Closing the Gap: Willie Davis talks about football, life

by | Feb 2, 2013 | Hall of Fame, Where are they now

Willie Davis is probably best known for his NFL playing career, perhaps rightfully so. After all, it did span 12 years and six league championships, including 1966 and 1967, when Green Bay won the first two Super Bowls.

Davis, who is unofficially the all-time Packers’ sack leader, was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981.

But as good as he was on the field, Davis has led just as successful a life in his post-football days. He’s been a television commentator. He was president of All-Pro Broadcasting, which operates several radio stations. He was a successful executive in the beer industry. And he has served on the boards of nearly a dozen companies.

Davis grew up in Lisbon, La., where his mother hesitated to even let him play football. When he did get on the field, he parlayed the opportunity into a degree from Grambling State (where he played for the legendary Eddie Robinson) and a trip to the National Football League (where he played for the legendary Paul Brown and Vince Lombardi). He starred in the NFL, but he also nearly always had his eye on what he would do next.Willie Davis signing books

With the help of co-authors Jim Martyka and Andrea Erickson Davis, Willie Davis wrote recently published a book, Closing the Gap, that covers the journey that is his life. He also recently joined Zoneblitz.com to share some of those thoughts.

Zoneblitz: What made you want to write Closing the Gap? (more…)

NFL Picks, 2012 Season, Week 7

by | Oct 16, 2012 | 2012 season, NFL Picks

It’s been an up and down season for Green Bay so far, but the Packers came out of hiding on Sunday night. A six touchdown performance by Aaron Rodgers showed that the green and gold still has at least the opportunity and talent to put a beat down on any team in the league.

But they still need to gain some consistency.

“I think we’ll know whether or not the Packers are back on track if they can put together a consistent string of victories,” says Kevin McCauley, managing editor of the Acme Packing Company blog. “While the win over the Texans was great and could end up as the catalyst that jump-started the Packers’ season, we didn’t learn anything on Sunday night. We know the Packers have the talent to drop six touchdowns on anyone. What we don’t know is whether or not they have the mindset, depth and coaching to perform consistently.”

McCauley is our celebrity guest blogger for week seven. Week six was another close week, despite there being numerous differences in picks amongst the three of us—our guest blogger eked out a one game margin, going 8-6 for the week vs. 7-7 for Andy and Tony.

Week Six Season
Celebrity Blogger 8-6 55-36
Tony 7-7 53-38
Andy 7-7 52-39

This week, not nearly as much differentiation, as Andy & Tony matched all picks, while McCauley places his faith in the Vikings, Buccaneers and Steelers.

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NFL Best Bets: Week 4 – 2012

by | Sep 27, 2012 | 2012 season, NFL Gambling

After two terrible weeks, I at least achieved respectability in week three. I still hit just two of four bets, but I did nail my upset of the week, Kansas City’s win over New Orleans at +330.

Tony, on the other hand, has followed up a strong week one by posting two straight 1-3 marks – though he also hit his upset last week, with Cincinnati’s win over Washington.

He violated one of his cardinal rules last week—never bet on “my” team — especially the Vikings, as usually they’ll find a way to lose the bet and the game. At least last week, they only lost the bet. He still leads me by two for the season, however, with a 5-7 overall mark. The first two weeks were rough to me. I’m straggling at 3-9.

Still, there’s no giving up now. I feel it starting to come together. Here are our Best Bets for week four. (more…)

After Objective Review…the Seahawks/Packers Call Stands

by | Sep 25, 2012 | 2012 season, Business of Football, Zebras Are Human Too

I watched last nights game and followed along on Twitter with much amusement. There’s seriously nothing funnier in the sports community than watching Twitter blow up after a questionable call. Unfortunately, less than twelve hours later, and it feels to me like very few people have really thought this through rationally or objectively, and instead are just insisting that we need to get these refs out of our sacred game, so we can get back to…yelling at the regular refs for blowing calls.

Here are some of my (somewhat disorganized) thoughts on the current situation with the referees:

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NFL Picks, 2012 Season Week 4

by | Sep 25, 2012 | 2012 season, NFL Picks

Nobody gave the Vikings a chance to beat San Francisco, not even Dan Zinski (@VikingAgeDan, @TheVikingAge), senior blogger at Viking Age Guy. “Honestly I thought they had no shot,” he says. “I’m not ashamed to say that. I figured they’d scrap through and maybe make it interesting before San Fran took control. I wasn’t ready for them just out-muscling the 49ers.”

But Zinski and the rest of the world were wrong. Minnesota beat San Francisco at its own game for what I believe is the upset of the season so far. I think the Vikings are still a year or two away from being a real contender, but Christian Ponder is giving the team’s fans reason for optimism. Zinski originally believed the Vikings were a four win team at best, but he’s revised his outlook, now giving the team a shot at 8-8.

“They should be in most games,” he says. “I’m still concerned about their defense and the lack of a deep passing game. But I’m becoming a Ponder believer and he has some legit weapons in Percy Harvin and Kyle Rudolph.”

Zinski joined Zoneblitz as the site’s celebrity game pick blogger for week four.

Week three was pretty brutal across the board, with my picks (Tony) edging Andy’s by one game (9-7 vs 8-8), while our guest blogger @moleandmeares finished 6-10 for the week. For the season, I’ve taken the lead, but we’re all separated by only two games:

Week Three Season Total
Tony 9-7 27-21
Celebrity bloggers 6-10 26-22
Andy 8-8 25-23

Week four picks:

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