Do Us All A Favre

Friends,

Mr Commissioner...it has gone on long enough. Do us all a Favre and help the Brett Favre situation along if you would. What a mess! There is no soap opera on television that could possibly rival this. It was hilarious to listen to the ESPN Sports Center anchors joking about life being "all Favre...24/7," and to hear them bemuse the cameras being there in Milwaukee as his plane touched down with the paprazzi running around like a bunch of chickens and saying... "Air Force 1 rarely gets this much attention." It would be even funnier except that it is all so unfortunate. True, Favre did retire in the Spring, and true that most of the sports talking heads were saying..."he'll be back." A fellow does have a right to change his mind, but it appears that the Packers brass have had all of the Favre that they would like, with his threatening to retire the past couple of years only to change his mind. So, here he is...a first ballot Hall of Famer, three time league MVP, Super Bowl winner and MVP, holder of the longest consecutive games played streak, led the team to the NFC Championship last year after having one of his best statistical years...and on it goes -- and the Packers are saying, "no thanks...thanks for playing, but see ya." Now, I understand the Packers wanting and needing to move on and get on with their plans, but they could have been much nicer about the way they have been doing their business. They made a commitment to Aaron Rodgers to be their starting QB and drafted a QB (Brian Brohm) to be his backup in the second round, so Favre wasn't in their plans. (How many snaps has Rodgers taken? How many starts does he have? How many touchdowns has he thrown? Yeah.) Nevertheless, the Packers do not want to let Favre go as a free agent so that he doesn't end up with the Vikings (who are in the Packers NFC North division) and come back to haunt them at least twice next year. So, the Packers want their cake and to eat it to...as they will not let him go, but they will not allow him to be the starter. So, what happens next? Favre says he can't go back to Green Bay and be a backup, so he is now saying that he wants to be traded, with the Buccaneers and Jets being the most prominent suitors...so, who knows? It just stinks that Favre can't finish his career in a Packers uniform, but...it is a business, and even a shoe-in Hall of Famer is finding out just how much of a "business" the NFL is. Here's hoping that Favre finds a good team and that he has a couple more great years. Take care,

Don