Favre Traded

Everyone and their brother now has the report of Brett Favre's trade to the New York Jets. Since my move to Madison, Wis., in June, it has been "Favre Mode" in the newsroom at NBC 15. For example, when one of my fellow producers, Wani, answered the phone on Tuesday, she put the person on hold for Sam (noted below) to take the call. When he asked who it was, Wani said, "Brett Fa..." before realizing that it was, in fact, not Brett Favre on the phone, but Jason Rice, one of our photojournalists. Basically, I've gotten to know this situation pretty well.

Now it's time to unwind this ball of trade yarn a little bit. Almost everyone in the sports world has an opinion on this. It was leading newscasts in Wisconsin -- and even SportsCenter -- nearly every night. That happened on days when the newest information was something to the effect of, "Talks still going on in the Brett Favre saga."

So now, who wins?? Opinions and comments welcome...

Winners:
+Brett Favre -- getting out of a bad situation and having the opportunity to get back on the field. Still no word on whether Favre will actually report, but if ANYTHING he has said holds weight, expect to see #4 in his new shade of green (though 99.9% impossible before Thursday's preseason game against the Cleveland Browns).

+Green Bay Packers -- Ted Thompson gets his wish with Brett Favre out of his life, Aaron Rodgers in it and some kind of draft pick added to the mix.

+The University of California -- the Golden Bears have waited for their man, Rodgers, to get his chance on the field. But when Rodgers got drafted by the Pack in 2005, fans knew it wasn't likely that he would play until Favre 1) called it quits or 2) was injured badly enough that a back-up was needed on more than a mop-up duty basis.

+Sam Sorenson -- he's NBC 15's assistant news director and the biggest Favre fan I've ever known. His cubicle is right beside mine at work and recently we've all been a little worried that he wasn't going to make it to see the end of this drama. Hopefully he can make it to work on Thursday. If he doesn't have a Favre Jets jersey by the time of the office Christmas party, I think a little pass-the-hat is in order to get him one.

Losers:
+The AFC East -- all those in favor of playing a Brett Favre-led team twice this year raise your hands... OK, just checking. As a Cleveland Browns fan, I'm thankful there isn't a matchup this season. Last season, a Jets team with Favre as QB in the final minutes almost undoubtedly beats Cleveland in their tight game.

+The University of Oregon -- the waiting game for Kellen Clemens to grab ahold of the reigns continues in New York. He's going to be one of the best damn clipboard holders in the league, right behind Matt Cassel in New England and Wisconsin's own Jim Sorgi in Indianapolis.

+The state of Wisconsin & general Packers fans -- Brett Favre made the franchise a contender every year. Green Bay is the winningest team since Favre joined the team in a trade from Atlanta back in February of 1992. Just being in and around the Packers in this state so far, I've learned how crazy it is. But something tells me the team popularity will live on... like my conversation with one of our interns, Madeline, the other day...

Her: So are you a Packers fan??
Me: No, I'm a Cleveland Browns fan.
Her: Oh. Well, you'll be a Packers fan soon.

If I didn't switch to a new team anytime in the last eight years (wait, this is Cleveland's ninth year after getting a team back in the league?! Goodness gracious -- I mean, I remember the OLD Browns...), it's probably not going to happen just because I live here.

But even when I get to the sports bar on Sunday's to watch my beloved Orange and Brown, I'll have another eye on the Green and Gold of the Packers.

As for Favre, I'll be taking some time off, but will highly enjoy watching him back on the field. I mean, technically, he hasn't missed a game in forever (275 straight including playoffs). And it feels like he never left.

First Week as a Cheesehead

Now that I've been in the Badger State for an entire week, I figured I'd take a look back at how it all went.

We had breaking news on Thursday, the last day of training for me. NBC 15 has newscasts at 4, 5 and 6 p.m. Around 3:50, our Web Producer, Abby, was reading over a news release that said police in Minnesota made an arrest of a suspect in connection with a high-profile murder that happened in Madison a few months ago.

The newsroom went into crazy mode. Abby printed the news release and our news director ran it to the 4 p.m. anchor to read immediately off the top of the newscast (she had about a minute to gather what the heck was going on). We pulled a reporter from a live shot at another story to come back to Madison and work on an angle of the murder arrest story. A different reporter stuck around and reported ANOTHER story instead of leaving after the 6 p.m. newscast like he usually does (putting in a day of around 11 hours).

Meanwhile, I had no clue who Joel Marino (the murder victim) was or who we could call to get more information or interviews for stories. But I learned a ton within the short time that I was there that night. It was a good thing to see how breaking news works within the station BEFORE having to deal with it on my own.

My first solo-produced newscasts were Friday, when I tackled the 6 and the 10 (which I'll do on every Friday from here on out). Luckily for my "first day," there wasn't anything that tried my skills immediately.

Otherwise, my first week was pretty uneventful. I spent over an hour the first day doing paperwork and reading company policies. The IT guy was on vacation, so I still don't have a station e-mail or computer user name or user name for posting stories to the web. That difficulty should be gone on Monday, thankfully.

There's a possibility I might have a blog on nbc15.com in the coming weeks, but that's not for sure at this point. I want to have a few posts in the can before I have the opportunity to start one up. If you have any ideas, let me know!!
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Where has the Indians' lineup gone this season?? Unless I make a daily trip to a sports bar, I can no longer watch the Tribe games live. But that's OK with me at this point considering this was their batting order against the Cincinnati Reds in the third game of their series in Cleveland...

Grady Sizemore
Casey Blake
Ben Francisco
Jhonny Peralta
Shin Soo Choo
Kelly Shoppach
David Dellucci
Andy Marte
Jorge Velandia

Are you kidding me?? Marte needs to play everyday or get designated for assignment. Choo is hitting well, but should NEVER have to be a designated hitter in any Cleveland lineup. When Jorge Velandia started at shortstop on Wednesday night, it was the 65th DIFFERENT lineup used by Eric Wedge in 78 games.

It's a tough season for everyone on this team for various reasons, many of which are injuries. But even before the injuries there were underperformances. Cleveland couldn't score runs if its life depended on it for a stretch of about two months. But I'm done with this season. If C.C. Sabathia isn't traded soon (well before the trade deadline, when teams are willing to give a little more to have him sooner.

Bring on the Browns and, maybe even a little bit, the Irish.

Swing and a Drive...