Packers to Favre: You can be Rodgers' backup......take that!

The guys will rally behind the player who gives them the best chance to win. It isn't No. 12.

And if TT trades Favre before the first preseason game or locks him out entirely he will regret it because AR will be nursing an injury before the opener.

Last, at least this saga wipes out the ridiculous notion that he played last season ONLY to break records and then retire.

 

Yes, this saga proves he's not all about himself.

 

His retirement announcement was used as proof that the only reason he played last season was to break Marino's records.

His desire to play again in 2009 kind of shoots that in the ass.

Edit: I'm not at all surprised that an aging professional athlete who still can perform at a high level would waffle about his/her retirement.

Cuz, you know, we've never seen professional athletes un-retire before. :

What does surprise me is the inability of so many non-athletes to grasp and/or appreciate that dilemma.

 

So why do you think he wants to play again?

 

He retired too quickly.

The taste of a bitter defeat was still fresh. He put a lot of blame on his shoulders and made a premature call.

I can also tell you there have been some family considerations at play, the details of which I doubt will be reported.

I saw and heard many analysts -- almost all former players -- predict this scenario. His desire to return, not the mess with GB's brass.

I never was a professional athlete but the power the specific sport holds over these men/women is immeasurable.

Barry Sanders was the anomaly.

Guys like Bradshaw and Elway would have played till death if they could have. Injuries forced them out.

Favre is healthier than he has been in years. Think of how long football has been his life. Grade school, high school, college and 17 years in the NFL. What is that, about 30 years?

That is more than 75% of his life.

I deal with a lot of college athletes these days and I literally can feel their pain if they miss one game because of injury. An injury that costs them a season? They are crushed.

We can all debate whether an athlete's love for the game -- need for that rush -- is healthy. But I think we can all agree about it's powerful hold.

I'm not in this biz for the money -- nor is he -- but I'd be a basket case if I had to give up writing before I was ready. I love it and it doesn't provide near the satisfaction or rush he gets from playing football.

 

Fair enough, but his desire to play again doesn't mean he's not being selfish and/or hurting the team in the process.

 

I would guess, as with most great athletes, that he really doesn't know what else to do with his life.

He can only play golf and work on the ranch for so many hours a day. I think now he's realizing he doesn't want to do that full time for the next 40 years. And he doesn't have any other plans. He's healthy, so why not play? Maybe that makes him "selfish," after all the retirement press conference crap, but I think it just means he's a typical professional athlete -- which is all he's been for the last 17 years.

We've seen this too many times before.

 

No doubt he has put them in a difficult spot. But they were willing to take him back in March, according to reports.

He changed his mind at the last minute, which I'm sure pissed them off a bit.

I've been trying to put myself in TT's shoes. Take Favre back again and you likely lose Rogers after his contract is out (2009, I think). Well, then you find another successor. That's your job.

I believe TT was asked today whether No. 4 or No. 12 gave the team the better chance to reach the Super Bowl this season. He took the Fifth. If you believe No. 12 can do the job, just say so. If you don't believe it, I guess you dodge the question.

And if I'm the GM, my job is to put the best team on the field. TT wants to move on, look to the future. Well, lots of people in Wisconsin figured after 1996 and '97 the Super Bowl would be a semi-regular destination.

Oops. Didn't quite work out that way.

You take your best shots when the window is open.

Find a way to get your best QB back on the roster and go for it.

Just how I'd handle it.

 

I totally agree with your first sentence, buck. No doubt he's going stir crazy without an outlet for his competitive drive.

But to go back to armageddon's argument, the people who said he was not coming back last year just for the records said he was doing it, primarily, for the team, that he wanted to win another Super Bowl. Well, he's certainly not "doing it for the team" anymore. At this point I don't think he cares if it means alienating any teammates, possibly setting back the organization for a few years or even, with his latest request, playing for another team that almost certainly is more than just a QB away from being a title contender. He's that desperate for the aforementioned outlet.

 

I am not sure Brett Favre knows what he wants. He keeps going back and forth on this. There was a time between the retirement presser and the NFL draft where he told the GB brass that he was interested in returning and they were willing to welcome him back and make him the starter again.

His brain knows that retiring is the best bet: he would leave the sport after having one of the best years of his career, the Packers are in a position to do well without him and he has escaped major injury. He has more money than he could ever spend, a family to raise and the undying love of the Green Bay faithful.

His heart knows that this is the time he should be preparing for another season of football, that it is just a few weeks until he is back with the guys in shorts, running wind sprints and getting into the groove with his wideouts. He has been doing that since he was teenager. I don't think we can really comprehend the camaraderie aspect of professional sports. Even in the era where, in Seinfeld's words, "we root for laundry," the feeling of being around a bunch of men working toward that common goal while playing in front of millions...that has to be an amazing intoxicant. Favre may have stopped being a party animal and become more withdrawn, but that has to be an amazing feeling and one that is hard to give up cold-turkey when you are still physically able to play.

My guess is that it is just a tease by Favre and he will stay retired. But I bet the first Sunday of this season will be pure torture for him.

 

Just because some of us don't agree with you doesn't mean we don't understand what Favre is doing. And just because it is hard to leave football behind doesn't mean that he isn't doing proving himself to be a self-centered prick in the way he is handling this.

 

Didn't want this to get lost. Well done.