Milwaukee loves lists, especially when someone else does one where we show up as a positive and praiseworthy place to live.
Great bars, best lake, finest craft beers – you know it and we love lists and usually trumpet them loudly.
Well, there’s a new list out and if it doesn’t get your dander up and make you swear, then your credentials as a real Wisconsinite may be revoked. They will at least be suspect.
This list comes from Rantsports.com. Rant is a media company, founded in Illinois and now doing web sites that range from sports to chic fashion to pets and politics.
Well rantsports is now out with a list of the 50 greatest National Football League players of all-time. You can see the list and who was the best of all-time here.
It’s not a bad list, but there are only three Green Bay Packers on the list – Forrest Gregg, No. 42;Brett Favre, No. 11; Reggie White, No. 8.
To say this casts suspicion on the entire selection process is like saying the whole Kardashian family is nuts.
For example, there are five Dallas Cowboys and five Pittsburgh Steelers on the list. The Colts have four as do the Rams and the Bears. Green Bay is tied with Oakland with three each.
Let’s take a look at what may well be the most glaring error in the creation of this list.
Lance Alworth, a wide receiver for the San Diego Padres during the days of Air Coryell was No. 30.
A pretty good argument could be made that the Packers have had at least two wide receivers who were better than Alworth.
Don Hutson revolutionized pro football with his pass catching. At various times he held virtually every receiving record in the books.
And James Lofton was widely regarded as about the best receiver of his time, even though he played on chronically bad teams under Bart Starr the coach.
Starr the quarterback doesn’t even get a mention on this list despite being the field general for what may well have been the greatest teams in the history of the league.
Most of the players on this list are worthy of being there, or at least being considered.
But Deion Sanders made the list as did O. J. Simpson and Ray Lewis, so it’s obvious that neither the jerk factor or the murder factor (actual and investigated for) were not taken into consideration.
We don’t want to be overly parochial about all of this, but there are several Packers who should certainly be on this list.
Ray Nitschke is one along with Paul Hornung, Herb Adderley and Willie Davis as well as quarterback Arnie Herber who was the one throwing to Don Hutson.
We love our lists, but somebody has to add a number of Packers to this list and take some of the players off of it.
With a history in Milwaukee stretching back decades, Dave tries to bring a unique perspective to his writing, whether it's sports, politics, theater or any other issue.
He's seen Milwaukee grow, suffer pangs of growth, strive for success and has been involved in many efforts to both shape and re-shape the city. He's a happy man, now that he's quit playing golf, and enjoys music, his children and grandchildren and the myriad of sports in this state. He loves great food and hates bullies and people who think they are smarter than everyone else.
This whole Internet thing continues to baffle him, but he's willing to play the game as long as OnMilwaukee.com keeps lending him a helping hand. He is constantly amazed that just a few dedicated people can provide so much news and information to a hungry public.
Despite some opinions to the contrary, Dave likes most stuff. But he is a skeptic who constantly wonders about the world around him. So many questions, so few answers.
