NFL Notes

Poor Brett…he doesn’t have a home any more and the big bad front office of the Packers is pushing him around…

Let me ask one question to any NFL fan, regardless of the fact that the Packers made it to the NFC Championship last year and can potentially be in the Super Bowl this year with a lackluster NFC; who would you rather have start for your team, Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers? Dumb question. So why on Earth would the Packers treat Favre this way?

At least according to Favre. It makes no sense that after going to the NFC Championship that they would force Favre to retire when not only is he has been a (overrated) superstar, both for his talent and leadership on the field, and for putting butts in the seats as well.

Green Bay has an opportunity to do some serious damage in the Central for at least this year, if not next season as well. The Bears are going back to the doldrums in a hurry, and the Lions continue to do nothing (and draft picks seem to do nothing to help either). Only the Vikings have even the opportunity to move forward, listing Adrian Peterson and one of the best run defenses on their resume. This personnel move is one of the most stupid simple decisions. Ever.

However, you may ask why the front office is not even considering bringing Favre back. Favre has to stop this BS that he will carry a clipboard; he embraced Mc Carthy's West-Coast style, wrote the book on Green Bay’s offense, has the respect of the players and coaches, and the status of an idol in town. There is absolutely no way he will sit on the bench because when Rodgers goes through his growing pains as a starter, the second he has a rough series against the Vikings or God help them, the Bears, fans will be screaming for Favre to come in and do what he does best, even better than Rodgers. Player for player, the wisest lineup move would be to have Favre under center. So why not bring him back?

Favre is making himself look like a jackass and is tainting his otherwise fantastic career. He is a Hall-of-Famer to be; his one Super Bowl win and two appearances are only tips of the iceberg. Sorry, had to put a slam in there. I really don’t care about the NFL or the Bears/Packers rivalry, but I do care about someone clogging the airwaves with stupidity and sports programming wasting their time with one of the most overrated players ever. Ok, maybe overrated is too harsh, some of the greats only had a few postseason or Super Bowl appearances, but for the hype being created over a 39-year old player who decided to retire, a fan has to weigh the situation for what it is. Favre’s career stat line speaks for itself but the question remains the same; what is Favre really trying to do? Super Bowls are harder to win, more so than is apparent by the casual fan, so his championship pedigree is an arguable topic. It will not be considered for his induction save for the fact that he won one and appeared in two. Peyton Manning is going to Canton and he only has one Super Bowl victory and one appearance. Although I hate him, Tom Brady is a man among men in quarterback arguments.

Such is the plight of professional sports. There will be no more dynasties like the Yankees, the Celtics, the Lakers, or the Steelers or Cowboys. The talent is spread too thin over too many teams to continue winning championships. But about money, when marquee players are in each market and each team vies for playoff spots, the opportunity to bank a lot of cash becomes a machine. It is a good thing for everyone involved in pro sports, from the owners to the players to the companies paying for advertisement. Good players know when they are going to get paid not because of the value of their talent they will bring to win a championship, but their value to generate increased revenue for the team they will play for. Why else would Elton Brand sign with the 76ers? The only team worse to sign with would be the Bulls. I mean come on, what are they doing with their roster? Another topic, another column though.

Unfortunately I have to tell yet another pro athlete to quit whining and shut their mouth. If this were any other job, and someone tells the office that they quit, they would not be able to come back in and demand their job back, and then go and defame the managers for their acceptance of a resignation. But this is pro sports, which is entertainment, and obviously when a performer fulfills an entertainment and emotional need for the customer, they do have a lot of leverage. He is whining for money. Maybe he is getting a divorce? Who knows?

He had the opportunity over the years to win some more rings, and of course on any given Sunday anything can happen, but the Packers won their division handedly several times in the late 90s and early to mid-2000s. The NFL is not like baseball where a team has to be pretty good all year and then play extremely well in the playoffs and have some luck to win a championship. The NFL only requires a hot streak along with having a record just slightly better than 8-8. What does he want, another championship? He could have had the opportunity this year…without announcing his retirement. Players have gone in to the Hall without any championships.

It goes without saying that Favre’s consideration on playing in 2008 was the Packers’ number one personnel issue going in to the offseason and preparing for the draft. Unfortunately with salary caps, players are not that interchangeable unless they play for the Patriots. And all of this is coming down with less then two months until camps start for teams? The Packers wrote Favre off and began prepping Rodgers to take over. I don’t mean that they just turned their nose up at Favre coming back; Favre decidedly burned the Packers, and my guess is that he did not like the firing of Mike Sherman, although Mike McCarthy was with the team in the late 90s.

The big question is why did Favre decide to do this with his career? What was he thinking? Not just a rhetorical question, but what was he really thinking? This probably has very little to do with collective agreements. I’m just trying to rule out logical reasons, and I think I already did. Either way Brett, you are out of luck. You were a pro and you should have known better, whatever your reason for doing this. You have agents and press secretaries and image consultants. Demanding your release from a lucrative deal in an attempt to make the organization look stupid on ESPN just makes you look dumb. Come out with a real reason, not just your desire to play crap.

Where else would he go? Figure that, a Chicago guy defending the Packers.