Earlier in the year, I came to this board looking for suggestions on what to do when I was in Cleveland for the Packers/Browns match-up in October. This forum is probably the easiest way for me to say thank you for a great experience. Trust me, I'm not talking about the game. If I was, this would have been posted when I got back from Cleveland. I just wanted to say all of your suggestions were great. We got to the Cleveland area around 1 pm ET on Saturday and left maybe an hour after the game, so we couldn't experience everything you guys suggested. The Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton was excellent and my friend's brother was great at showing us the good parts of Cleveland. The main downtown area looks great and if it used to look run-down than your city did a great job making it look good again. GREAT call on GLBC as I took home two growlers though we couldn't find a seat in the place to eat. I will admit though, you guys had me worried about the treatment we were going to get from the fans. Even before the game though, your fans were respectful, knowledgeable, and overall good people. Cleveland Browns Stadium is a beautiful place to watch a game and hopefully you guys will have a great team in the future to complement it. We also appreciated the tailgating advice too as we were happy to keep the tailgating tradition alive as well. I was happy to see the Browns won on Thursday and hopefully the Packers can finish the job in a couple weeks.

Once again, thank you all for your help before the season and at the game. It was definitely an enjoyable trip before the final whistle blew. Good luck in the future and hopefully I'll be seeing meaningful football by Lake Erie at this time next season.

According to the Press Gazette, the Packers have made the necessary moves to trim their roster down to 53. For those of those who don't want to click on the link, here's the list by position:

• Quarterback: Brian Brohm
• Running Back: Tyrell Sutton, Kregg Lumpkin
• Wide Receiver: Jake Allen, Ruvell Martin, Kole Heckendorf
• OL: Andrew Hartline, Jamon Meredith, Dane Randolph
• DL: Alfred Malone, Dean Muhtadi, Ronald Talley, Anthony Toribio
• Linebackers: Danny Lansanah, Cyril Obiozor
• Cornerback: Joe Porter
• Safety: Anthony Smith

They also put Justin Harrell, Pat Lee, Evan Moore, and Charlie Peprah were place on IR. I have some thoughts on these moves, set up by players like Desmond Bishop being rewarded for good preseason play and the hard-to-believe concept of carrying 3 fullbacks. Instead of forcing you to read those comments right of the bat, I'll just quote Coffee Talk with Linda Richman and just say: "I'm a little faklempt, ttalk amongst yourselves...."

It should not be a shock to any of the fans on this board that the Packers fan base is one of the better traveling fan bases. In many of these cities, you don't even need to locate a cheesehead or two to realize how many Packers fans are there. The last two years, my friends and I have roadtripped it to games just to tour what the rest of the NFL has to offer. 2 years ago we went to Minnesota, where the entire upper deck was practically Packers fans thanks to an article in the Press-Gazette about two weeks before the game. If you remember, that was when we still all liked Favre and he threw #421 to Greg Jennings. Last year, we headed to Motown to see them open up the Lions home slate. Both games we ran into numerous Packers fans and the usual 15% of home fans that feel its up to them personally to bust out their best one-liners. This year, we're heading to Cleveland. Sure, the drive might be the worst of the three, but can't argue with $40 seats. I'll also be going to the Bears/Packers game at the Mistake on the Lake for the first time since i was 10 or so and had it rain peanuts on me from some of the "cooler" Bears fans. SInce this is blog that reaches the ends of the Earth, I'm curious if anyone else is planning any roadtrips to see the Packers this season. If nothing else, we can use this to possibly see if other Acme Readers are going to the same games as others.

I'm sitting at work eating my Easter snack cakes and reading the papers and web sites when I stumble upon onto the Eastern Sports Propaganda Network (ESPN) for this little nugget. Maybe you've seen it, but the Packers had a workout for former Duke PG Greg Paulus. ESPN must've went crazy that it hasn't mentioned Duke anything in a couple weeks, but yes, this is the same Greg Paulus that was benched during the Duke basketball season for a freshman and was hailed as being a great mentor for the younger Dukies. Apparently, it's also the same Greg Paulus who started at quarterback in the U.S. Army All-American game, turned down scholarship offers from Notre Dame and the U (Miami), and was a Gatorade Player of the Year.

Sounds impressive from that aspect, but my guess is that Coach K discouraged his point guard from tossing around the pigskin during his time at Duke. However, maybe Paulus picked up a football and started fooling around to try and capture his glory days. After all, the article states he was the only one of his siblings to go the D1 basketball route, with his other siblings playing D1 football.

 Personally speaking, our backups played football throughout their college years and don't exactly leave much to smile about. I can't even imagine Paulus being able to shake off enough rust in terms of footwork, hitting patterns, and so on and so forth to make a serious attempt of being drafted. After all, he's been tossing bounce and chest passes for four years and apparently wasn't good enough to do that for big minutes his senior year. Maybe he'll get invited to a camp, probably Carolina where there would be a little intrigue because of the Duke connection. I'm a little shocked we wasted the money to travel to Durham for the tryout, but who knows. There's a reason why I'm in a cube eating Easter snack cakes instead of scouting NFL talent.

In related news, ESPN has not reported whether or not Dick Vitale creamed his shorts over the possibility of being able to talk Duke basketball during NFL programming.

I'd be the first to admit I wasn't born into hockey. Finances prevented me from playing hockey and a lack of interest within the family halted my own interest in hockey. A couple scouts nights at Wolves games and a couple Friday nights at the Resch Center in Green Bay so we could kill an evening and eat a lot of hot dogs started my interest in hockey. The hook: a 4-2 Wisconsin Badgers victory over Ohio State in the Frozen Tundra Hockey Classic. There's nothing like watching hockey with 40.000+ hockey fans at Lambeau Field. It was because of this game that I started following junior, college, and pro hockey. Hell I even interned for the Green Bay Gamblers for two years. If I wasn't hurting for money, I probably would have scalped for the Winter Classic this year since as a Hawks and Cubs fan, that would have been a slice of heaven on earth.

Anyways, enough of the jibber jabber. I was driving up to Green Bay this weekend when the Bulls game cut out and I switched to the Badgers hockey game. It was then that I found out that Wisconsin will host another outdoor game, this time at Camp Randall Stadium. 

If you want to save yourself some more reading, here are the highlights:

• Game is set for February 6th, 2010. Tickets are on sale for students ($10) in April and the general public ($25) in May.
• It's a doubleheader. Since Wisconsin has a prominent men's team and women's team, both wil be featured. The women will play against Bemidji State before the men take on Michigan.
• If the game sells out, it would set a world record for an outdoor hockey game at 80,321.
• In case it was skipped over in the first bullet point, this is very reasonably priced.

I know this isn't the Blackhawks and I don't even know what kind of college following this site has. I'll admit I haven't been able to follow college hockey that much since I graduated from college. If you couldn't go to the Winter Classic this year but still wanted to experience hockey in an outdoor environment, this might be your chance.

Hey everybody-

I apologize for breaking an agreement on the disclaimer when I first signed up for the blog. I'm a Packers fan and a NFC guy for the most part, so I don't have a whole lot to say about the Browns except for sweet colors (my high school in Arlington Heights also boasts the brown and orange color scheme) and the NFL will be a better NFL when some of the "old-school" teams such as the Browns return to the top like they were in the 60s. I was at the last Packers/Browns game at Lambeau when your tight end made the Packers look silly. S-I-L-L-Y. If I remember right, Braylon also made a habit of burning our secondary. Yikes.

The main reason why I'm posting is I'm trying to get some tips and pointers for a possible trip to CBS this season. My friends and I have made it tradition to go to a Packers away game the last few years. After last year's trip to Detroit, we have officially tapped out of the NFC North. This year, we're looking to branch out. We're all fresh out of college, so road trips to Arizona and Tampa Bay, though nice, is outside of our means. After two years of going to domes, I'd like to reserve the Rams for a dark year and when I have no self-respect. That leaves us with two: CBS and Heinz Field. I have always respected the Browns franchise, though not a direct fan. I probably would have joined all of you in some quality Art Modell bashing if a forum existed back then. Anyways, all I ask of you is maybe give me the downlow on what it's like to go a game at your stadium. Rest assured: I keep my mouth shut when I'm a visiting fan and cheer for my team only, so it's not like you're aiding a jerk here. Some of the bigger things I'm wondering about (given its a Saturday/Sunday trip):

• If I can't get tickets online via Ticketmaster, how is the secondary market.
• Parking/Tailgating
• Things to do when its not gametime
• Any good microbreweries in the area. And not Buzz Beer. I'm sure Drew Carey is to you guys like Jim Belushi is to us.
• Do's and Don'ts of CBS (outside of the obvious one: DON'T piss off the Pound)

Thanks everyone. Hopefully I'll be in Cleveland sooner than later, as in this season. Good luck this offseason. We both need it.