Another reason why Lambeau Field is so great

This is the view, if you can call it that, from some of the obstructed-view seats at the new Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

The Colts say those seats won't be sold.

However, the Indianapolis Star reports that about 200 seats with only partially obstructed views will be sold, but only after all other tickets are sold.

Green Bay figured out how to build a football stadium without obstructed views more than 50 years ago.

The Colts' first game in their new stadium will be Sunday.

-- Jeff Ash, jash@greenbaypressgazette.com

(Photo credit: Sam Riche, Indianapolis Star)

You still gotta have faith

Earlier this week, we wrote about the Waupun church message board that read "God Will Never Leave You For The Jets!"

Here's a different take on that story from the message board at Peace Lutheran Church in Howard, just west of Green Bay.

Don Behrendt, the pastor at Peace Lutheran, e-mailed that picture to each of the six people who sent him the picture of the Waupun church's message board.

-- Jeff Ash, jash@greenbaypressgazette.com

Looking ahead to the season

A couple of notes of possible interest as the 2008 NFL regular season draws near.

-- If you're going to the Packers-Cowboys game at Lambeau Field on Sunday night, Sept. 21, you'll hear the U.S. Marine Corps Air/Ground Combat Center Band. It'll play the national anthem, then perform a salute to the armed forces.

-- A profile of the 2008 Packers is available as a free download from the iTunes store through Tuesday, or so the NFL says. We looked Wednesday afternoon. We couldn't find it.

The profile include highlights from last season, offseason updates and a preview of the 2008 Packers.

The NFL is offering the freebie as a way of getting you to buy weekly highlight shows from iTunes. Those are $1.99 per episode or $24.99 for the entire season.

-- Jeff Ash, jash@greenbaypressgazette.com

Alumni update: Don Majkowski

Time for a confession. Though Brett Favre was a great player, and I enjoyed watching him play, I always will be a Don Majkowski guy. If I were to buy a Packers jersey, it would be Majik's No. 7, not Favre's No. 4.

So it's always enjoyable to have a chance to catch up with Majik, who quarterbacked the Packers from 1987 to 1992.

He's being inducted into the Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame later this year, and he talked to the Buffalo News about his career. Among the insights:

-- Remember when the Bengals' Tim Krumrie sacked Majik on that September afternoon in 1992, causing the ankle injury that opened the door for Favre? Majkowski has since had nine surgeries on that ankle.

-- In 1987, Majik's hometown Buffalo Bills wanted to draft him in the seventh round as a safety. He told them to forget it, that he'd try to make it as a quarterback elsewhere. The Packers drafted him in the 10th round.

-- Majkowski, his wife Kelly and their children, Danielle, 11, and Bo, 10, live in the Atlanta area. He runs a real estate company but has given up his broadcasting career so he can coach Bo in youth football.

"So many of my friends were NFL analysts and on weekends you're gone, they don't see their kids. I just couldn't do that," he told the Buffalo paper. "That was an easy decision."

-- Jeff Ash, jash@greenbaypressgazette.com

Another Packers-Badgers connection

Josh Peprah, the younger brother of Packers safety Charlie Peprah, has verbally committed to play at the University of Wisconsin next season.

A 6-foot, 195-pound safety, Josh is a senior at Plano East High School in Texas.

An item in the Plano Courier Star speculated that one of the reasons Josh chose UW was a desire to stay close to Charlie.

Charlie isn't the only Packers player who has a brother with the Badgers. Linebacker Abdul Hodge's younger brother, Elijah, is a junior linebacker at UW.

-- Jeff Ash, jash@greenbaypressgazette.com

You gotta have faith

The folks at the online magazine OnMilwaukee.com came across this sign at a church in Waupun.

The folks at the irreverent sports blog Deadspin jumped on it, as did their commenters. As usual with the Deadspinners, if you click on that link, be aware that some of the comments are in spectacularly bad taste. As if these samples aren't:

-- "But He DID leave for the Jets. I'm having a theological crisis."

-- "I was starting to think Brett Favre WAS God. Oh well, the search continues ..."

-- "He certainly didn't leave for the Bears. They are clearly Purgatory."

-- "Of course not. He wouldn't want to be embarrassed by the Pats twice a year."

However, the Deadspinners apparently have a short attention span. They quickly abandoned the thread about the Favre sign and turned to creating anagrams for their commenter names. They are easily amused.

-- Jeff Ash, jash@greenbaypressgazette.com

Someone else gets the remote now

When Packers fans die, it's common for their families to note that passion in their obituaries.

So it is for Patrick A. Abrahamzon, who lived in South Range in far northwestern Wisconsin. He was 77 when he died Wednesday.

His obituary, published today in the Superior Daily Telegram, includes this great line:

"He had a 'love-hate' relationship with the Green Bay Packers, which resulted in the television being turned on and off at least three times per game."

-- Jeff Ash, jash@greenbaypressgazette.com

Lavvie Dilweg for the Hall of Fame

Lavvie Dilweg, who was was the Packers' best receiver before Don Hutson arrived, is one of two members of the NFL's all-1920s team not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

His son wants to correct that apparent oversight.

Dilweg was a football star at Marquette University in the 1920s and spent one season with the NFL's Milwaukee Badgers. After that team folded in 1926, he signed with the Packers and was an All-Pro player for all but one of his eight seasons with the Packers. He was chosen as a member of the Packers' all-time teams in 1946, 1957 and 1969.

He went into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame in Milwaukee in 1967 and was one of the charter members of the Packers Hall of Fame in 1970.

"I remember Dad's excitement in '67 when he heard that he had been enshrined in the Hall," Bob Dilweg told the Washington Times last month.

"It turned out it was the Wisconsin Hall of Fame, not the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and he was so disappointed. He passed away the next year. Every year after that, I expected that he would be elected based on his credentials, but nothing happened."

Bob Dilweg, 74, lives in Bethesda, Md. If his dad's name doesn't ring a bell, maybe his son's name does. Anthony Dilweg played quarterback for the Packers in 1989 and 1990.

Back to Lavvie, though. The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder played end on offense and defense, and legendary NFL running back Red Grange called Dilweg "the greatest end who ever brought me down."

Here's the snag:

"The biggest problem I have is education. I'm trying to convince people to select Dad instead of people they saw play," Bob Dilweg told the Washington paper.

"He should have been elected in the '60s or the '70s, but he wasn't. (Senior selector) Rick Gosselin (of the Dallas Morning News) said my proposal was very impressive but that Dad had to wait in line because there were a lot of people ahead of him. If I don't get one of the nine selectors to be Dad's advocate, I don't think he'll ever get in."

-- Jeff Ash, jash@greenbaypressgazette.com

It's all in the cards, Favre fans

You've seen the special Brett Favre card in this year's 2008 Topps set. You know, the one with Lombardi looking over his shoulder.

Now the folks at the irreverent JoeSportsFan blog have taken it a step further. They've created some limited-edition Brett Favre trading cards. None of the nine cards are particularly complimentary toward Favre, his family or some members of the national media.

Or his fans, as you can see.

-- Jeff Ash, jash@greenbaypressgazette.com

The battle of the Bays

Perhaps engaging in some wishful thinking about Brett Favre in a Buccaneers uniform, the folks at Tampa Bay Online offer "10 reasons why Favre will love Tampa."

Here's a sample: Green Bay cheerleaders vs. Tampa Bay cheerleaders.

They also compare headgear, happy hours, coaches' Chucky faces (the Bucs' Jon Gruden wins this hands down), fishing, playing in the cold, clothing, stadium maintenance, food and transportation.

No cheap shots from the folks in Florida, though. Just good-natured fun.

However, as always, you be the judge when you look at the pictures.

-- Jeff Ash, jash@greenbaypressgazette.com

Attention, collectors

McFarlane Toys, which has put several Packers players in its Sports Picks and Legends lines of NFL action figures, is adding another.

Wide receiver Donald Driver will be part of this year's Sports Picks Wave 3 series, which is due out in mid-December. Here's a sneak peek at the 6-inch-tall Driver figurine. They usually sell for $10 to $15.

Brett Favre and Ahman Green figurines were in previous Sports Picks series, and Ray Nitschke and Reggie White figurines have been in previous Legends series.

In fact, McFarlane will release two Brett Favre figurines next month. One is part of this year's Sports Picks Wave 1 series, showing Favre dropping back to pass, and the other is a collector's edition with Favre wearing a skull cap and standing along the bench.

If you want to spend any more of your money on Favre, that is.

-- Jeff Ash, jash@greenbaypressgazette.com