Alright everyone, now we can go back to our regular lives. The emotions of frustration, anger, jubilation, hopelessness, and many others can now be set aside. Before we do that though, ponder for a moment…Brett Favre as a New York Jet.
It became a reality just before the stroke of midnight on Wednesday as the Packers traded him to the Jets for a conditional draft pick (likely a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th rounder). It’s as if Cinderella whisked in and saved Brett Favre from himself during this public relations nightmare. There is no sense in beating a dead horse talking about specifics of the saga. Everyone covered that to death earlier. Although I do find it funny that I heard a report earlier in the day that Favre would rather retire than play for the Jets. I suppose retirement didn’t offer him the opportunity to work with offensive genius Bill Callahan.
New York football will be all the rage this season. The beloved Giants look to follow up a World Championship season with another big year and the “bastard” step-child now has one of the top quarterbacks in NFL history on their roster, but no matter how you slice it, Favre will just look odd in green and white.
I’m not saying the Jets won’t be a decent team this year. They have plenty of pieces in place to make a playoff run, but Brett Favre is going down the path of Joe Montana. Yeah, the Chiefs were a good team with Montana at the helm towards the end of his career, but it just didn’t “feel” right. The “feel” just wasn’t there for Joe Namath as a Ram, Johnny Unitas as a Chargers, O.J. Simpson as a 49er, and the list goes on and on.
The interesting thing in this whole scenario is that I think both Favre and Green Bay will be worse off for having gone through this ordeal. Green Bay will certainly miss Favre’s presence on the field. I’ve been a supporter of the franchise during this circus and still am, but Favre’s intangibles will certainly be missed. Any time Aaron Rodgers throws an interception, there will be doubts by the almost 70,000 at Lambeau Field and even the players as to whether Green Bay made the right decision in letting number four go.
Favre will be hurt by this as well. The supporting cast in Green Bay is better than it is for the Jets. Not only that, but the Jets play in a FAR tougher league than the Packers. Making it through the AFC minefield is like trying to make the World Series from the American League. There are far to many good teams that will beat them up along the way. I believe Brett’s best chance to make it to another Super Bowl lied with Green Bay.
So what did we learn from this:
- The organization can dictate what they want to their players/employees.
- Green Bay fans hate General Manager Ted Thompson
- Brett Favre won’t be hanging out in Green Bay any time soon
- Favre, Thompson, and McCarthy should stick to football and not enter the PR profession
- Aaron Rodgers should consider the witness protection program if he starts off shaky
- AND McCarthy and Thompson could be on the hot seat if the Packers play poorly this season
All-in-all, I have a feeling this will be a lose-lose for all parties, including the fans of both sides.
6 Comments
August 7, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Haven’t followed the whole ordeal much, but personally think it’s really stupid when these guys claim they are “retiring” and done playing and then all of a sudden have a new burst of energy to play on some other team.
August 7, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Brett Favre and John Clayton can go to hell.
August 7, 2008 at 4:29 pm
It was kind of like when Montana became a Chief (as far as a legend in a different uni), although the 49ers had a decent–turns out HOF–quarterback in waiting, the situation wasn’t as messy, and I don’t feel as violated, me being a 49er fan. Dennis Erickson left me plenty violated, but I digress.
Is this really what Favre wanted…to leave Green Bay and play in the same division as the Patriots, who haven’t lost a regular season game since December 10, 2006?…to play behind an offensive line that allowed 53 sacks last season: two less than the worst line(s) in the league in SF and KC? It’s on you now, Billy C, to get that line into shape and protect your money-maker.
Is this really what Green Bay wanted…to trade away their star, legend, face of the Packers?
Is this really what the Jets wanted…to get in the middle of it and come away with a living legend? Well, yea, I guess they would want that.
This has been building for 3 years…if this was the first/only year Favre played the retired-not-sure-yet-okay-not-retired game, Favre would still be a Packer. Granted, this was the first year he held the newser saying he was retired and filed the paper work, but the point remains, the Packers have felt jerked around for awhile.
Is this the end? No…did Brett retire? Be prepared to follow this story until he finally DOES retire. Not as much ESPN-saturation, but we’ll still hear about it and the fallout.
Oh well, at least Belichick probably doesn’t have any video of Favre in action.
August 7, 2008 at 8:27 pm
First of all, name a NFL franchise or college program, other than Idaho, that didn’t feel vandilized after Dennis Erickson was in control.
Apparently Green Bay contracted Favre TWICE after he retired, once before the draft and another time to make sure he wanted to be retired. Favre told them both times that he was sure according to reports. I still stick by my stance that this situation is Favre’s doing even though both mishandled it.
Also, I think Belicheck was in Hattiesburg getting film of Favre playing with the high schoolers. The genius knew he would end up a Jet from day one.
August 8, 2008 at 3:50 am
I like Brett Favre and respect his decision to continue playing with the hapless Jets. However, Brett Favre has no idea what he has gotten himself into. The New York media is NOTHING like the Green Bay media which treated him like a legend and icon for many years. A few bad games (and there will be many of those) the media will be in his grill and poor Brett will quickly question WHY he came out of retirement. Good luck Brett!
August 12, 2008 at 4:06 pm
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!