Good for you Mike Sherman

Mike Sherman cut short a news conference today when a ringing cell phone went off. When I first heard about it I thought maybe he just had little patience cause of the team's 1-6 struggle this year. A la Herman Edwards saying "You play...to win...the game!!" or Jim Mora's classic "Playoffs?! Don't talk about playoffs! Are you kidding me? Playoffs?! I'm just hoping we can win a game, another game!" However that was not the reason.

The cell phone went off about 16 minutes into what is normally about a 25-minute news conference when Sherman was in the middle of answering a question about his defense.

"I don't understand that," Sherman, a former high school history teacher, said as he walked away from the podium in the media auditorium. "That stuff to me, to be honest with you, is a total lack of respect for each other. Forget me, you don't have to respect me. But respect each other."

The Packers were hoping peer pressure would result in the offending individual coming forward. But when that didn't happen, Favre's news conference was canceled for the first time since the Mike Holmgren era a decade ago when the former Packers coach tried to reel in his loquacious quarterback.

You think this was a one time incident however ringing cell phones have been a problem with the media at least four other times. And everytime the Packers have asked them to turn off their cell phones and yet it still happens.There is a strict no cell phone policy during meetings. The players seem to know the consequences.Sherman has long banned cell phones in meetings."That's a big-time no-no," long snapper Rob Davis said. "Big-time. Really, really bad."What would happen?"You'd get punched in the face," offensive coordinator Tom Rossley said. "Everybody in the room gets to punch you in the face. ... It just doesn't happen. It is not something that happens in this building."Linebacker Na'il Diggs said stiff fines are a pretty good deterrent."I don't know (how much), but I'm sure it's steep," he said. "We haven't had one of those in a few years."

I applaud the reaction by Mike Sherman. He has given the media many chances and many warnings about cell phones. There's nothing more annoying than a cell phone going off in a meeting or even a classroom. Is the media that stupid? I'm sure these are the same guys who cover the team also every week. I bet no one came forward cause they didn't want everyone in the room to stare at him and think "Nice going idiot".

Too bad Mike Sherman doesn't have everyone in the room punch whoever had the cell phone. Now THAT would be worth it.

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