Bob McGinn was lucky enough to get himself an interview with Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson on Saturday.
Actually, maybe lucky is not the right word. Talking to Thompson seems a lot like having a nice conversation with a plant.
Ted dodged or refused to answer a large number of McGinn’s questions, but more on that in a moment.
The daddy comment was clearly the highlight of reading this exercise in watching paint dry. McGinn asked Thompson if consistently winning in the regular season is enough to make the Packers an elite franchise.
Ted replied with this gem.
“I don’t know about that. People can rank people the way they want to. I don’t know if I’m going to get involved in a contest of who said what and whose daddy is bigger than the other daddy. I think we’re a competitive football team with talented players at the superstar level. That’s a combination that gets you a little bit ahead in this league to start with. The playoffs are the playoffs. It’s not an easy league.”
Whose daddy is bigger than the other daddy?
Was that a penis reference?
It’s a new one to us, that’s for sure. Who knew Big Ted had such a way with words?
Well, at least when he actually chooses to use them.
Here is a list of questions Ted did not know the answer to or just refused to address.
- What was missing from the Packers defense in 2015? (Ted didn’t know)
- Like other great players, shouldn’t Aaron Rodgers be expected to win multiple championships? (Ted didn’t get the point of the question)
- Did Mike McCarthy and Thompson meet to discuss McCarthy’s frustrations from last season? (Ted wouldn’t discuss it and then denied a meeting took place)
- Did Eddie Lacy have a maturity issue last year? (Ted took the fifth)
- Did the Packers investigate Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers based on the Al Jazeera report? (Ted refused to talk about that)
- Would you like Matthews and Peppers to talk to NFL investigators? (Ted did not want to discuss other people’s business)
- Why did you prevent Eliot Wolf from interviewing for the Lions’ GM job? (Ted refused to answer)
- Other personnel guys were also prevented from interviewing for outside jobs — why don’t you let them? (Ted accused McGinn of misinterpreting the facts and refused to answer)
- Do you support frequent turnover on the coaching staff? (Ted didn’t know)
- Do you support McCarthy when he decides to fire a coach? (Ted wouldn’t answer the question the way it was stated)
Pearls of wisdom, people.
What we got the heartiest chuckle from — other than the daddy bit — was when McGinn asserted that Thompson is much more focused on college scouting than pro scouting. All evidence points to this being 100 percent true. We called Thompson a glorified college scouting director when he showed up at the Wisconsin Badgers pro day on the first day of free agency this year. That’s an event you send your director of college scouting to. Thompson somehow has the GM title when he only does half the job.
What did Ted have to say to that?
“Both. When you get to be an executive like me you do both.”
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Right, Ted. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.