DevilsAlum

Let's see.... 15 sick days a year 4 personal days which turn in to sick if you don't use them. in my 5th year I probably have around 60 days accrued All that and a teacher's work calender And for the complainers about what teachers get, feel free to get your educational certification and sign up. I had to make a decision between law school and getting my teaching certification and i picked teaching with the understanding that I would never make 6 figures but the trade off would be more time off to spend with my kids. I understand that it sucks out there in the "real world" and I appreciate how good I have it. Don't hate the player, hate the game

Funny, my 11 year old daughter said the same thing

I had no investment in this game (financial or emotional) but the Rothlesberger TD call was horrible. I understand why it wasn't overturned but still, the guy did NOT score the freaking TD Part of me felt like I should have been rooting for the Seattle just because of how they were getting screwed. Good to know it's not just the Bills

Watching it made me want to break out my copy of THe Wall and order a pizza

Did he say Baba Boey at the end of the phone call?

Sorry

Did Amy get smart and dump you yet?

This is over on the OT board but its so damn funny that I thought this side needed to see it. Funnyist thread ever Website dedicated to topic of posts

THey have a website dedicated to this here

Shouldn't you be out getting speeding tickets?

God, she was born the year I graduated from high school. I feel really old right now

Well, I should be safe because I know nothing!

Must find an excuse to go to mall without wife and children!

Once, I walked in to the faculty bathroom and one of the older teaches was sitting in the stall with the door open. You have to walk by the stalls in order to get to the urinal. The guy starts up a convo. Isn't it bad enough to have the door open? But starting a convo as well? And I'm not the only one who he's done that to!

I love ethnic babes!!!!

Sorry if allready posted Who is Mike Sherman? Packers general manager and coach fits all the hats By LORI NICKEL lnickel@journalsentinel.com Last Updated: Sept. 5, 2003 To a lot of people, working a 60-hour week is really pushing the limits, raising the blood pressure, killing life. For Green Bay Packers leader Mike Sherman, that wouldn't even cover Monday to Friday. This 48-year-old probably could use a break, a nap, a day off, a vacation to Martha's Vineyard, more assistants, a bigger budget and a clone (who, of course, would still answer to the coach). But that's not going to happen with everyone watching him, including his own boss, to makesure he doesn't fall apart or, worse yet, fall asleep on the job. The thing is, Mike Sherman can't take a break because, he'll tell you quickly, there is always something that needs his attention. It could be the 24,747 college players that need to be scouted, the next Brett Favre to find, a linebacker to replace Torrance Marshall, a free agent who needs to work for a fraction of what's left in the piggy bank salary cap, an Arena Football player to return kicks, the first 15 plays to draw up, a way to get something more out of oh, half the roster, and an answer for Michael Vick. If you are Mike Sherman, there is no real time to slow down. . . . To take a breath. And think. About all this responsibility. And, well, how very good he has been in just three short years. As Sherman steadily comes into his own as both head coach and general manager of the Packers, attempting to live up to the standard that Mike Holmgren and Ron Wolf re-established in Green Bay, team president Bob Harlan likes to fondly recall the first memorable exchange he had with Sherman. Five years ago, when Sherman was a tight ends coach under Holmgren in Green Bay, Harlan knew next to nothing about him. When Holmgren left for Seattle and Sherman followed, he said his goodbyes to Harlan. But then Sherman added that his only regret was that he didn't get to spend more time in Green Bay because he thought the place was so special. No one on their way out had ever said that to Harlan before and only now does it seem so true. His love for the city, the state and the franchise is beginning to all make sense. "They better not ever fire him, because I know he doesn't ever intend to leave there," said Claire Sherman, Mike Sherman's mother. "Let me tell you something. His heart is green." Work ethic, family values When Sherman stares out of his cottage in Door County at the endless waves of Lake Michigan, it is then he longs for home. Sherman's maternal great grandfather, Tom Bracken, left the Ireland family farm (which still exists) at 12 and moved to Dublin, where he worked with horses and saved enough money to emigrate to the United States. At 16, he came to Boston, at a time when "Irish need not apply." Bracken studied to become a mechanical engineer and sent for his future wife back in Ireland. They had eight children. Sherman's maternal grandfather, James McMahon, was, according to the Sherman family, the youngest person to hold a seat on the Boston Stock exchange at the time. Sherman's father, Frank Sherman, was a contractor in the industrial world, insulating the pipes and ducts for new factories and schools, pulling long hours and traveling all over New England. At 75, Frank Sherman still subcontracts, and also cares for a beautiful property the family lives on in Cape Cod. "All of my kids saw people who worked hard," said Claire Sherman, who also worked for 11 years to put her younger children through private school. "My father never missed a day of work in his whole life. Michael's father is terrible, he's 75 years old and he's still working. He won't quit. He's crazy." Sherman spent his early life at 49 Oak Street, Hyde Park in Boston, in the 1950s and '60s. Bracken lived next door and Sherman's grandparents had the bottom flat of his three-story home. Cousins, aunts and uncles, who were devout Packers fans, lived up and down the neighboring streets. The whole family got together on Sunday after church, and the uncles talked about Vince Lombardi's teams. "There were no Patriots back then. The Packers were it. That's why for Michael to get that job was so unbelievable," said Claire Sherman. While Sherman's roots are back East, his upbringing makes him feel so at home in Wisconsin. "It's the only fan-owned operation in all of sports," Sherman said. "I embrace that part. I have a unique fondness for this state, I really do. That's probably one thing that motivates me, more than anything, is the families that get together to watch the game on TV. I think about that a lot as my responsibility to these families, and the memories that are being made. "I never lived in another place where family was so important. Family is so important to me: my family that I grew up with, my extended family, the family that I am now raising and the Green Bay Packer family, and this state epitomizes my own values and my own beliefs." And the Sherman family has expanded recently. Sherman's wife, Karen, volunteers at the Marion House, a group home for teenage parents, and in caring for a little girl, the entire family grew closer to her. They are in the process of adopting Selena, now 3, this fall and now have five children, the oldest in college. "Those kids are very, very, very important in my life," Sherman said. "The most important. I don't know if I could be a head coach in any other NFL city. My son Matthew walks about a mile over here after school and does his homework, works out and plays basketball. There's no other place that you could do that." On top of shuttling her kids all over for activities, Karen also works part time at Stein Mart, a clothing and accessories store. "She likes getting the discount," said Sherman, whose annual salary is estimated between $2.5 million and $3 million per year. "I said, 'You know, you don't have to work there.' She just loves to make her money and she shows me her paycheck. Thirty dollars (laughs). It's a great deal for Stein Mart because even with the discount she ends up spending more money than she makes." While very independent, Karen keeps the family running smoothly because Sherman is gone so much. "I really don't talk about my job with my wife. Or my kids. I really don't want to, number one, and they don't necessarily ask," Sherman said. "My kids have so much going on in their lives. I may talk to my wife sometimes about some things, my sons will ask me some technical questions about football, but my wife, she's probably the person that suffers the most. We talk a lot on the phone, she may drop over here for lunch on occasion, but not too often." Dual roles Sherman had just one year to coach the Packers before he was also named the general manager in 2001. He would have liked a little more time before taking on the added responsibility. "When Ron Wolf told me he was retiring, I got on my knees, begging him not to," said Sherman. "To this day, I wish Ron were still here, but if it couldn't be Ron Wolf, then I wanted to do it myself." Harlan has tried to surround Sherman with a large, knowledgeable staff, and like Sherman plans to evaluate things at the end of each season to see if the two jobs ever become too much. "I owe it to him, and I owe it to our team, to sit down every year as soon as the season is finished and just have a very blunt conversation about, 'How are you doing with both, is it too much? How are you holding up?' Because I don't want him to burn out," Harlan said. "He's at a good age right now, but it can get overbearing. He's got to be very honest with me at the end of each year and he's got to be willing to say, 'I'd like one but I just can't keep both of them.' "He's got four very strong people around him in Mark Hatley, Reggie McKenzie, John Dorsey and John Schneider. I keep saying to him, 'Now, you don't try to do it yourself, you let them do things, take advantage of their talents.' " Sherman said he does, but he doesn't feel comfortable letting others make decisions for him to ease his work burden. He will have the final say in everything. "I can delegate authority but I can't delegate responsibility. Ultimately, I have responsibility for what happens," Sherman said. "I will be involved in every decision that the Packers make, and I will not let someone else make it for me. I will take suggestions, I will do my own research. The people around me know I don't want a 'yes' man. I want them to tell me what they think, but at the same time, respect me for having to make my own decision." Sherman has won more games - 33 - in his first three seasons in Green Bay than any other coach in the Packers' 84-year history and in 2002 led the team to its first division championship since 1997. If forced to give up either role one day, he might stick with coaching over general manager, but that's not something he's thought about much. It seems impossible, working without days off, on a few hours of sleep every night. From July 2002 until May 2003, Sherman worked every weekday and every weekend. That's what he knows from his family upbringing, hard work. "I hope I don't sell that to anybody, because I almost try to go the other way. I hate it when coaches say, 'Oh, I'm in at 3 a.m.,' " Sherman said. "You come in, you spend the time you need to spend. The time happens to be very long, but I don't think time is punching a clock to have a feel-good type of work ethic or to feel you're outworking everybody. It is productivity. What have you done in those 16 hours." The protector Sherman's body language suggests he is more comfortable in Barnes & Noble than he is in Chris Hovan or Bill Romanowski's world. He does not strut around with his nose in the air. His pale blue-green eyes are always focused on something, lost in planning. He's not a screamer. That's why his reaction to lineman Chad Clifton's crumpled body last year was so shocking. Sherman held his composure after Warren Sapp's blindside hit on Clifton, and bit his upper lip in Tampa Bay's dominating 21-7 victory. But after the game, Sherman, a former lineman at Central Connecticut State University in the mid-1970s, sought out Sapp and let him have it. The confrontation punctuated with obscenities by Sherman and the ugly retort by Sapp was mostly recorded on television, played again and again for days after, and it debunked the image of Sherman the nice guy. "I think everybody has the ability to snap," Sherman said. "I would not eliminate myself from that group. When you have an investment in something, when something really means something to you, you're going to get emotional about it. I don't show an emotional side very often, but I have a very emotional side." Sherman sums up the whole thing as a confrontation that was just spur of the moment. Anger will sometimes follow in a violent game. "I try to control myself. If you ask my wife and kids, they would say I am a very emotional person, in many ways, but when you are in a position of authority, when you are the leader, you have to curb it to a certain degree," Sherman said. "I would have felt terrible if I hadn't said anything to Warren Sapp. I would have felt worse. I don't fault him for his reaction, but I would have felt bad if I didn't say anything. I think he's a great player. Of all the players we've had to face in the National Football League, he was always one we had to worry about. "But I'm the head coach, the general manager, and Chad is one of my players. I looked at it as a father would look at it." Lambeau loss The Sapp incident is not the only one to help define Sherman's brief career in Green Bay. The absolute pummeling by Atlanta in the playoffs at Lambeau Field last January was the other. While Sherman was 21-3 at Lambeau, including an 8-0 home record in 2002, he now owns the dubious distinction of being the first coach to lose at Lambeau in the playoffs. Sherman confided in Harlan the day after the game that he was embarrassed. He'd seen signs in practice the week leading up to the game that were problematic. Harlan reminded Sherman that it was his ability to adjust to all the injuries last season that got the Packers in the playoffs in the first place. Sherman's injury-riddled Packers seemed to have more starters on the sideline than on the field. "Will I be able to get over that? Yes. It took me a while," Sherman said. "I'd rather have been a part of something and maybe even failed at it than not be a part of anything. You have to be a participant in this life and I think I am, and I'm going to have failures and I'm going to have successes. We're evaluated on how we handle our failures, not on our successes. How you handle disappointment, how you handle adversity. How do you handle failure, how do you handle criticism. "When my sons are watching me, and when the team is watching me, when they're all focused on me, it's in those situations. It's not when things are going well. When everything is going well, everyone is doing their own thing. When things are going bad, everybody wants to look somewhere, so they're focusing on me. That's when you truly can shine as a leader. I don't welcome adversity, but when it comes my way, I dig in." Coaching today's player Following sports in the last decade or so can make a cynic out of anyone. From infidelity to spousal abuse, irresponsible parenting and alcohol and drug abuse alleged to so many fallen heroes, it is hard not to be appalled by the culture in professional athletics and think some of the players despicable. Sherman, a conservative Republican, doesn't understand that severe judgment. Surely we've all made mistakes, he said. He feels that everyone is allowed an explanation and a chance to make better choices as they improve themselves. His faith forces him to consider offering a second chance. "Because of the amount of media coverage, there's an assumption of guilt all the time, too," Sherman said. "I think that we're no different than any other corporation in America. We have people that go home right after work with their families, they live their life a certain way, they go to church on Sunday. Then you have another group that lives their life a different way. "More problems come your way when you have money than when you don't. Life's a little more complicated sometimes. It can be less complicated because you don't have to pay this bill or that bill, but with young players, who never had anything, who all of a sudden become very wealthy, that can become a problem. They're not mature enough to handle it, and sometimes are not always surrounded by the right people to help them. "We haven't had a lot of problems here. Doesn't mean we won't, though. I'm a realist. There (are) some guys, they go out at night and you hold your breath sometimes, but for the most part, we have good guys on our team and it's a respectful locker room, and I'm really proud of that. That doesn't mean they're not going to make mistakes, just like in society, just like in my own family." The one thing Sherman won't tolerate is dishonesty. "If you tell me what happened, how it happened, tell me you screwed up, I can handle anything. Anything," Sherman said. "You ask my daughter, Sarah, that's one of the messages she gave my other daughter, Emily: 'Just don't lie to dad. You'll be fine. When you screw up - not if - when you screw up, just tell the truth, and he'll be fine, but don't ever lie to him.' And that's pretty much how I am here. "When someone lies to me, you dissolve any possibility for communication in my mind. You can't communicate with someone who lies. There's no substance, there's no trust, there's no respect, there's no loyalty. The three components I base our team off of are loyalty, trust and respect, so when you lie, you throw all that out the window, and now there's no relationship. And there's nowhere to go from there." Sherman is still known as a disciplined coach, the theme he touted when he was first hired. Safety Darren Sharper learned two years ago that being late for a meeting meant a fine even though he was a Pro Bowl player. Veteran fullback William Henderson said Sherman was somewhat strict, but not overboard, just enough to create a professional atmosphere. "Be on time for meetings," Henderson said. "Be appropriately dressed in Packer attire, so you're professionally dressed for work. Some coaches have a reputation for being overly critical. No chewing gum in the building, no reclining in your chair, feet on the floor all the time, wear a suit and tie to work - I didn't know if he (Sherman) was going to try to become one of those coaches. But he didn't. He said, 'Look, I expect you to be on time for meetings. I expect you not to fall asleep in meetings.' " Players are somewhat cautious around Sherman now that he decides whether they play as well as whether they're on the team. Sometimes, Sherman really thinks he cheated his destiny to be a high school English teacher and yet here he is, more successful in his first three years with the Packers in terms of winning than even Lombardi, Holmgren and Curly Lambeau. "I'm not at all surprised that he's done it because Mike was always special, always so focused, even young," said his father, Frank Sherman. "I just can't believe how quickly he's achieved his success."

I was laughing when I typed it

couldn't agree more Could be a tremendous staff!

In the world of modern technology, there are many ways that Sherman could have been there. Not to mention that the Caldwell interview could've been Shermans idea all along as well as Capers for DC just speculation

Does this mean that Marv's got the band back together. I wonder what sort of music they are "jamming" to?

That's been my question as everyone speculates on who the OC might be. I know that GB ran WCO which made me question the whole Mike Martz, Caldwell as OC thing. I dont doubt your info, but would you care to explain a little more on why it's false?

Why wouldn't Serman just hire his OC from Green Bay Tom Rossley ?

Did anyone else catch the reference to "Winky Dinky Dog"? It's from the classic Robert Townshend film Hollywood Shuffle

With the speculation over Caldwell as the new OC, wouldn't Sherman want someone more experienced with the West Coast Offense as OC? Or am I misinformed to the type of offense that Sherman runs?

99 Antwon Burton DL 6'3 315 Temple Buffalo, NY Anyone know where in Buffalo he's from?