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Which is stranger: Brett Favre playing for another team than the Packers or Peyton Manning playing for the Broncos?

It's Good to Have the NFL Back

You've probably noticed that the sports-related posts around here have fallen off dramatically. That's because there just hasn't been that much interesting enough to me to be worth the effort. But now the NFL is back, so here's a quick summary of the first few days of free agency, mostly the ones with fantasy impact:

-DeAngelo Williams is staying with Carolina.

-Reggie Bush is going to Miami, and now that I've typed that sentence I have to post this:



-Kevin Kolb, displaced from Philadelphia by Michael Vick, is going to Arizona.

-Chad formerly Johnson has signed with the Patriots.

-Vince Young has signed with Philly, presumably to see if he can learn something from Vick.

-The Eagles also signed CB Nnamdi Asomugha, the best cornerback on the market.

-Brett Favre is still retired.

Quote of the Day

Darn that Favre, huh? He has spent most of his 20-year career beating the Lions, and the one time — one time— he doesn't play in their stadium, the Lions aren't the opponent.

-Bob Wojnowski, "Lions were big winners in Ford Field game", The Detroit News

Of Course He's Back

Is there anything more predictable than Brett Favre's unpredictability? Is he the only one who didn't know he'd be back in a Vikings uniform by August?

"Those guys drive me crazy."

This Sears commercial restores some of my respect for Brett Favre:

Punch Line

I think Wojo pretty well sums up my feelings on this Favre joining the Vikings.

Breaking News

Brett Favre is really awful at making up his mind.

Again?

I am shocked, shocked that Brett Favre is considering unretiring... again. It must feel good to be Tarvaris Jackson right now.

Deja Vu

Brett Favre says he's retiring... again. I already gave my thoughts on Favre last year when he retired, so I'm not going to cover that again. My only thought now? Good.

J-E-T-S

So, Brett Favre is the new QB for the NY Jets. Bad news for Chad Pennington. I've been a big Favre fan until now, but I can't wish him well with his new team. This whole thing stinks. Favre's tarnished his image with this ugly episode, and it's pretty tough to root for a NY team anyway. I think I'm going to be an anti-Jets fan this year.

It's Getting Interesting

So now Favre is speaking out about his desire to play this season. Here's a line that caught my eye:

And while Favre said the Packers asked him for a list of teams to which he would accept a trade, he wants to be released to make sure he ends up on a competitive club.

Except, you see, that's not how the game's played. Players, even stars, don't just get to decide where they're going to play. It's not in the Packers interest to release Favre, and I don't think they should. And whatever Favre is saying, it certainly looks like he's using his retirement to maneuver his way on to a team he thinks will be a contender. This is going from interesting to ugly very quickly.

Flip-Flop

Officially, Brett Favre is retired. But that's not stopping him from repeating the same Hamlet act he performed last year when he was considering retiring and decided to play another year; he's just approaching it from the opposite side. Favre reportedly wants to return to the NFL this season. Obviously, this puts the Packers in a tight spot. They've committed to Aaron Rodgers, so if Favre requests to be removed from the retired list and returned to active, they'll either have to trade him or release him. To make it more interesting, two of the most interested teams might be ones in the division. Yikes.

I think it's realistic to expect that Favre has another season in him, but this second-guessing it pretty ridiculous. It's never going to be easy to leave the game and he picked a good time to get out. So stay out. I don't think anyone wants to see a past-his-prime Brett Favre struggling with another team.

UPDATE: Apparently, Favre has decided he wants to play this season and asked the Packers for a release. The Packers have refused. This is gonna get interesting.

R.I.P. Favre

What a sad week of sports news to hear Brett Favre has died at such a young age. It seems like it's been 24-hour coverage of his unfortunate passing on ESPN. What a tragic story.

Hey, did Favre just retire on Tuesday morning? It seems like I heard that somewhere, but I didn't know if it was true. I've been living under a rock since Tuesday morning, but yet the rock even knew Favre had retired. Weird.

Seriously ESPN, get a grip on yourself. You're covering his retirement story like the man has just died. I don't even get Sportscenter or ESPN, yet somehow you've covered this story so heavily, my TV couldn't fight the airwaves and ESPN managed to come through my television. You've been talking about it so much, even I have to hear about it on my own TV. Well, not really, but you get the point.

Is anyone else getting sick of all the pub on this? I really don't think overkill is the way to cover it. I don't need interviews of the 3rd string quarterback on the 1993 team asked, "Did you see this coming?" No one cares if a guy who used to live on the same street as Favre growing up, but was actually older than Favre so they never really lived on the same street at the same time, no one wants to hear him answer "So why do you think he retired?" Enough already.

I was listening to Rome yesterday and he interviewed the Packer head coach (forgot his name). Anyway, there were two questions he completely bombed: 1. "If Favre were to come out of retirement, would you take him back?" 2. "If the organization wanted Farve to keep playing, why is Favre's agent saying they didn't want him?"

By the way, I just retired on Tuesday as well, but no one cared about me.

Sincerely,
Warren Sapp

Meet "Brett" and "Favre"

If I ever have a son, I think I'm going to name him "Favre", like this Florida couple. Think it will catch on? I would find it hilarious if "Favre" was a top 10 boys name in ten years.

Tired

Brett Favre retired today after contemplating it for the past few years. He left a voice message with ESPN's Chris Mortensen saying:

I know I can still play, but it's like I told my wife, I'm just tired mentally. I'm just tired.

No wonder, considering he played in 275 consecutive games. I'm sure this will be debated constantly over the next few days, but I think you have to put Favre right up there with the best to play the game. I watched Montana, Elway, and Marino play, but not the way I saw Favre play. I saw flashes of brilliance from the others (Elway spinning through the air into the end zone in the Super Bowl comes to mind), but I know more about their greatness from sports writers and commentators constantly talking about it. With Favre, it comes from seeing at least 8 games a year for as long as I've been paying any real attention to football, and all of the images that are burned into my memory. For example, have you ever seen a more amazing performance by a QB than Favre against the Raiders on Monday Night Football just afte his father passed away? That's the stuff legends are made of. Congratulations to Favre on an amazing career.