV and the like, I think and I have said this before, Favre is the most important Packer player of all time. Not because he was the best (I'd put Starr and Rodgers over him at QB) or because he won more championships (obviously Starr has him beat and hopefully Rodgers will soon) but because when you think of the shear numbers of people , Packer fans or otherwise, who knew him and loved him, or hated him because he wasn't on their team, the number of people he affected and the fans he brought to Green Bay I just think he is the player I think of when I think of the Packers.
I know I'll catch a lot of flack for saying that and by no means do I wish to diminish what many others have done. I don't necessarily think he had the biggest impact on the team winning games. I just feel that Favre's emergence along with his style and pretty much everything about him came along at the perfect time when the NFL was ready to explode. It was already big but when Favre came along it was like people were looking for one more reason to watch and he was it. Since I really began following the NFL in the late 70's early 80's I would say Favre, Jerry Rice, Lawrence Taylor, Walter Payton and Peyton Manning are probably the top 5 most important players to the NFL. It just so happened that when all those people fell in love with Favre they fell in love with the Packers as well. I'll throw Reggie into that mix as well and there are probably a few others who desrve consideration
I'm not going to try and convince anyone to agree with me. I have stated my reasons why I feel this way and you will all have your own very valid reasons to say it was someone else. I doubt you will convince me otherwise but feel free to try if you want but right now I have to go get ready for some football.