favre-a streisand
Doing his best Barbara Streisand, Brett Favre is yet again doing everything in his power to keep the media’s attention focused squarely on himself. Favre has been denying rumors that he (or his agent) contacted the Packers to feel out opportunities for his return. So what Brett Favre expects us to believe is that either someone just randomly decided to make up a story that he wanted to come back, and then leaked it to the media, or that his agent contacted the Packers behind his back…Right. It is clear that Favre has really been drinking the Kool-Aid on himself for quite some time now. This was evidenced by his replying to a reporter’s question a couple of years ago as to him “taking his time” to decide whether or not he was coming back; “What are they gonna do? Cut me?” This only shows that Favre truly believes that he is bigger than the Packer organization.
Favre has been holding the Packers hostage like this for years now, every season, the Packers can’t just go through a normal off season because little can’t make up his mind. Meanwhile the media just gives him a free pass to act like a spoiled, petulant child. The media drags all of America through this saga as if the fate of the NFL itself rested upon it. Past that, what Favre is doing is completely disrespectful to Aaron Rodgers. I’m not saying that Favre should take Rodgers’ feelings into consideration when he makes his decisions, but I am saying that he owes Rodgers (and the Packers for that matter) the basic decency of just making his decisions, shutting the fuck up, and moving on. If you’re going to retire, retire and go do whatever the hell it is you do in Mississippi, if you’re going to comeback, show up and put in the work with your teammates. All this pusillanimous sneaking around and contacting the organization behind closed doors, to see what the reaction would be if you wanted to come back is a joke.
Favre needs to remember that the Packers made him, not the other way around. He acts like the Packers were nothing before he got there. The Packers were, and will continue to be one of the league’s most storied franchises. Last I checked, Favre brought the franchise one (1) Super Bowl. Not Joe Montana’s four, not Terry Bradshaw’s four, not Troy Aikman’s three, not Tom Brady’s three. One, as in the same number Trent Dilfer brought to the Ravens and the same number Kurt Warner brought to the Rams. Favre can look at Rodgers like he’s a joke (and if you compare the resumes, he obviously is) but let’s go back to that Dallas game last year. Favre’s quintessential irresponsibility put the Packers in a hole early and it wasn’t until he had to sit out that Rodgers came in and managed the Packers right back into the game, until Favre, seeing how well Rodgers was doing decided it was much more important to try to log that elusive win at Dallas than let the kid quarterback the team to a win. Yes, I said it, and I’m a Dallas fan too. I didn’t feel a bigger moment of relief than when Favre came back into that game. It’s the 800 pound pink hybrid of an elephant and gorilla in the room that nobody wants to say, but Favre’s style does not suit this current Packer team, and that was illustrated in Dallas last year. He thinks he can just come out and throw the ball anywhere he wants and that it doesn’t matter if he fucks up because he’s Brett Favre, and what are they gonna do? Bench him?
Perhaps that’s the problem, Favre has grown overly irreverent. His sense of self is so overly inflated that he doesn’t think the rules apply to him. That’s what allows him to have the gall to hold up this whole franchise while he decides what he wants to do. I hope the rumor is true, that the Packers told him that they had moved on, and that they would not grant him a release. Favre needs to understand that though his career has been long, and he means a lot to that franchise, he is not bigger than the city, the fans or the league. This is just a man who loves to feel needed, and would genuinely dislike seeing Aaron Rodgers do well. That is how petty he is, after all the Packer faithful have given him, he would rather see them suffer without him. If the Cowboys don’t win the Super Bowl this year, my next most preferable turnout would be Rodgers taking the Packers all the way. It would be poetic justice and maybe—just maybe, it would temper Favre’s hubris; but I doubt it.
