Well this Brett Favre thing is just blowing up like that 4th of July screamer my dad told me to hold in my hand when I was 9, isn’t it? Ka-BOOM!
Reports are flying in from everywhere. I’ll try to dissect them here one by one. But first, my thanks to Ben Fawkes from The Ocho for putting more of this in front of me.
Bill Michaels, Packer reporter for WTMJ, is reporting that Brett’s mom thought that the Packers organization forced Brett out. Brett’s mom? Y’know, I get calls every year from moms, hoping I’ll hire their sons for summer jobs. The thing I always wonder is, why are their mothers calling for them? Are they too busy Xboxing? Too lazy to pick up a phone? Maybe they’re such blanket-sucking mommas boys that mom has to do even the lightest dirty work for them, like making phone calls about jobs. I’m now being forced to consider similar questions about Brett.
Here’s a quick test: What is John Elway’s mother’s name? Joe Montana’s? How ’bout the slushy Joe Namath? Jim Kelly? Dan Marino? Terry Bradshaw? Roger Staubach? Troy Aikman? Bart freaking Starr? You know any of ‘em? I don’t know any. But I know Bonita Favre. You decide what that means.
Oh, and when Kurt Warner’s wife would pipe up publicly when she thought her husband was being underutilized in St. Louis, did you think that made Kurt look like more of a man or more of a pussy? Again, translate that as you will into the current Favre fluster cuck.
So to me, Brett being forced out is really a side issue to why in thee hell Brett’s mom is saying anything to the media. I stopped letting my mom speak on my behalf when I was thirteen (just after I stopped sucking on my blanket).
Brett claimed that it was the preseason and mid-season practice, workout and team meeting schedule that really made him want to quit. Yet Chris Mortenson reports that Favre has been running and throwing with a high school team in Hattiesburg, Mississippi for over a month. Asphinctersayswhat? So he was “retired” for what - 156 minutes?
Brett’s asking for a “no strings attached” release so he can pursue whatever team he might have interest in, and Bus Cook is rattling a tinfoil sabre, that Brett doesn’t want to force the Packers hand by writing a letter requesting to be reinstated. By league policy (according to Mortenson’s article), the Packers would either need to take him back onto the team or grant his release. Oh, and Bus said Favre really wants this to be an amicable parting of company. Kinda like that Packer party I hosted back in ‘97, when one of my guests barfed on my carpet, then pissed everywhere in the bathroom except the toilet. “But dude, I want this to be an amicable parting. *urp* Your party was so excellent and we’ve been friends for so long.” Whatever dude. You make it so that I have to spend the next day cleaning up the mess you made in my house? We are so not friends anymore.
Hey, Bus? I’m no legal beagle, but there are a lot of rungs on an 80-man roster. Should the Packers take Favre back, it doesn’t mean he would by definition have the starting QB slot. In fact, more likely it would mean that Favre would hold down second string placekick holder job until such time as the Packers could get something of value for what’s left on Favre’s contract. Because after all, we know this was a premeditated move for Brett. Even Barack Obama and John McCain don’t switch positions this quickly on an issue. This was all part of a hillbillian, orchestrated plan to get out of Green Bay and play somewhere else. We think it stinks and we think a lot less of Brett for not having the stones to just come out with it. So we’re going to side with our city-owned team when they jerk your chain the way you’ve been jerking ours.
July 12th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
What kind of org is Mark Murphy running? The logic path is not correct at all. A rookie quarterback who has had two season ending injury’s, never started a game, and this is better than Brett Favre This is a kin to when the packers fired Bart Star! The best that we can hope is Brett on second string, after all he will be the starter after two games. But, I will wait to see where this goes, before I send my stock back.
July 13th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Here’s the thing I struggle with -
The Packers were faced with a tough road when Favre decided to retire. So they made the best decisions they could based on the situation at the time. But now Favre wants back in. Unfortunately, time did not stand still during Brett’s four months of retirement; the Packers made decisions based on what they knew to be true in late March.
If they take Favre back as the starter now, it does several negative things: it sets a very bad precedent for the team, showing them that Brett is in fact more important than any other team member, because the Packers will have shown they will bend and contort themselves to the will of a crazy man (and what else could you call the stunt Brett just pulled than the acts of a lunatic?). Aaron Rodgers, whether he’s really good or really bad, would probably decide that enough is enough and instruct his agent to get him out of Green Bay. And the the second QB drafted this year, because of Favre’s return, would probably end up on another team. Now, if Favre decides mid-season that he wants to quit (crazy, yes, but the crazy train now makes a daily stop in Green Bay), they have a guy fresh out of college that has had no NFL training OR experience. Nice.
And let’s not forget the rest of the team - have you ever worked somewhere where a guy that didn’t deserve special treatment asked for some and got it? Did every other person there resent it, start asking for raises, special treatment, or start mailing in their effort? That’s what we’re in for if the Packers give in to Favre.
How different would the Packers fortunes be today if they’d have picked Barry Sanders, Derrick Thomas or Deion Sanders instead of Tony Mandarich in the ‘89 draft? The things the Packers do now, given the impossible situation Favre has put them in, will affect the rest of team now, and potentially for years down the road. So bidding farewell to Favre now may be the best thing for the entire team.
But the reason I struggle with this is, football franchises are built for today, not years from now. Favre back in the lineup today gives us a better chance to be playing in the Superbowl in February of 2009. A much worse chance of playing for one in 2010 or 2011, but 2009, absolutely.
But the thing I still want an answer to is, why did Favre do all this? If he says he had a change of heart, over the course of 3 non-football months, then he’s a liar. There were ulterior motives brewing with him before he even made his retirement announcement, and that takes a lot of luster off the Titletown trophy that was Brett Favre’s legacy.