As someone who has spent his entire life cheering for the green and gold, I feel completely qualified to state that the soap opera surrounding Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers is an absolute mess. No one looks good, not the Packers organization and certainly not Favre. I’m still not entirely sure where to place blame, who is right or wrong, or what should be done. It’s too late for either side to apologize, admit that they fumbled the situation, or come out of this smelling like anything other than Gilbert Brown after two-a-days in August.
I just want it to end.
It’s hard now to imagine the Packers without Favre behind center. Randy Wright and the three-headed monster of Blair Kiel, Anthony Dilweg, and Don Majkowski, have drifted into the past, replaced by Favre. Three MVPs and two Super Bowls will do that. During his amazing streak of 16 seasons, watching Favre was never dull. Sometimes spectacular, often excruciating, every play of every game was like a high-wire act. Under-hand tosses and throws into double-coverage more often than not turned in his favor. His personal life was similar, whether it was tales of booze, women, or Vicodin. Through it all, in an age of 24-hour media, he somehow got a free-pass. His many indiscretions were chalked up to being a “good ‘ol boy”, his willingness to play hurt, or his throwback, gunslinger mentality.
Maybe we were wrong. Maybe he’s just a selfish athlete, hanging onto the last threads of a dying career. He wouldn’t be the first, and he certainly won’t be the last. To rise to the level of superstardom that Favre achieved, it’s probably essential to have that in your personality. But at some point, you have to let go, for the good of the team and the good of your legacy.
I’m sure that Aaron Rodger is probably more Dilweg than Favre, but that’s OK with me. In the last few years, Favre’s penchant for late-game, gut punch interceptions have became all too predictable. His yearly flirtation with retirement has stalled any sort of long-term planning by the Packers, who until this year were too scared of the backlash to call his bluff, maybe unnecessarily. At a July “Favre rally” in Milwaukee, only 30 people showed up. The media will lead you to believe that the state is totally behind Favre’s comeback. Not true. Now the comeback of Schlitz beer…that’s another story (http://www.azstarnet.com/business/251463).
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M - I forgot you were from Wisconsin! The Packers are my second favorite football team :-) I have no idea why, it's completely random.
ReplyDeleteVery objective, logical post on Favre - it seems like such a distraction...I wonder what will happen, but I don't think he has the good of the team at heart.
You cannot even imagine what the news is like here! All Favre, all the time! They should be paying more attenting to the Brewers! We are going to the game on Saturday and plan to spend some time scouring the Milwaukee liquor stores for some Schlitz!
ReplyDeleteI hope last night's resolution on the Favre situation doesn't mean we have to start following the Jets, too... M. has enough teams to root for!!
ReplyDeleteUm, this is the FIRST blog post I've read about sports. I have heard of the hubub though.
ReplyDeleteJ-E-T-S, Jets, Jets, Jets. In response to my column, Brett decided to accept a trade to New York. Behold the power of the blog. As A. suspects, I'll now be following the Jets to see how this all turns out.
ReplyDeleteGo Brewers! Go Schlitz! and Go Mommy,esq! for braving the sporting world. Just so's ya know, it will be my goal to corrupt your children with bats, balls, hoops, etc. :-)