It's a Ball world after all

As had been widely speculated in media reports of recent days, Russ Ball was named the Packers new vice president of football administration/player finance yesterday. He had held a similar job for the last few years with New Orleans. Ball replaces Andrew Brandt who resigned several weeks ago to pursue other opportunities. Brandt became well known and respected for the manner in which he conducted contract negotiations and handling salary cap issues.

Ball has a number of contacts within the Packers' organization, including head coach Mike McCarthy, whom he worked with when McCarthy was with the Saints.

Why is this guy important to the average fan? Because he's the money man, so to speak. He will be the point man on contracts and will thus be responsible for helping manage the Packers' salary cap to keep the team competitive. Aside from GM Ted Thompson, he'll be the one most directly responsible for making sure the Packers can match up with anyone on the field. Yeah, at least in this regard, it's a bean counters' world, too.

You can read more about Mr. Ball here.