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No other team in the NFL or in all of North American professional sports has a relationship with its fans like that of the Green Bay Packers. Although the unique ownership structure is part of it, the tradition of players riding young fans’ bicycles to training camp practice is perhaps one of the best things in all of sports.
In today’s Cheese Curds, we find a pair of stories about how this tradition helps connect players and fans. One shows how a relatively unknown rookie found a home away from home through the young boy who he helped bring out of his shell. The other illustrates the lengths that fans will go to support their team and how even one of the newest members of the roster will go the extra mile to help make a little girl’s day.
As the Packers kick off the preseason tonight — and start to scale back the public access to practice — we look back at these bike rides and appreciate their impact.
A bond deeper than a bike | Packers.com
This story about Corey Linsley's friendship with Travis Kohlbeck is a must-read. Also, it's really dusty in here.
Instant Awesome: Green Bay TE Martellus Bennett makes 5-year-old Packer fan's dream come true | ESPN
Bennett just keeps giving us reasons to love him - he helped an obsessed little Packers fan have a great day at practice after her family had their flights in for Family Night cancelled on them.
Aaron Rodgers likes both of Packers’ ‘really solid’ fullbacks | Packers Wire
It was almost a foregone conclusion among APC's writers that the Packers would keep just one fullback -- Aaron Ripkowski -- on the 53-man roster. However, Joe Kerridge was a special teams standout over the second half last year and he has been wowing his coaches and his quarterback so far in camp.
Green Bay Packers' hoopster-turned-receiver catches Aaron Rodgers' eye - ESPN
Michael Clark has made some nice catches, but it's worth yet another reminder: he played just one year of college football and is extraordinarily raw for a receiver prospect. He will probably need a minimum of one year on the practice squad to learn the techniques of playing wideout at the NFL level before he would be remotely ready to contribute in the regular season.
Packers have all the pieces to win Super Bowl in Favre’s view | Packersnews.com
The Ol’ Gunslinger was back in town for an awards ceremony yesterday, and he gave his thoughts on a whole host of topics. For one, he thinks Rodgers should absolutely be able to play until he’s 40, given the way he protects himself. He also feels that the Packers are set up well to win another title this year and told numerous stories about former team historian Lee Remmel.
Buccaneers head coach: Jameis Winston is more like Aaron Rodgers than Tom Brady - Pats Pulpit
How can a quarterback with a career interception rate of 3.0% (second-worst in the NFL in the past two years) even be mentioned in the same breath as Rodgers, who has a career rate of 1.5%, or Brady, whose career rate is 1.8%?