All the way back in June, ESPN decided to send every single member of it's Football team to Green Bay for the Monday Night opener on September 8th. By the end of July, that whole and today the troops have been officially called off. Via the JS Online....

ESPN no longer plans to send the entire "Monday Night Countdown" crew to Lambeau Field when the network carries its regular-season opener on Sept. 8, when the Packers play host to the Minnesota Vikings.

That game had been scheduled as the time Favre's number would be retired by the Packers. But Favre changed his mind and decided to continue his career, prompting the Packers to postpone the number retirement.

Just as they did last season, the "Countdown" broadcasters - Stuart Scott, Emmitt Smith and Steve Young - will be on site at Lambeau, and the sites of all the other "Monday Night Football" games throughout the 2008 season.

Seems like the smart decision, but I was kind of looking forward to see how they put together a set that fit seventeen people. I'm also just happy that Emmitt is going to be there. When I turned on Countdown last night, I was borderline mad that Ditka was in for him. I know they're trying to phase him out, but try to make it happen as slow as possible please.

In other programming news: The NFL Network is going to carry the rest of the New York Favres' preseason games live.

Change in game plan (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)

(P.S.- Sorry about the headline....I'd been saving that one for awhile.)