Favre voted first among foes By Tom Murphy News-Chronicle Sports Illustrated, which remains whistle and striped shirt above the out-of-bounds ESPN magazine, marks its 50th anniversary this year by saluting a state in each issue. As noted a couple of columns ago, the North Dakota edition honored Don Barcome Jr., son of a Green Bay native who has siblings still living in our community. The state-by-state sections include honors for native daughters and sons, adopted children and a tongue-in-cheek piece, "Enemy of the State." Brett Favre fares well as an enemy. No doubt because they're in Minnesota Viking territory, readers in both North and South Dakota selected the Green Bay Packers quarterback as their "enemy." In South Dakota, Favre beat out the men most responsible for the monetary messes in professional baseball and football: George Steinbrenner and Al Davis. In North Dakota, Favre edged Steinbrenner and a Fargo radio personality whom SI says rips and reads with the worst of them. Judging by his recent signing of A-Rod, George S. hasn't lost his Midas touch. Curiously, if Favre was the "enemy" of the Dakotas, the Packers were the second place darlings in the favorite pro football team category. Twelve percent of South Dakotans liked the Packers and 8 percent of those in North Dakota liked Green Bay. The Vikings ranked first, thanks to geography. (In Michigan's issue, the Packers were second only to Detroit and were ranked favorite by 8 percent of respondents. Iowa picked the Packers first, outpacing both of their other neighbors in Chicago and the Twin Cities.) In fact, from Maine to Arizona, the Packers were among the top three pro football franchises. Dallas was close behind. The Cowboys were a more regional choice. Green Bay was as much a favorite as Steinbrenner was the enemy. And even in Alaska, where they can relate to Frozen Tundra, the Packers trailed the Seahawks and 49ers by only one point as the favorite team in all pro sports. They tied with the Mariners. Guess who was the enemy of the state? It wasn't Favre. In the Wisconsin issue, the Packers garnered most of the ink. Olympic speed skaters were a distant second. Bucky Badger also received honors for the achievements of Bo Ryan and Barry Alvarez. Unfortunately, Marquette was almost forgotten. Transplant Al McGuire received some notice. As for the other states thus far, a casual glance found just one egregious error: The Packers' Don Hutson, the first truly outstanding receiver in the National Football League, didn't make the list of favorite sons in the Arkansas issue. Hutson was a better all-around player (he also was a defensive back and place kicker) than Randy Moss or Chris Carter or Steve Largent or Raymond Berry and Dante Lavelli. Hutson, a native of Pine Bluff, Ark., played here from 1935 through 1945 and at one time held every pass receving record in the NFL. He led the league in receiving for eight of his 11 seasons and was first in scoring in five of them. He was a member of the first (1963) Professional Football Hall of Fame class. Curly Lambeau, Johnny (Blood) McNally and Cal Hubbard joined him. Hutson was named to the league's 50th and 75th anniversary teams and the all-time two-way team. He still holds the record for most points scored (29) in one quarter. In its lapse on Hutson, maybe SI was preoccupied with Sam Walton (hardball) and Bill Clinton (softball) when it put together the Arkansas list. We can't let a column on the Packers and/or Lambeau Field pass without reminding E.D. Hartzencupid of the natonwide publicity generated. Right, E.D.? LAST LEGS Most everything Casey Stock touches has turned for the better. Most everything. There's Carver Boats in his native Oconto, Stock Lumber in Green Bay and other locations, the former Haen Farm in Greenleaf that once was the site of Farm Progress Days. Stock rescued Carver from the bankruptcy pile, built Stock Lumber from a local Oconto County yard to a regional company sold at a nice profit to a Carolina company, and sold the Askeaton area farm to the county for a landfill. Then there's the family residential development near Naples, Fla. It's a series of real booming projects. Things aren't quite as good with Schweiger Furniture of Jefferson. That's between Madison and Milwaukee. Stock bought Schweiger, a proud, 105-year-old manufacturer of upholstered products, several years ago. He hoped to rescue the firm in much the same way as Carver crept back. But imports, largely from China, now threaten the company. Schweiger is talking sale with a prospect, but nonetheless has been forced to give the state and Jefferson the required 60-day closure notice. Let's hope Schweiger follows in Carver's wake. That's wake as it boat, not funeral. Curbside: In case you missed it (no media around here mentioned it): The Wisconsin Golden Gloves boxing tournament will be held at the Stadium View Bar on Holmgren Way. Preliminaries are April 9 with semis on April 16 and finals April 30. Promoter Howard Zaffke of Milwaukee said Stadium View donated its hall and gave him $500 to promote the amateur bouts that lead to national competition. Tickets are available at Stadium View at $10 and up. The hall can seat 1,100. Murphy, a longtime area business writer, writes a weekly column for This Week. Contact him by calling 920-432-2941, sending mail to P.O. Box 2467, Green Bay, WI 54306-2467 or by sending e-mail to [email protected].