Favre: Green Bay Made Him Retire

The Brett Favre situation in Green Bay is getting hinkier by the minute. It seems that Brett is not all that interested in retiring, and certainly not “burnt-out” as he had said. There are accusations that the Packers organization, one that’s always kind of had this warm and fuzzy, small-town reputation (it is the town where God told Reggie White to go play), pressured him into making statements in the interest of protecting his legacy. They were also trying to manipulate him into not just going to any team (by releasing him outright), but into remaining with the Pack as a backup to Aaron Rodgers, their QB of the future.

Favre is a hardcore guy, not the kind who would just take a paycheck to hold a clipboard, ala Jim McMahon or Vinny Testaverde. If he’s gonna be out there , he wants to be the man.  They will have to carry him off the field. That business about wanting to protect his legacy is pure uncut horseshit. I love football, but the NFL is run by a bunch of arrogant windbags who are used to getting their way. Everyone pisses and moans about how much the players are overpaid brats and gangsters (and that may be), but the guys who own those teams could wipe their asses with the players’ paychecks. And I have a saying in which I firmly believe, “No one ever got rich by being nice.”

So I believe Brett Favre’s assessment of the situation, and admire him for having the balls to say something about it. He should be able to go into the Hall of Fame wearing a ballroom dress if he wants to. He’s been through a lot in his life on and off the gridiron, and he seems to have dealt with it all honorably. If the Packers cared so much about him as a person and not as a commodity, they’d release him and let him go to the team of his choice. His legacy won’t be tarnished by playing elsewhere in the twilight of his career, any more than Johnny Unitas or Deacon Jones finishing out their skein in Charger Blue or Joe Namath finishing things up in LA.

If Brett should have some of those moments where he looks like Willie Mays on the Mets, that will be on his shoulders, as it should be. The NFL may have an image problem, but it won’t be fixed by making false idols out of their players. Guys like Brett Favre have written their own legends just fine.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 14th, 2008 at 11:21 pm and is filed under UNCATEGORIZED. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.