Midweek Stock Report: Packers’ Rodgers also an MVP in speechmaking

Aaron Rodgers, speechmaker (⬆️ UP)

Yeah, Rodgers won his third MVP joining an elite group blah, blah, blah. Given just a minute to give an acceptance speech, the Green Bay Packers quarterback stuffed a lot in – and most of it not dealing with football. Sure, he thanked his coaches and teammates, but oh there was a lot more to unpack. Wearing what looked like a gray t-shirt (no reason to get dressed up for a virtual event), among the things Rodgers mentioned was getting his nose hair scraped for 180 consecutive days and that he got engaged. And, yes, he mentioned the nose hair thing first. Among the people on his team he thanked were Jodie Foster (presumably the noted actress, director and producer), the Dungeon Papa, the Pygmalia crew [we’re not sure if we spelled this correctly, but it’s what it sounded like], Torpedo and his fiancée (who he never named directly but has been confirmed to be actress Shailene Woodley).

Signing off, Rodgers finished off his minute-long speech encouraging “people to read books, to meditate, speak things to life, manifest the desires of your heart, question everything and spread love and positivity.”

Now that’s an MVP speech.

Packers 2021 defense (¯_(ツ)_/¯)

With Mike Pettine not returning, head coach Matt LaFleur had a new defensive coordinator to find. Interviewing some “out-of-the-box” candidates like Wisconsin’s Jim Leonhard and Washington Football Team’s Chris Harris, LaFleur went with … Joe Barry. It’s easy to yell and scream and say this is a disappointing hire (as many have done on social media), but really we all need to wait to see what he can do. Did some yell and scream and be disappointed when LaFleur was hired? Probably. Of course, Barry’s resume as a DC isn’t exactly sparkling from his time in Washington and Detroit. Maybe we should have found a “sigh” emoji.

Bryn Forbes, Bucks guard (⬆️ UP)

We touched on Forbes a bit last week in our Bucks tracker and he’s kept on going. In four games this past week, including his first start with Milwaukee, Forbes shot 60.9% — from 3! Overall he hit 63.2% of his shots and averaged 15.5 points per game. Forbes hitting 47.9% of his 3-point attempts, which ranks fifth in the NBA. The last Milwaukee player to shoot 47% or better from behind the arc in a season with 10+ attempts was Dell Curry – yes, Steph’s dad – in 1998-99 (47.6%).

Jrue Holiday, Bucks guard (⬇️ DOWN)

Holiday missed Monday’s game due to COVID protocols. We can only hope he’s OK and also won’t have to miss an extended period of time.

Brewers ground-ball pitchers (⬆️ UP)

Life just got a little better over the next couple of seasons.

Cole Caufield, Badgers forward (⬆️ UP)

Caufield stretched his goal-scoring streak to seven games – no Wisconsin player has had an eight-game streak since 1991-92. Caufield can tie the Badgers’ single-season goal streak this weekend when Wisconsin plays a pair at Michigan. He also could have the first 13+-game point streak since the 2011-12 season and is three goals away from 20. Even in a pandemic, this is a special season for the sophomore.