Boomer, from over at Fansided’s Beargoggleson.com, was angered by the Packers loss to the New York Giants. He wasn’t upset because the Bears’ arch rival to the north was finally beaten in a playoff game, but because he believes it should have been the Bears that was providing the beat down on the Packers. He curses Jay Cutler for chasing down a San Diego Charger after an interception and injuring his hand, and he blames wide receiver Johnny Knox for the demise of the Bears’ season by also getting injured.

For some reason, I’m not too sympathetic.

However, I do feel the pain of  Gene Higginbotham, the author of the piece from over at Who Dat Dish, the New Orleans Saints Fansided.com’s blog site. While the Packers were thrown completely off their game against the Giants, the Saints were within 90 seconds or so of the NFC Championship Game, but shockingly lost in the final moments to the heroic comeback by the San Francisco 49ers.

While the media has dubbed last Saturday’s catch by Vernon Davis the “Catch III,” all Packers fans remember the Catch II – the Steve Young to Terrell Owens pitch and catch on the playoff game’s final play back in the late 1990s. Terrell Owens came off the field in tears, as did Davis after he made the catch last week.

A bit overdramatic to me … so I can understand why the Saints are feeling as blue as the Packers fans today.

Check out both posts. I think you will enjoy them.

See the Bears blog here … and the Saints blog here.

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But now the two teams are in different directions.  Green Bay is breaking in a new quarterback, while San Francisco is still trying to find the successor for Young.  Ironically, Aaron Rodgers could be in San Francisco.  In the days leading up to the 2005 NFL Draft, the 49ers were torn between Rodgers and Alex Smith.  They chose Smith No. 1, letting Rodgers free-fall all the way down to #24 where Ted Thompson snatched him up.  Rodgers got the job of holding the clipboard for Favre for three years before getting his chance.  Smith was thrown into the fire Week 2 against the Philadelphia Eagles.  Smith has gone through three offensive coordinators in three years and is now on his fourth in Mike Martz.  Rodgers had to deal with the Favre debacle.  Smith is now competing with J.T. O’Sullivan and Shaun Hill for the starting quarterback position.  Rodgers is the man in Green Bay.

Yeah, tough cookies Alex.

Anyway, five things to watch for in tonight’s game:

1. The aforementioned storyline between Smith and Rodgers.  Yes, I know it’s preseason, but I’ll take any storyline not involving Favre I can get.

2. The battle for the backup running back.  As I mentioned yesterday, the battle for third-string running back is heating up.  Ryan Grant is not expected to play, so Brandon Jackson, Vernand Morency, and Noah Herron should see the majority of the carries and a chance to show what they can do.

3. The 49ers defense.  They’ve spent loads of cash on this lately, so let’s see if the cash will come through for them.

4. The Packers defense.  The Packers defense is going to have to do more work than they did last season with the offense in transition, so it should be interesting to see how they feast on a pretty weak offense.

5. The battle for backup quarterback.  Brian Brohm was thought to have this job locked up as soon as he was drafted, but fellow rookie Matt Flynn has impressed coaches and is expected to challenge Brohm.  Intriguing.

I’m not going to be able to watch this game, but good luck to the Packers.  I’ll have a report on it tomorrow.

STFU about Brett Favre. Seriously. Devoting the front page to him after it was rumored he had an “itch” to come back and play? Complete bullspit. Use some common sense guys. Do you honestly think that Favre would not get an “itch” to play again? Hell yeah he’s going to get that itch. If you went through as much as he had in the game, of course you want to play again. I’m absolutely disgusted at this.

I turned a blind eye to all the times Favre was “coddled” by the media. I’m not denying that he was, any idiot can see that he was. I just dealt with it because he was and is and will remain my favorite football player of all-time. But seriously, I was never on my knees before as much as those hacks at ESPN are.

So there’s a report he has an itch. OK, anyone that knew anything about him would realize that. So what does ESPN do? Put it on the front page of their website. Plaster it all over Sportscenter and NFL Live. In my defense, I refused to watch either show when the Favre coverage came on. I received a slew of text messages about this as well, one companion going as far as saying the Packers should trade him to the Baltimore Ravens. I’d do everything in my power to stop that from happening. So there have the article already posted. Then there is another one that I can’t find right now. Then Hashmarks has an absolute orgy over the man. Seriously guys. Is there really that much to say?

But luckily, thanks to some reporting for a good old local paper, “It’s all rumor.”

I love the SI.com articles about this, which refers to these as an “ESPN report.”

But again, has anyone thought about the timing of this? The day a new issue of Sports Illustrated is released with a somewhat in-depth feature on Aaron Rodgers, all this baloney surfaces. Is this another ESPN conspiracy to keep Rodgers down? SI is trying to do their best to show people who this man is, but ESPN, and their constant hard-ons with Favre, can’t let a respectable publication like SI do that, so they have to grandstand and take all the attention away from the new A-Rod.

The conspiracy theorist is alive and well inside me, and it won’t take crap from those ESPN ball-lickers.

But anyway, I am really starting to take a liking to Rodgers. I think it’s too early for me to get his jersey, because I don’t know whether he is going to go the way of Steve Young or Jay Fiedler or any of those other guys mentioned in the SI feature. But still, he’s got some moxie and some confidence:

The magazine asked Rodgers “whether he feels pressure to connect with the fans the way Favre did.”

“I don’t feel I need to sell myself to the fans,” Rodgers responded. “They need to get on board now or keep their mouths shut.”

Aaron, I like the way you think. That is some confidence right there. Of course, backlash from that type of thing is unavoidable, and what he did might be considered the same as pissing on Favre’s grave, but Rodgers offered a little explanation:

“I do care deeply about the fans and I think anybody who has been to training camp sees a lot of times I’m the last one out signing autographs. I care about the fans; I care about their opinions,” Rodgers said. “Everybody wants the fans to care for them and to pull for them and I am no different.

“I think my record, as far as the time I spend with the fans, and more importantly the stuff I do in the community, kind of speaks for itself.”

I have a feeling I’m going to like Rodgers. Not as much as Brett, of course. He is showing he’s got what it takes to succeed. He just has to succeed now.