Stock in the Packers is a hot commodity. They've already sold three-quarters of their inventory, over 185,000 shares sold in the first 48 hours. "The number of shares sold and the proceeds, more than $46 million (gross), exceeded the totals for each category during the 1997-98 sale, the last held by the team," writes Richard Ryman of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "Fans paid $24 million for 120,000 shares 15 years ago." When people asked me if they'll sell out fast, I said no. I may have been wrong about that one. Sales will slow down, but this is exceeding expectations.

More on the stock sale comes from Packer Report, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Packers official website, twice, JSOnline and Associated Press.

Running back James Starks' status is still up in the air for Sunday's Raiders game. "Starks had surpassed Ryan Grant as the No. 1 back in 2011 until an awkward knee injury derailed things in Week 11," writes Kareem Copeland of the Press-Gazette. "He now has been forced out of three consecutive games with knee and ankle injuries. Starks has not practiced this week and won’t play against the Raiders on Sunday if he doesn’t practice Friday." The question is now whether the Packers should hold him out on purpose in order to heal.

More on James Starks and the running game comes from the Journal Sentinel's Packer Insider section (subscription required), PackersNews.com, Fox Sports Wisconsin, Journal Sentinel and the Associated Press.

Punter Tim Masthay is getting some attention after being named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week or his performance this past Sunday against the New York Giants. "Masthay’s numbers don’t jump off the NFL stat page – he ranks tied for No. 18 in gross punting average and No. 29 in net average among punters with at least 20 punts – but he showed exactly how valuable he is with his performance against the Giants at MetLife Stadium, a venue where he has had success before," writes Jason Wilde of ESPNMilwaukee.com. Since winning the punting job a year ago, he's been a solid and reliable punter even if he's gotten off to slow starts each season.

More on Tim Masthay and the special teams comes from the Journal Sentinel, Packer Report (sub required), JSOnline, the Packers official website and the Associated Press.

Despite being healthy, outside linebacker Frank Zombo hasn't played the past two weeks. "The injuries, again, are now behind him," writes Tyler Dunne of JSOnline. "But Zombo has not automatically jumped back into a rotation with Erik Walden at outside linebacker. He was inactive at Detroit and didn't see any action at New York. Zombo has played just 52 snaps this season (all in the Rams and Chargers games). While Walden is embroiled in an off-field court case, he's been playing the best football of his career of late. In his last eight games, he has 13 quarterback hits and 12 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus." Against Detroit, he was a healthy inactive. Against New York, Zombo suited up but didn't play.

Outside linebacker Vic So'oto didn't practice on Thursday. Practice reports come from PackersNews.com, JSOnline and ESPNMilwaukee.com.

More on the Packers' upcoming opponent, the Oakland Raiders, comes from JSOnline, the Associated Press and Monterey County Herald.

The NFL has added regional combines next year.

The loss of Andrew Quarless is explained by his position coach at the Press-Gazette.

The Journal Sentinel has articles on the Super Bowl site in Indianapolis, the defense (sub required) and thoughts from this weekend's television broadcaster, Phil Simms.

Video: Fox 11 reports the Packers were a hot topic on social media this year...

Packers were hot topic on social media in 2011: fox11online.com

Brian Carriveau is a writer for Cheesehead TV. To contact Brian, email [email protected].