Brats & Beer

It’s All In The Name

Like a lot of other Packer fans, I’ve been doing much thinking the past week on how the Green Bay front office should proceed forward (or should that be Fourward?) into the post-Favre era. Aaron Rodgers of course will get first crack at becoming the next great Packers quarterback, but a lot of names have been tossed around as to a potential backup for young Rodgers. Some of those names have been mysteriously intriguing (Quinn Gray), laughable (Joey Harrington), and downright frightening (Vinny Testaverde).

All of which got me to thinking: Shouldn’t the Packers have a quarterback with a funny sounding name?

Whoever leads the Green & Gold into the next era is following in the footsteps of such players as Cecil Isbell, Arnie Herber, and Tobin Rote. More recently the Packers have been led by men with such names as Starr, Dickey, Majkowski, and of course Favre. Aaron Rodgers is a talented kid but his Plain Jane name just doesn’t fit well in that progression. The proud history of the Green Bay Packers demands that our next quarterback have a name that is difficult to pronounce and spell.

Therefore, I suggest that Ted Thompson throw out the stats and scouting reports and just look at the names going into this year’s draft. A name like Adam Tafralis (San Jose State) might trip up a sports writer or two, and I like the hard consonant sounds of Ben Mauk (Cincinnati) and Mike Kokal (Miami of Ohio). Omar Haugabook (Troy) and John David Booty (USC) both have fun sounding names, as well.

But for hard to spell and pronounce names I don’t think that anyone in the 2008 QB class can top Northern Colorado’s Dominic Breazeale. My initial instinct was that it’s pronounced “Bray zeel” or “Bree Zayle,” but it’s pronounced “Brazil.” Perfect!

Now, anyone know if this kid can play?