I'll say this for Favre, the third time, he didn't make it very dramatic. One week he was done, the next, he was on a videotaped plane to Minneapolis. There was no more back-and-forth, no Brad Childress running off to Hattiesburg. No Ed Werder and Rachel Nichols' having a nice tryst in a tent in Favre's front-lawn. However, it was as nauseating, as idiotic. What was the point? Everyone knew that he was going to come back. Everyone knew that his "retirement", and "ankle" was full of Mississippian Bologna. Everyone knew that he was just trying to squeeze every bit of his offseason as he could, and really who could blame him? What 40-year-old wants to be out there in the hot sun for three straight weeks, but that is what football players are supposed to do. They are paid millions of dollars to play a game, and to practice the playing of that game, that is what they do, so for Favre to intentionally play the "retirement" card, and this time do it so obviously that everyone knew he had zero intention of actually leaving the NFL, is just abhorrent.
I have to admit, I still do enjoy watching Brett Favre play the game. He is a more refined version of Ben Roethlisberger. With the best three QBs in the league all essentially similar forms (Brees, Brady and Manning all great robotic passers, with Manning having an underrated charisma, Brees an aptly rated one, and Brady an underrated love of petting goats), Favre is something different. His recent "will he, won't he" annual routine, and the backlash that has come with the media fellating his every being each Sunday has clouded the memory of a player that truly was great. Favre from 1994-1998 was, other than Manning, the best stat producing QB of all-time. Looking at his stats from those days is almost like looking at the stats of pre-steroid Barry Bonds, as in they are both phenomenal, but covered by controversy of their later incarnations. Brett Favre really was a great, great player.
I even defended him in the whole exile from Green Bay. I usually defend the superstar in those circumstances, and feel that Green Bay should have waited for Brett to waffle and make a decision. Sure, it is still a better long-term decision to go with Aaron Rodgers, but three years down the line, Favre's the QB of a better team. I even cheered when Favre and his Vikings beat the Packers senseless in their game in the Metrodome. Now, I feel that Favre was slightly vindictive in openly opining to play for the Vikings, but it still doesn't change my opinion of Favre the player. The problems lie with Favre the man.
He has no real soul. He's not as bad as LeBron in that regard, but there has rarely been a more cultivated public persona ever. I would not even be surprised if he has been faking that southern drawl his whole life, just to be known as the good ol' boy from Mississippa. He's perfectly constructed this, banking on his marketability and facade to win over the support of the media as he twisted and turned the media itself like the media was his personal lackey. Finally, in year three of this charade, everyone has now turned against him in the media, but come September, one he evades a defensive end and flings a TD to Sidney Rice, Peter King will drool at the mouth, and Ron Jaworski will get bigger in the man region. One should not cover or make up for the other. The media has really been confounded by how to play Brett Favre, much like most of the other NFL teams. Media simultaneously slams him for "retiring" with all the legitimacy of a China town Coach bag, but then they love him for his "commitment to the team". All in all, I'm rambling, and mainly because of the Favre effect. Brett Favre has made everything about him one big confusing joke.
