July 29
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
columnist Wayne Larrivee
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Training camp opens this week around the NFL. The NFC North Division looks to be much improved from the bottom up this season and this should make for a much tighter race than we have seen in recent years. We've spent a good portion of the off-season focusing on the Packers, so let's take this opportunity to take a look at their division rivals. Minnesota VikingsThe Vikings are two-time defending division champions and obviously the team to beat, especially if Brett Favre returns at quarterback. They were the best team I saw last season. In the NFC Championship Game at New Orleans, the Minnesota defense was hammering the Saints offense into submission, but the Viking offense turned the"
July 13
Detroit Free Press
columnist Michael Rosenberg
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What Tom Lewand needs more than anything is empathy and help. The Lions' president pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle while visibly impaired last week after his much-publicized arrest June 25, and he has said, very candidly, that he has a drinking problem and needs to deal with it. The question is: how? Lewand is fighting a battle on three fronts: personal, legal, professional. He is entitled to confront the personal part privately; Lewand has described himself as a person in recovery, and there is no reason for that recovery to play itself out publicly, unless he chooses to make it public. He addressed the legal case swiftly, and that is an indication that he is taking responsibility."