First Reviews

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Almost a decade later, Donald Driver isn't sure what would have come of his then-fledgling career had he gotten serious about a different sport.
"I don't know," Driver said Friday.
Driver was coming off his rookie season as a wide receiver with the Green Bay Packers in 1999 when he considered trying out for the U.S. track and field team in the high jump for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
He had qualified for the U.S. Olympic trials in 1996 with a national-best high jump of 7 feet, 6 1/2 inches but didn't make the Olympic team that year while he was an underclassman at Alcorn State.
"He had incredible leaping ability," said fourth-year Packers coach Mike McCarthy, who was Green Bay's quarterbacks coach in 1999. "That's the thing that just really stuck out."
Fortunately for the Packers, Driver dropped his pursuit of another shot at the Olympics and stuck with football.
From late-round afterthought to a Pro Bowler, Driver has had quite a career.
Driver goes into Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field needing only one reception to become the Packers' career leader for catching passes.
He is tied with Sterling Sharpe with 595 catches.
"I think it's surprising," Driver said. "I never would've expected it to happen, but it's an honor. It's one of those things you get excited about it but you get to a point where you kind of just have to put it behind you."
On the brink of a milestone, Driver said he hasn't been asking the coaches to have the first pass thrown to him Sunday.
"It could be the last ball of the game," Driver said. "It doesn't matter."
McCarthy, who calls the plays for the offense, wouldn't say whether he plans to get the record-breaking catch out of the way early.
"Donald is going to have opportunities to catch the ball in this game. I'm pretty confident in that," McCarthy said.
Driver could do without the hoopla. He said the only family members who will be at the game are his wife Betina and their two young children.
"I'm not making a big deal out of it, and no one else in my family is making a big deal out of it," Driver said. "You're happy to be that close, but once you get that close, you've just got to deal with it."
Driver's ascension to the top of the Packers' receptions list is quite impressive.
The Packers selected him from Alcorn State with the last of their 12 draft picks in 1999 in the seventh round, No. 213 overall.

"We talk about those days," McCarthy said. "He's a lot bigger. That's what I remember, how light he was when he came in, but, boy, was he gifted. The thing I remember about Donald in '99 was his ability to go get the football."

Thankful for then-general manager Ron Wolf for drafting him, Driver said hard work made the difference in being able to stick out among a deep group of 13 receivers and earn a roster spot as a rookie.

"Ron Wolf gave me the opportunity," Driver said. "That's the best thing you can ever ask for. He didn't have to do it, but he did it. He took a gamble on me, and it worked out."

Driver didn't make his pro debut until late in the 1999 season, and his first home game as a Packer at Lambeau Field was against the Lions.

Driver's first catch a few weeks later was a memorable one. He was summoned from the sideline to replace Antonio Freeman, and Brett Favre proceeded to throw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Driver at home against Carolina.

"It just happened that I was wide open, nobody was covering me," Driver said.

Although Driver didn't become a full-time starter until 2002, when he had the first of his team-record six 1,000-yard seasons and earned the first of three Pro Bowl berths, Wolf was behind him from the beginning.

That helped Driver to pass on competing for a spot in the 2000 Olympics and continue pursuing his NFL career.

"I made that decision to stay here and play football, and I think I made the right decision," Driver said. "I knew I had an opportunity to be here for a long time."

Driver could become the Packers' record holder for receiving yards in 2010. He ranks second with 8,277 yards, behind Hall of Famer James Lofton's 9,656.

Driver is humbled by his accomplishments.

"I feel very blessed," Driver said. "From where I came from, I never expected it. To have these opportunities to do exactly what you dreamed as a kid, it's a blessing."

NOTES: McCarthy thinks LT Chad Clifton and S Atari Bigby will be ready to play Sunday after they missed extended time for ankle and knee injuries, respectively. Both players are probable for the game.

PARIS – French farmers struggling with slumping grain prices blanketed the Champs-Elysees with bales of hay and set them ablaze Friday, and blocked highways around the country as they demanded government help.
About 150 farmers blocked traffic and unloaded hay and tires onto the most famous shopping street in Paris. The protesters set the hay on fire before firefighters quickly extinguished the flames.
Grain farmers were staging nationwide protests to call attention to their debts and other difficulties that have mounted as food prices have fallen from record highs in 2007.
Protesters disrupted traffic on several highways, from Toulouse in southern France to Calais on the English Channel and Moselle in the northeast.
"Mr. Sarkozy, agriculture merits as much as the banking or automobile sectors," the FNSEA union said on its Web site, referring to emergency aid the French government offered banks and carmakers to help them weather the global economic crisis.
Agriculture is still one of the most shielded economic sectors in the 27-nation European Union, but it has not been able to protect farmers from the global financial crisis that caused demand to crash. EU officials insist they still intend to gradually create freer markets for European farm products.
French farmers receive subsidies under the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy, which in 2008 gave out euro50 billion, or $71 billion, mostly to large companies.
FNSEA chief Jean-Michel Lemetayer appealed to the government for a "major emergency plan" including tax cuts to help French farmers compete with European rivals. Lemetayer also wants euro1 billion ($1.5 billion) in loans for farmers, with the interest and fees paid by the government.
Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire appeared ready to meet some of the demands, saying he would urge President Nicolas Sarkozy to reduce the tax burden on farmers this year.
Le Maire predicted overall agricultural revenue would drop by up to 20 percent in 2009 after a 20 percent drop in 2008, though farmers say the decline this year is the worst in decades.
After the Champs-Elysees action, farmers gathered in front of the gold-domed Invalides, home to Napoleon's tomb. Some wore signs with a picture of a drowning person, with the caption: "Sarkozy: Agriculture, should it pay such a price?"
Fabien Pigeon, a wheat farmer from the Paris region, said he is euro230,000 ($341,872) in debt.
"We sell at less than 30 percent the cost of production. The cost to produce a ton of wheat is euro134, but the price of a ton is less than euro100. Two years ago, the production cost was euro110 and the price was euro200," he said.
Gerone Porthault, a 27-year-old who works with his father and brother on their wheat farm near Rambouillet, southwest of Paris, said he was not asking for more subsidies but for globally regulated prices.
The grain farmers' fiery protest comes after dairy farmers dumped rivers of milk across fields in France, Belgium and other countries to protest collapsing milk prices. Dairy farmers had urged the EU to limit production through quotas to drive up prices and shield them from market fluctuations.