Favre Ends Retirement Again

Well, here we go again!Brett Favre, the soon to be 40 year old quarterback, had originally announced his retirement in March '08 following the 2007 season after 16 seasons with the Green Bay Packers. Then, he changed his mind and approached the Packers right around the time of last year's summer camp about the possibility of returning to them.

This drama continued to play out for a couple of weeks. We kept hearing different stories. One day, he was prepared to re-sign with the Packers, and then, a few days later, they told us that the Packers really didn't want him back.That made it look like Green Bay had turned their collective backs on Favre after everything he had done for them over those 16 years when he proved to be the game's most productive quarterback, starting every game for the Pack from September 20, 1992 to January 20, 2008.

His durability over that stretch of time is legendary. He was a solid quarterback who ended up surpassing nearly all of Dan Marino's passing records. Then, just before the start of the 2008 season, Green Bay traded Favre to the eager New York Jets who weren't at all happy with their own young quarterback, Chad Pennington. The Jets figured that they could get at least one more year out of the aging Favre and that he'd surely be an upgrade from what they had. Well, that plan didn't work out so well, either, as Favre threw nine interceptions over the final five games with New York.

He isn't the most-intercepted QB in league history by chance. All this played out on the NFL Network which you can see again this year on Dish Network and on local channels. A few years ago, the general consensus was that Favre would go down in NFL history as one of the best QB's ever, and likely also the most durable after weathering as many seasons on the gridiron as he has. Then, the retirement drama began last year in Green Bay, and everything changed. It seems that the more attention that Favre got in the media, the less believeable his answers became. Football fans are getting tired of his phoney-baloney, tear-filled farewells that he has been making an annual event.Brett, please stop these antics!

We don't don't want to play that game anymore!Now, Favre is back playing his game with the Minnesota Vikings, a long-time, hated divisional rival of the Packers, after he sang the same tune with them for the last few weeks as he had with Packers last summer. He signed a new 2 year contract for about 25 million dollars as he was reunited with Brad Childress, the Vikings head coach. Favre likes to say he could run their offense in his sleep because he and Childress share a long, professional relationship since they ran the same offense in Green Bay for years.

This was probably the main reason both parties with all the hoopla that preceded the actual deal. At his first news conference in Minnesota, Favre said, "This is not about revenge or anything like that, believe me," adding, "You can't take away the 16 years I had in Green Bay. It was unbelievable . It was great and that will forever be cherished by me and the guys I played with. And you know they've moved on. I've moved on. I think it's great for football."We don't know about that. So far it seems like it's only been good for Brett Favre. If he had only said that it's been good for him, then maybe football fans everywhere will start believing him.


By: Frank Bilotta