More Brett Favre news...

[bjornolf]

According to the radio, Favre is now a Viking.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4406963

Can't say I'm TOO surprised.

[rasputin]

Look at me! I'm retiring!
Look at me! I'm coming back from retirement!

Enough already.

[94duke]

Does he just not want to put in the pre-season effort, or is there some other reason for the back-and-forth?

[Matches]

Heh. Bill Simmons on Twitter has now nicknamed Favre "VD" because there's just no getting rid of him.

[hurleyfor3]

Let me get this straight now. Among active, semi-active and recently retired athletes who are among the greatest ever to play their sport:

Criticizing Brett Farve: OK
Criticizing Barry Bonds: OK
Criticizing Tiger Woods: Not OK

Is that right?

[YourLandlord]

When it was reported that he was going to stay retired I first thought "You may be gone from the NFL Brett but keep spreading your wings and if fate ever finds you back on the gridiron I will be the first to welcome you with a smile, a hug and arms wide open." Every night since I thought this I have prayed to the various gods of both the football and regular variety at least about 30 times a day to bring Brett back. I was and still am selfish and am not afraid to admit it. I love Brett Favre. I love watching the man play. I love the smile on his face when he throws a TD. I love how he commands the huddle as if he were General Custer at Little Big Horn. I even love the interceptions because they define him as a player as much as the TDs. I love everything about the man. I was selfish in wanting Brett to come back for my own joy but I knew deep down in my heart from watching the man every Sunday that he wanted to come back even more than I wanted him to. I was worried that physically he didn't feel at an elite enough level to play at his outstanding 22 TD/22 INT ratio last year. I didn't want Brett Favre to retire because I have no loyalty to any team, I have loyalty to the man that is the best player in organized team sports. I knew this was what Brett loved and to see him retire had several tears streaming down this cheek, not only for me but for him. Brett has heard the way the media has consistently bashed him and I believe thats what lead to his all to premature retirement which was seemingly hours ago. He heard the media say that he couldn't play anymore, that he was all washed up, that he had a vicodin addiction, that he threw 22 TDs and 22 picks last year and he allowed all of these fallacies to get into his head. But since then Brett has done what I did and that is look to the big man upstairs for guidance. Brett is a god fearing man such as myself and I know he allowed god to make this decision for him. Weeks ago Brett's arm maybe didn't feel strong enough to play at an NFL level but God has miraculously healed it so now he can, it didn't have anything to do with wanting to miss training camp at all.

Welcome back Brett, these weeks have felt like decades and that smile, hug and arms wide open have been waiting for you the entire time. Never turning their eyes towards younger and better QBs. I don't know what fate has in store for Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings in general but all I know is that I'll be in the Metrodome watching Brett throw TDs, or more likely INTs and having just as much fun as I did at any other point. This is what Brett loves and there is nothing that makes me happier than knowing he is back to doing what drives him in life as he is what drives me in mine.

[A-Tex Devil]

Let me get this straight now. Among active, semi-active and recently retired athletes who are among the greatest ever to play their sport:

Criticizing Brett Farve: OK
Criticizing Barry Bonds: OK
Criticizing Tiger Woods: Not OK

Is that right?

Criticizing Tiger Woods is fair game. There have just been a lot of broad strokes brushed at him for behaving like a lot of people do. I felt people were simply defending him, not saying he cant' be criticized, which is different and distinct.

As far as Far-vre. Michael Vick was stealing all of his press, so he had to jump back in, I guess. NOw that's certainly a broad stroke, but this is getting ridiculous by Brett. I guess he may truly be torn and hates the way the media is following it and trumping everything up and making it a bigger deal than it should be. But honestly, I think he feels "I'm m'erf'ing Brett Farve and I deserve the Roger Clemens (pre-roids/Mindy McReady) treatment."

[Mal]

Well, that season ended before it even began for this Viking fan. Until Favre gets hurt, of course. Which will happen. Either that, or he'll lose the NFC Championship on a dumb INT when he should have just handed it to Peterson. Which would be the most appropriate outcome to all this.

Can't wait for the breathless reporting on how it was Favre that got them off to their 4-1 or 5-0 start against the fearsome lineup of the Lions, the Rams, the 'Niners, the Browns and the Pack. Or how, if they don't get off to that start, what a disservice Chilly and his conservative playcalling are to Favruh's last heroic parade because he deserved to coast to another Super Bowl and he must be regretting this now.

Yuck either way.

[Duke4Ever32]

Didn't he originally retire years ago? He's got to be the biggest Drama Queen in sports, with Tony Romo in 2nd. I wish Far-vre would just go away already.

[Turk]

Didn't he originally retire years ago? He's got to be the biggest Drama Queen in sports, with Tony Romo in 2nd. I wish Far-vre would just go away already.

Drama Queen in all sports? Nah, Tony Romo doesn't make the top 10 and maybe not even the top 20. I'd say T.O. is a mortal lock for #2. I'll throw in David Beckham, Allen Iverson, and Donovan McNabb for the rest of my top 5, but I won't argue if you come up with better names.

[hc5duke]

Didn't he originally retire years ago? He's got to be the biggest Drama Queen in sports, with Tony Romo in 2nd. I wish Far-vre would just go away already.

I don't want a large Farve, I want a litercola!

[SupaDave]

This whole thread is hilarious but honestly a lot of the Packers fans have it right. Favre was basically forced out of Green Bay. Obviously as displayed by Aaron Rodgers last year they knew he was ready and well there's no real easy way to let go of someone like Favre - just like Jerry Rice so it all seems strange from here.

Going to the Jets? Sure, we might NEVER play him...

Going to the Vikings? Now that's saying something. He's putting his legacy directly on the line by playing his old team and protege twice this year.

It's a one year contract - seems like he has a point to prove.

Good for you Brent Favre - accept the challenge. I'm a huge advocate of taking the money and getting down to business.

Bad for you Packers - he's got Adrian Peterson - and I don't even want to bump into that guy by ACCIDENT...

As a fantasy football nut - this just makes my year that more nutty... Hooray! He just increased the value of Berrien, Rice, and whoever else plays WR for the Vikings. Slant to Rice!!!!

[A-Tex Devil]

This whole thread is hilarious but honestly a lot of the Packers fans have it right. Favre was basically forced out of Green Bay. Obviously as displayed by Aaron Rodgers last year they knew he was ready and well there's no real easy way to let go of someone like Favre - just like Jerry Rice so it all seems strange from here.

Going to the Jets? Sure, we might NEVER play him...

Going to the Vikings? Now that's saying something. He's putting his legacy directly on the line by playing his old team and protege twice this year.

It's a one year contract - seems like he has a point to prove.

Good for you Brent Favre - accept the challenge. I'm a huge advocate of taking the money and getting down to business.

Bad for you Packers - he's got Adrian Peterson - and I don't even want to bump into that guy by ACCIDENT...

As a fantasy football nut - this just makes my year that more nutty... Hooray! He just increased the value of Berrien, Rice, and whoever else plays WR for the Vikings. Slant to Rice!!!!

To be fair to the Packers, who I am not a fan of, Aaron Rodgers was on the horizon, but they never said he was displacing Far-vre. Brett retired, so they moved forward with Rodgers. When Brett wanted to come back, the Packers had moved on and said he'd have to compete for the job. Only fair considering.

Look -- Farve wants to pull what Clemens did for several years with the 'Stros and Yankees - skip training camp under the assumption he is good enough not to need it and go from there. It will be hard to convince me this change of heart over the last 3 weeks is simply because he didn't want to go through training camp. It be nice if he'd just come out and admit it rather than some sob story about his daughter.

[SupaDave]

It be nice if he'd just come out and admit it rather than some sob story about his daughter.

Ouch. You guys are a tough crowd...

[A-Tex Devil]

Ouch. You guys are a tough crowd...

He he. Yeah, probably a little too tough. And maybe I am being too rough on him. Maybe he's just one of those guys that makes a decision based on how he feels that day. So when he gets his first bad sack and shoulder stinger, does he wake up on Monday morning, his daughter crying cause daddy is hurt, and decide to quit? I mean, that's what made him come back after saying he wasn't up for it 3 weeks ago. I say this mostly in jest, but he's just lost a lot of credibility with me. Dude didn't want to go to training camp.

But hey, if he has a great season, it's great for Minnesota and Brett can play this whole game all over again next year ---- a la the Rocket.

[elvis14]

Man am I happy that Brett decided to play this season. I love the way the media falls all over itself to create drama around Brett and then they claim that he's jerking everyone around as he goes through his decision process. I like to watch him play. He's not perfect but he plays the game the way it ought to be played. Hated when he got hurt last season and finished weakly in NY.

I'm a Redskins fan, BTW, so when it comes to the Packers, Vikings, Jets I don't have strong feelings either way about those teams. I'd be bummed if he was playing for any of the other NFC East teams.

[Mal]

But hey, if he has a great season, it's great for Minnesota...

See, that's where I disagree. The end game for the Vikings is they, finally, after all this time and all those heartbreaks, win their first Super Bowl, and the lasting image of it is a Packer, dressed in a Viking uniform, holding the Lombardi Trophy. The guy is the very embodiment of Packerhood. I'm not sure what the analogy is, but perhaps something close would be to imagine that Duke '91 and '92 hadn't happened, or we got close and couldn't get the deal done. K suddenly quit to go coach in the NBA. Dean Smith retired, hemmed and hawed a while, coached a year at Seton Hall and didn't find it to his liking, retired again, hemmed and hawed a while more, said "aw shucks I love this game" ten billion times, and then decided to unretire again. To Duke. Would we really have wanted to win our first title with that guy?!?! If so, then I'm not sure what it means to be a Duke fan. Think how much Tar Heel fans would diminish our first title if we could only achieve it with their coach.

All in all, adding Favre increases the Vikes' chances of winning it all by maybe 10%. There's a 50/50 shot this backfires or accomplishes nothing (other than derailing the development of an actual longterm QB for the franchise) in terms of on-field success, maybe higher given his age and the specter of last year's injury after a career remarkably free of injury. Probably a 25% chance of an extra regular season win, maybe two, but this is probably a playoff team, regardless. Maybe a 15% chance they get an extra playoff win and/or flameout in the NFC Championship out of it. And again, if they win it all, it's with the man who personified their biggest rival for the last two decades.

Yuck. Some Vikings fans are ecstatically excited about the whole thing. That's fine for them, but I just could not watch the preseason game against the Chiefs last weekend. Seeing Brett Favre in a purple jersey is a cognitive dissonance so strong I just can't deal with it.