Damaged

So I’m sitting here exhausted, with my ears ringing after forgetting my earplugs while going to a concert today (The Oranges Band, check em out), and I’m thinking about Brett Favre. I’m really tired of him. I hate him right now, but that won’t diminish the impact he’s had on everyone in association with the Packers. It seems like Favre’s done everything right in his career.

But he’s screwed up. Big time.

With his waffling between retirement the last few years stringing all Packers fans out for a ride none of them really wanted to go on, we all felt that when he retired, he would actually, well, retire. But no. He’s bored. His body keeps telling him to play. Well the whole reason he retired in the first place was because his mind was tired, not his body. So his mind is fine now? I doubt it. As soon as he walks into that meeting room when he’s not the starter, he’s going to want to get the hell out of there as fast as he can. If he goes to another team, he’ll walk into the meeting room, realize he has to learn a new offense, and he’ll get the hell out. There is basically no place for him in the NFL right now. All the playoff capable teams (and even teams not capable of making the playoffs) have quarterbacks in place. Some of the bad teams have young quarterbacks in place they need to develop. The NFL (minus ESPN) has essentially moved on from Favre.

Favre’s screwed up his legacy.

He will eternally be known as a fickle flip-flopper (even moreso than John Kerry). When he’s unretired, he can’t decide whether or not to retire. When he’s retired, he wants to unretire.

Bullshit, Brett.

You’re finished. Your legacy is tarnished. Maybe I’ll forget about all this in three years, but if this does go on for three years, Aaron Rodgers and Tarvaris Jackson are going to be in a mental institution after mental breakdowns. Maybe they should get together for some group therapy.

But anyway, Favre looks like an idiot for putting pressure on the organization to take him back after a tearful retirement. He looks like an even bigger idiot for trying to catch on with the Vikings. He’s making the Packers look like idiots by saying he forced them to retire. The Packers are making the Vikings look like idiots for saying they tampered with him. ESPN are looking like idiots—oh wait, they’re always idiots.

No one is coming out of this looking good.

The Favre Files: July 17, 2008

Tony Romo Wants Brett Favre To Return by thelandryhat, The Landry Hat

Tarvaris Addresses Favre Talk by danzinski, The Viking Age

Bevell Tampering? by danzinski, The Viking Age

Packers Want Vikings Investigated for Tampering by danzinski, The Viking Age

Vikings Behind Favre Comeback? by danzinski, The Viking Age

Tomlinson Chimes In On Favre Fiasco by Johnny Heck, Bolt Beat

Favre Saga Continues (Told You So) by Johnny Heck, Bolt Beat

That’s all for now…

Favre Appears on Fox News

Fox News? Really now, Brett. You’re stooping that low?

The Favre Files: July 14, 2008

Due to the fact that mainstream media outlets are now covering this story, the links here are now exclusive the Fan-Sided Blog Network because I’m that lazy.

Hijacking Lambeau by The Dirty Bird, Blogging Dirty

Favre Rumor Number 7,397,204 by John White, Cat Crave

Nicely Played, Mr. Favre by David, Stripe Hype

Childress Talks Favre…Kind Of by danzinski, The Viking Age

I Want Fav-Re by Jaybers, The J-E-T Press

Never Say Goodbye Brett Favre by Ian, Inside the Iggles

There we have it.  Only tomorrow awaits.

Where’s He Going to Go?

Presumably, the Packers don’t really want Favre back after all that’s happened. Essentially, their message is they aren’t going to free him to sign with any of the league’s other 31 teams — especially not NFC North division rivals Minnesota, Chicago or Detroit — and he won’t be given his starting job back if he returns to Green Bay.

The most likely scenario would have Favre petitioning the league for reinstatement and the Packers trading him to an AFC team, or at least an NFC team outside the division. Among the teams that fit that profile are the Miami Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets, Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Redskins.

The Packers’ best-case scenario, in which Favre would’ve simply stayed retired, almost certainly won’t happen. The Packers went so far as to send an intermediary down to Mississippi last week to try to talk Favre into staying retired, but their attempt failed.

The Wisconsin State Journal’s article puts serious contenders for Favre out there for the first time in a while. But would these really help Brett Favre? He obviously wants to go to a contender and the Minnesota Vikings are rumored to be his top choice (which means he’s looking to follow Darren Sharper and Ryan Longwell), but Minnesota most likely isn’t going to happen. Do these really give Favre a chance to be a winner though?

The Miami Dolphins were 1-15 last year and are starting from the ground up. They have a new coach in Tony Sparano and a new head man in Bill Parcells. If Favre wants to win, Miami would probably not be the best option. Parcells and Sparano are getting reputations as strictly business, given their run-in with superstar-turned-wanna-be-actor Jason Taylor. A Taylor-for-Favre swap is pretty intriguing, but I don’t think that’s what Taylor wants and Favre wants a winner, but I don’t see the Dolphins turning into playoff contenders right away. Right now, John Beck, Chad Henne, and Josh McCown are the quarterbacks on the roster for the Dolphins. Beck started last year and had a lot of trouble adjusting to the pro-game. He could have been Cam Cameron’s quarterback of the future, but with Parcells coming in, his future is up in the air. Parcells used a high draft pick on Henne, who could be Parcells’ “guy” while McCown is the veteran in the mix. McCown also happens to be a friend of the Packers family, along with Nathan Poole, for knocking the Vikings out and Packers into the playoffs in (I think) 2003. God, I love opening old wounds. So the Dolphins do not look that likely if Favre wants to win. If he wants to play and end up on MediCare, he can go for it.

The Baltimore Ravens would be the worst situation for me besides an NFC North team. I may be in the Baltimore area, but I do not like the Ravens. Besides the personal anguish this would cost me, the Ravens cannot quite afford Favre. Right now the Packers have 2008 first round pick Joe Flacco, 2006 Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith, and bust Kyle Boller. The Ravens are also reeling from the Steve McNair-era where they were at the mercy of an aging quarterback on the downside of his career. I have read many columnists in the Baltimore-area newspapers, and it’s clear they do not want Favre. They know that on the heels of a 5-11 season that they need to rebuild and devote time and confidence to either Flacco or Smith, something they did not do with Boller. The only way to get their quarterbacks better and to put themselves in a position to win in the future would be to let Flacco and Smith play and become experienced.

I pretty much covered the Chiefs, one of the most inept franchises in history. But they can still have fantasies. Like this one. And this one. And finally this one.

The Jets are intriguing. Favre is older than head coach Eric Mangini. Kellen Clemens looks like he could be a good quarterback if he is given time to play, which wouldn’t happen if Favre joined the team. Chad Pennington is still on the team and he has had some pretty good moments in his time in the Big Apple. I’m no Jets expert, but this scenario is pretty mysterious. Who knows here. I just don’t know whether Favre would want to play for a team coming off a losing season.

It seems like every year Sports Illustrated picks the Panthers to win the Super Bowl. But it doesn’t happen. They are mired in the .500-ball heave that is the NFC South. The team does not have many offensive weapons outside of Steve Smith and at times last year, it seemed like they could not do anything right. Sure, they played in Super Bowl XXXVIII. But that feels like ancient history.  Also, the Panthers seems set with Jake Delhomme as their signal caller.

Tampa Bay is quarterback heaven. Jon Gruden is apparently tight with Favre because of the days of the Holmgren regime.  But seriously, how many quarterbacks on the roster?  Jeff Garcia, Brian Griese, Luke McCown, Chris Simms, and rookie Josh Johnson.  They’ve got about every type in there.  Let’s add aging-gunslinger to that category.  The Bucs won the division in 2007, but the fact that they won it at 9-7 leaves no guarantee for them to be a winner in 2008.  Not seeing Favre here.

The Redskins are another interesting possibility.  They’ve got plenty of money (aka Dan Snyder) and a young quarterback in Jason Campbell.  The Redskins know what they are doing with Campbell by letting him play last year.  The only reason a player can get better is by playing.  And he got better as the season went on before he got hurt and Todd Collins led the team to the playoffs.  The Skins have been down this road before with Mark Brunell.  I don’t think that worked too well.

So there we have it.  I’d say Favre doesn’t have any really good options out there.  Anywhere he went (Minnesota included) he would get in the way of the development of a team.

ESPN Gets Their Wish

And, in a quite a convenient way, the biggest news of the Packers offseason breaks right when I am going to be gone for the weekend with no computer access, so I’m sorry, two days with no ESPN-basing from me.  I may possibly be back on Sunday night, as I will be getting updates on the situation via text message and may have a blog written up, but as for right now, you won’t hear anything from me until Monday.  So please, use SI.com, and not ESPN.  Check what Jay Glazer has to say.  I trust him.  Some pictures:

The Favre Files: July 10, 2008

Aren’t you sick of Favre’s antics? by The_Dan, The Noise Factor, FOXSports.com

Lions should absolutely not pursue Brett Favre by Jamie Samuelsen, FreeP.com

No clamor at all for Favre’s return by Patrick Reusse, Star Tribune

Return Would Not Tarnish Favre’s Reputation, Legacy by Sandy Penner, The Bulletin

Packers organization finally speaks: Favre should stay home by Paula Duffy, Examiner.com

5 Celebrity Comebacks Possibly Inspiring Brett Favre by NextRound, NextRound.com

Brett, Brett, Brett…what are we going to do with you?

The Favre Files: July 9, 2008

What Has Really Happened Today? by LIFER, Blog of the Stars, FanNation.com

This morning, I was (luckily) able to learn from many news outlets that Brett Favre sent a text message to the Packers GM, Ted Thompson. Maybe next time they can tell us every time Brett Favre picks up a phone, let alone uses it. Heck, with enough work, we’ll be able to know how many times Brett Favre takes a dump per day! This type of news is nearly as bad. If it’s a slow news day? Fine. But it ISN’T. We are in the middle of the baseball season, the Olympics are approaching, the Tour de France has just begun…find something else!

New York News: Favre to Jets?, Waivers, Waived/Signed .. by Real Sports, New York Jets Club Blog, FanNation.com

Brett Favre to the Jets? It is a very interesting question indeed however the better question is, could this really happen? According to Mike Lombardi who spoke on Sirus NFL Radio recently stated that “the Jets would be a good spot, they don’t have a quarterback” in relation to trying to acquire Brett Favre to play this fall. Now the Jets do have quarterbacks of course no one knows who will be the go to guy come the first game of the reguar season. But as fans we have to wonder if Favre could be the future for us, if he is only going to play a few more years then we’d still be in a bind after he retired. Peter King wrote, “If the Jets do try to acquire Favre, maybe there is something to the “win now” talk of the beat writers, but until I see them making moves for Favre, I just don’t think this would be a good move for the team.” While it would bring Favre back to where he could have ended up in the beginning (Atlanta nabbed Favre and we ended up with Nagle; biggest blunder of them all), you can’t help but, think about how this could effect the Jets future like King said sure it is a win now but what about later on …

The Thought Alone Is A Debate by Brian, Phin Phanatic The Heck With Favre…I’ll Take Rodgers by danzinski, The Viking Age Let Jets Get Brett by Jayvers, The J-E-T Press Busy Day in the NFL: Favre Texts? by Daniel, NFL Mocks Ramblings of a mad man by iB4e, DieHard101.com The Blog Without a Name by Ghosthunter, Daily Sports Specials, FanNation.com The View From 10,000 Lakes…Edition 7 by 0x NBA/NFL Champion, 9th Grade Rantings, FanNation.com Brett Favre - Chicago Bears Hero? by NIN1002, SportingNews.com Brett Favre’s Text-Messaging Habits Under Intense Scrutiny by A.J. Daulerio, Deadspin.com A KSK Exklusive! Brett Favre’s Secret Text Message!!!!!111!11!!!111!! by Kissing Suzy Kolber

Poll Results: Favre’s Retirement

How did you feel when you heard Favre retired?

Sad: 49% (44 votes)

Shocked: 20% (18 votes)

Happy: 13% (12 votes)

Relieved: 13% (12 votes)

Lucky: 3% (3 votes)

New poll up soon!

The Favre Files: July 8, 2008

ESPN was back at it…it looks like they want Favre to make enough noise that they’ll bring him back.

Inside the Panthers: Favre to Carolina? No, it’s Jake’s team by Charles Chandler, Stan Olson, and David Scott, The Charlotte Observer

Not everyone wants Favre.

Brett Favre is Overrated by Monty Singh, Bleacher Report

That’s a ballsy statement.

FirstCuts: T-Mobile Foreshadows Favre’s Return by Chris Littman, The Sporting News

That’s rather humorous.

The big surprise on the Favre front would be if Brett didn’t have the “itch” by Bud Poliquin, The Post-Standard, Syracuse.com

A very good fresh look at all of this.

Enough already, Brett!! by KrashNBurn, DieHard101.com

Favre latest to lie to me by Dave Fairbank, DailyPress.com

Mythbusting:: Brett Favre and the Jacksonville Jaguars by River City Rage, BigCatCountry.com

Favre Rumors Just Won’t Die by James Alder, About.com

That’s all I can stomach today.

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