The Sports Xchange

GREEN BAY, Wisc. — Packers head coach Mike McCarthy had harsh words Monday for a story about veteran defensive tackle Letroy Guion’s off-the-field history that appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel over the weekend.

“First of all, I’m not going to react to the article,” McCarthy said when asked about the report during his news conference as the team returned from its bye week. “I thought it was garbage, and the fact of the matter is we take a lot of pride in our program here.”

Called into question in the story that detailed Guion’s gun and drug charges stemming from a traffic stop near his offseason home in Florida in early February and also previous domestic-violence incidents was the Packers’ character review of him. Green Bay re-signed Guion, an unrestricted free agent, to a one-year, incentive-laden contract worth $2.75 million nearly two months after his latest run-in with the law.

Guion, an eighth-year pro, reached a plea deal to have charges of possessing marijuana and a gun reduced or dropped in that case. He received a three-game suspension from the NFL for a violation of its substance-abuse policy and served that to start this season.

“We’ve had people that make mistakes (here). There have been second chances,” McCarthy said. “There’s a thorough process that goes on continuously. We’re all being evaluated, we all have bosses, but this program is something that’s been built over 10 years here. I personally take a lot of pride in the program. Unfortunately, we have someone that’s probably going to make a mistake in the future. We’ll continue to evaluate it and move forward.”

–Injured Packers receiver Jordy Nelson has been afflicted with World Series fever for the second straight year.

A native of Manhattan, Kan., Nelson grew up a Kansas City Royals fan. He’s hoping the Royals redeem themselves for losing the World Series, in his presence no less, against the San Francisco Giants last fall.

With the Packers on their bye week at the time, Nelson said he attended games 6 and 7 at Kansas City’s Kauffman Stadium. After the Royals prevailed 10-0 in Game 6 to even the best-of-seven series at three games apiece, the upstart Giants won the baseball title the next night with a 3-2 victory.

“Unfortunately, they didn’t win,” Nelson said Monday. “But, I’ve been watching all of the playoff games (this year) and keeping our eye on it. It should be a good series.”

The American League-champion Royals again have home-field advantage in this year’s World Series. They will play host to the New York Mets in Game 1 on Tuesday night.

Nelson said he won’t be attending the games in Kansas City this year. Even though he’s out for the season as he recovers from surgery for a torn ACL sustained in August, Nelson plans to stay put in Green Bay as the 6-0 Packers resume playing after the bye week, starting Sunday night at the Denver Broncos.

Nelson was just four months old when the Royals won their only World Series title in 1985, stunning the St. Louis Cardinals by winning the last three games after going down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series.