The one busy day in Green Bay each year

With the five pick, the Green Bay Packers select AJ Hawk, the Ohio State University and a paperback copy of the Merriam-Webster dictionary.

Oh, Javon Walker... you trader... Trailer trash in the Lambeau Atrium, you're not helping us at all, buddy. Not even a little.

Aside from hoping the rest of the country missed that little puppet show following the selection of Hawk, it was a pretty enjoyable first day of the draft overall. Well, except for the one nickel for a dollar trade of Javon Walker and subsequent two nickels for a nickel, penny and stick of gum trade that followed.

Sometimes I wish that player would shut their yaps about wanting to get out of town because it really screws the team and the fans on the back end. There was pretty much no one in the football world who has risen above the rank of fantasy team GM who didn't know that Walker wouldn't return to Green Bay without a firearm and loved one involved, which makes it very possible that this was the best deal open to the Packers in this regard.

Trading a Pro Bowl wideout for a pick? It makes me sick and angry. I hope that motherfucker keeps blowing his knees out and that it's colder than usual in Denver so he has to freeze his ass off as he lies on the field waiting for the stretcher to come get him.

If I wake up in October and see that Walker will be placed on the DL with a ruptured ACL and frostbitten buttocks, I will probably take the day off to celebrate.

Frank the Tank sent a congratulatory e-mail tonight with regards to the pick, and thinks he'll be an anchor for the Packers D for years to come. I see that potential, but those sentiments were being tossed around Seattle with their pickup of Brian Bosworth years ago, too.

All things being equal, I love this pick. I'm sick of several years of Madden where the Packers defense is awful and you have to try and force teams into shootouts to make use of an over-rated Favre and a killer running game. Lately it's meant no defensive upgrades and erosion of the O line, so a top tier linebacker makes me very happy here.

As William "Dirty" Henderson pointed out, the Pack lost two good LBs in Na'il Diggs and his backup, Paris Lennon heading out, Nick Barnett is the only LB worth putting your faith in these days. Pairing him with Hawk gives them strength in the linebacking corps and the secondary at least holds its own with the addition of Chuck Woodson.

Also, Donald Driver has walked back comments (read: denied them completely) that he'd be holding out for a new contract. Smart move, Donald - very smart move. They're working on naming a street after you right now.

Not sure if these are the types of moves Favre wanted to justify another year, but in the long term picture, they are solid at linebacker with even a halfway decent player outside to clean up when teams tire of running at Hawk. That, and picking Matt Leinart under the "best available athlete" philosophy probably just would have pissed Brett off. And no one wants to upset St. Brett's delicate constitution.

These are all top of my head things right now, with Day 2 tomorrow and time to pick up a few other free agents. Big picture still shows the Packers in trouble, but in the NFC North, it's difficult to be too far out, no matter how bad you are on paper.

Elsewhere in the North:

* Detroit broke from tradition, not only refusing to draft a WR, but going for a defensive player. Ernie Sims (OLB, Florida State) you a re now a punchline for football fans for years to come.

* Minnesota kept the good time rolling with another OLB pick, this time Iowa's Chad Greenway. No word yet on when he'll be taking the test for a Minnesota boating license. Being picked by the Vikings right now has to be like coming back to college from the weekend and realizing that your roommates threw a huge party that got out of hand the night before. Sure, they don't mind the smell, the mess or the cold stares from neighbors and random students shaking their heads, because they had a blast. You on the other hand, just get stuck sleeping on the goat urine in your bed for the next week.

* Chicago opted to not ruin the afterglow of last year by botching a first-round pick and traded it away to Buffalo. Best draft day move for the Bears since Urlacher.

(Photos from Packers.com / SI.com)