My exclamation upon hearing that Brett Favre was once again un-retiring to join the Vikings this season was, "I knew it! That Rat Bastard!"
It just did not sound definitive when he said that he was retiring back in July. On top of the detected insincerity, we are all aware that the man has a penchant for the dramatic, is wishy washy at best and hates training camp. This time though I am pretty sure that the Vikings were in on it... They had to have been. At the very least Brad Childress must have told Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson, "don't get your hopes up."
This brings me to my point... Football is all about money, especially if you are NOT the Green Bay Packers. The Green Bay Packers are very wholesome in this respect. They are the ONLY team owned by the people rather than some big shot billionaire football team owner. Having Brett Favre on your team will sell merchandise! In 2008 The Packers camp/ Mike McCarthy/ Ted Thompson chose to do the right thing instead of the lucrative thing.
I know a lot of people will disagree with me and say that it was a poor choice on the part of The Packers not to bring Favre back in 2008 when he did his little retirement dance. We must remember that prior to that Favre wrestled with retirement for most of this decade and the on again off again saga became an annual melodrama that effected the entire team. I believe they did the right thing from a purely ethical standpoint. We all know that even though Favre is nearly 40 years old (almost old enough to be Aaron Rodgers father) and that his body is falling apart and his game may not be as good as it used to be (he proved that with The Jets) nevertheless his signed contract with The Vikings will sell an awful lot of merchandise...
I am a Packers fan through and through. I was a Favre fan and now I am a Rodgers fan. A friend of mine once said that the "real" "old school" Packers fans want Favre back and "don't like Rodgers!" To that I say, actually the "real old school" fans want Bart Starr back. Seriously folks, quarterbacks come and go, this is football, they don't last forever... And in the meantime the only explanation I can give as to why the Vikings are willing to put up with Favre's divaesque antics is pure and simple, money, oh and he will probably make their team slightly better as well as garner tons of media attention!
For me this is all so plain and clear, but what are those lost souls from Wisconsin who were born into both Packer fandom and Favre fanaticism going to do? Where do they turn their loyalty? Today must be a particularly difficult day for those people. It was easy when Favre played for the Jets, they are in a different conference, the fans could have their cake and eat it too. But not now; not only will Favre play against Wisconsin's beloved Packers but he will be playing for one of their historically most significant rivals. This is nearly the equivalent of him signing on with, god forbid, The Bears! I am curious how these broken hearted fans will reconcile this pro ball travesty emotionally. Who/what will win amongst the torn fans? "The Team" or "The Man", who used to play for "The Team?"
