We've been saying it for like two years. Seriously.

I just read this little blurb on NFL.com:

And I'm just dumbfounded.

Sleeper?  Come the fuck on.

We've been pimping James Starks forever.  Literally forever.  Don't believe us?  Here's a link to all the UGLY FOURS James Starks articles.  There are 25 of them.

You'll see that we were ahead of everyone.  Even the beat writers that follow the team every day.

But after he was awesome the 2010 playoffs, we figured everyone would get it.

Nope.

In July of this offseason, we were still reading reports that Ryan Grant was going to be the man in Green Bay.

And we told you, unequivocally, that that wasn't going to be the case.

And it isn't.

James Starks is the lead back in Green Bay.  They may not want to publicize that, but they almost cut Ryan Grant in the offseason.  

Compared to Starks, Grant looks like he's running knee deep in mustard.

Don't be one of the idiots still aw-shucksing about the Packers running back depth chart.

Starks is the man and that's not going to change anytime soon.

Justice. Sweet, beautiful football justice.

Let me start by saying that this isn't a slight against the people of Pittsburgh.  They're awesome.  The city is awesome.  The teams are awesome.  The Steelers organization is absolutely bulletproof.

But the right team won today and for the season.

The best team in the NFL is the Green Bay Packers.

I don't know about you, but it drives me fucking crazy when the wrong team wins.  It happens all the time. And when it does, I spend the offseason grumbling and feeling cheated.  You have to sit back and watch some lucky fuck raise the Lombardi and you're like "you lucky motherfucker.  You have no business holding that." For any athletes or former athletes out there, you know the feeling of losing when you should have won. Sometimes it's the officiating.  Sometimes it's just bad luck.  Sometimes it's just one asshole on your team that ruins it for everyone else.  But it sucks to lose when you should have won.

Now, I think the best team in the AFC was the Patriots this season.  I also think it's poetic justice that they lost to the Jets.  Defense really does win championships, and even though Bill Belichick pulled a rabbit out of a hat with that defense full of eleven year old rookies, you need to have a defense that can turn the tide.

And it was the Green Bay defense, Dom Capers' charging, swarming, attacking defense that did a number on the Steelers.  

I won't look so fucking stupid in this headset with a goddamn Super Bowl ring, will I? (am)

If you read this blog at all, you'll know how enamored we are of the Packers.  We've liked them all season. In fact, we picked them in the big game way back on September 12th.  And, you'll remember that we've been the #1 location for James Starks info from the get go.

So you can imagine that we're big fans of this offense. And with the exception of a few jittery plays and some alligator arms, they played what the British would call "splendid American football".

But it was the defense on the field against a two time Super Bowl winning team and a quarterback that never seems to fail who stood tall when it mattered.  You could just see the numbers going up on the board.  Is it gonna be 32-31?  Could it be?  Is it possible?  We've seen Genital Ben do it before.

And then it was a nasty, attacking defense that brought the Steelers down.  None of this prevent defense soft coverage nonsense for the Pack.  Constant aggression right to the final play.

And one on one matchups.  Goddamn that was beautiful.  Fox aired a clip of the Broadway play Lombardi at one point during the game where Lombardi shouts that it's about beating the man opposite from you. And that's why teams like the Patriots win.  It's why the Colts win.  It's why the Steelers win.  Technical details. Small victories.  Trench warfare.  An arm bar.  A hip twist.  A stutter step.  Little, barely recognizable moments.

Which is when the Packers came through.  A diving, barnacle-style leg tackle on a rapidly-heating-up Rashard Mendenhall by Charles Woodson for a two yard loss.  A perfectly timed pass defensed by any one of Green Bay's young and talented secondary.  They got there when the ball got there.  Which is actually reminiscent of the Steelers.

I saw one very good solo tackle by Troy Polamalu in space, but the Steelers got out-Steelered on the biggest stage.  And that was just the big uglies.  At the "skill" positions, this Packer offense came in thinking that their third and fourth receivers were better than the third and fourth d-backs of the Steelers.  

And they were.

Can you imagine what this game would have looked like had James Jones hauled in that pass when he was in the clear?  Or any one of the Jordy Nelson drops.  I mean, I'll have to take a good hard look at the plays, but how many incompletions did Aaron Rodgers throw that didn't hit a receiver in the hands, one way or another? Four? Five, total?

Even with those botched plays, those guys looked like the real deal.  Nelson had 140 yards and a TD, even with the drops.

You know Ugly Fours was kickin' it live! (thanks A.L. & S.L. and any other L that was there)

And not enough credit is given to Mike McCarthy (or Bruce Arians, for that matter) for the cagy play calling he does.  For McCarthy it was not handing off to John Kuhn, a hometown favorite and also not starting off running five wide sets every play.  For Arians, it was a number of plays, but primarily the option left to Antwaan Randle El for the two point conversion.  Who saw that coming?

Now, I'm sure you can click over to any Pittsburgh media outlet and you'll hear how they could have won it. And they'd be right.  They could have.

Green Bay lost the most games of any team this season by four points or fewer, and so it was that much more impressive that, faced by what was their biggest weakness, they managed to overcome.  And not by something flashy like a long TD.  With hard-nosed, gritty defense.

There was a great clip of Packers Linebackers coach Kevin Greene telling Clay Matthews to get back in the defensive huddle and that "Now is the time." Kevin Greene would know.  He was an absolute masher.  Two plays later, Clay Matthews forces the Mendenhall fumble and turns the tide of the game.

Goddamn, that's beautiful.

We posted not long ago how easy it is to get behind a team with a great coach/QB combo.  Now it's true that Mike McCarthy has the personality of a half-sedated walrus.  And Ted Thomspon?  Christ he's awkward.  But Aaron Rodgers more than makes up for it.  Watching him hold the Lombardi trophy and use his one free hand to put on the championship air belt was pure joy.  

Make no mistake about it.  Aaron Rodgers is not your little brother's quarterback.  He is an elite, top three QB, and very maybe the best in the league.  This isn't an aberration.  You're looking at the coronation of the new king of the NFL, and that's coming from a guy who is best best best friends with Tom Brady.

With the second youngest team in football, Aaron Rodgers looks poised to hang on to that throne for quite a while.  I mean, what kind of 1-2 punch will James Starks and Ryan Grant be next season?  How about Jermichael Finley?  Or Nick Barnett?  Come the fuck on.  That's nuts.

And yet these guys have managed to stay humble. James Starks broke the Packers rookie postseason rushing record a few weeks ago against the Eagles and when the press gave him praise for it at his locker afterward he immediately, and without hesitation, threw the credit off of himself and onto the offensive line.  It was unplanned, unstaged and quintessential Packer humility.

And you could feel that in this team.  They put together an impressive string of playoff wins, and didn't disappoint with a great looking effort in the biggest game of the season.

But my favorite moment of the Super Bowl came afterwards.  Pam Oliver was able to shanghai Greg Jennings after the game and started him off with a ridiculous question along the lines of "tell us the whole story of how you got here" and eventually he managed to get to the most germane point of the night.  This packer team put 15 players on IR, and so guys on the bench knew how to step up.  

"We lost our captain" said Jennings, referring to the injury to Charles Woodson, "and our #1 receiver."

He was talking about Donald Driver.

Now, I don't care how you look at the numbers, the plays, or any number of statistical categories.  Donald Driver is not the Packers #1 receiver.

Greg Jennings is.

And the class and grace and teamwork and sportsmanship he displayed in that nanosecond made so much sense. And made me like him so much more.  And the whole team so much more.  This was a team baptized by fire. This was a team that was playing free hockey since week 16.  Any loss from then til now and they would have been out.  Golfing.  Doing whatever the Bengals are doing.  And the Saints.  And the Giants.  And the Chargers.

But they stuck together.  They hung in.  They pulled close and they kept winning.

And they proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Packers are unequivocally the best team in football. Period.

It's going to be a very pleasant offseason.  For me.

Holy Shit! Something we didn't know about James Starks!

It turns out that he was seconds away from being a Bear.  A filthy, disgusting Chicago Bear.

What the?  Where's the objectivity, Lord Castleton?

It's in my locker under my gym shorts.  

WeenieIt's just tough for me to pull for a team with Mike Tice on the staff and Fishneck on the roster.  But then again, I'm fickle.  I used to really detest the Favre-led Green Bay Packers, but I love the Rodgers-led Green Bay packers.

I suppose I equate the organization with the QB, and if it's a QB I can get behind, then I tend to like the team.  Especially if it's a likeable QB / Coach tandem like Freeman & Morris or Bradford & Spagnulo or Stafford & Schwartz or Rivers & Turner.

Obviously, I'm kidding about the last one.  Norv Turner is great.  Phillip Rivers is a pimple.

But here's the story from ESPN's Kevin Seifert.  It appears that the Bears actually called Starks to say they were taking him, and then pulled the switcheroo at the very last second.

Dicks.  That's what I'm telling you.  Dicks.

Led by an uncompetitive fishneck and a witless bald hydrant.  Pass.

Nice try with the neckbeard, Koy Detmer

This might be the least interesting person on the planet

Green Bay residents begrudgingly accept that maybe they were wrong about Ted Thompson

They attacked him.

They vilified him.

They chose asshole Brett Favre over him.

But now, begrudgingly, some residents of Green Bay are conceding that they might have been wrong about Packers GM Ted Thompson.

"Well," harrumphed Ernie Gunderson "he's not a very likeable feller, but I suppose you can't argue with the depth of the team he's built here.  Though I'll bet a lot of it was luck!"

The Packers have placed a full 16 players on IR this season, and still have arguably the best team in the league.

"He got lucky." said Erma Randergund.  "But I suppose you have to give him some credit, even if he was disrespectful to Brett."

Thompson was widely criticized for running Brett Favre out of town, when, in fact, he was just doing his job and trying to put the best team on the field.  A team which had NON Pro-Bowler Aaron Rodgers at the helm.

"Aaron is okay, I guess, if you like that sort of play." said Bert Undergunt "But he'll never be no Brett Favre."

True.  He doesn't throw enough stupid interceptions for that.  And what about rookie phenom James Starks, who Thompson drafted in the sixth round.  A player who was out of football for two years due to injury, and then come in against the Eagles to break the Packers rookie postseason rushing record?

"He got lucky on that pick." said Green Bay resident Henriette Blanderson.  "Just plain lucky is all."

And what about picking up B.J. Raji and Clay Matthews in the same round of last years draft?

"He got pretty lucky I'd say." said Green Bay resident and long time Packers fan George Spitewski. "Thompson has just had a pretty lucky run, lately, more or less. But he still was prickly to Brett, and that don't fly round here."

The citizens of Green Bay are fatally loyal to Brett Favre, even though he's done nothing but try to attack Green Bay since his departure.  Even a few games ago, Favre told the Julius Peppers of the Bears to "Go Beat the Packers".

"Brett didn't say that." said Blanderson.

"Brett would never say that." said Gunderson.

"Julius Peppers is a racist and a liar." said Randergund.

"Julius Peppers should have his mouth washed out with soap." said Undergunt.

"If it turns out Brett Favre was a dickhole and I've been rooting for him for twenty years, it severely diminishes my self-worth, and therefore I have no choice but to stick to my guns and pretend he's not a crazy, philandering, egotistical cunt." said Spitewski.

"No I didn't" said Spitewski.  "I didn't say that."

Okay, fair enough.  I wrote it and credited you, hoping to make you look better than the dumbass that you actually are.

"I'm gonna stick to my opinion on this one." said Spitewski, "thank you very much."

Of course you are.  Of course you all are.

Sorry Ted Thompson.  I tried.