Brett Favre will be a New York Jet this season.
Unless you hate sports or have been under a rock, you should have heard about the Favre-Packer controversy this preseason. A brief recap: Brett retires after about 16 seasons as a Packer. The Packers cry some and start prepping Brett’s back-up as their new starter and leader for the new era. Brett changes his mind. The Pack say, “cool. But are you sure?” Brett says, “nahh. I’m good.” Time passes. Brett changes his mind again and wants to come back. The Pack GM says I’m on vacation, I’ll holla atcha when I get back. He gets back. The Packers eventually decided to stay with their new structure and move on. Brett is pissed, comes back to the NFL and is traded to the Jets.
The State Of . . . Former legends. Is this a new era in Sports? In the past, a team would have done whatever the prima donna star quarterback said. Is there any doubt Denver would have welcomed Elway back? Or Dallas, Aikman? Hell, didn’t the Raiders even let Lyle Alzado try a comeback? They told Brett that they were moving on and they didn’t want him yanking their chain anymore. He called their bluff and they had the cards. Some say that it wasn’t all Brett’s fault and that the Packers could have been more flexible. Screw that. The man made his decision (twice) and the Packers had to get ready for next year. The NFL is a bidness. I (rich) am relieved by what the Packers did. Perhaps these big sports babies in this new era will learn that they can’t get their way all of the time.
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I’m a Packer fan… I’m talking since James Lofton, Lynn Dickey and nem, and I’m neutral on this w/a leaning toward letting Brett get one more shot. (what other player in the league plays w/the passion of a kid on the playground playing two hand tag so you don’t get grass stains in your school clothes?) None of this was cute, which I regret, but so be it.
Rich is exactly right, Brett had zero leverage & biz comes before loyalty.
They’ve got a helluva squad on both sides of the ball and now the weakness is an unproven Rodgers who has one season where he threw more than 20 completions. After all this back and forth, and last years success, mgmt will have hell to pay if some conservative gameplan ends their season prematurely.
I”m sure that the next star won’t have such a hard time. Brett has put the Packers through his last minute decisions for 2 or 3 seasons and they did the right thing. If this was the first year that he had gone back and forth or delayed his decision they would have been more patient.
NYJ isn’t a bad situation for him. There are some good offensive pieces there.
Now if they forced him to retire and wouldn’t take him back without him stirring up the media then I kinda get where he’s coming from. He is a prima donna though. Supposedly that whole jet story where he flip flopped was planted in the media by the team. If they did me like that I’d be pissed too.
I don’t think they forced him to retire. I think they forced him to make a decision right after the season. For the past few seasons he has dragged it on and let them know pretty late in the game that he was going to stay on for another year. They got tired of it. From what I read when they pushed him to make a decision he just let it go. Then…the bug hit him and he wanted back in.
Brett caused the drama himself.
He should have kept his dignity and retired a Packer.
It ain’t the money…Its just the ego. A middle aged man who can’t give up the game. I understand that emotion because it plays havoc with athletes. But, he should have moved into retirement gracefully.
But I will say, he would have been the best QB on the packer roster. He will not look good for the Jets. He may have a few Montana momments(when he played for the Chiefs), but the Jets are going nowhere. what a sad way to end your career.
Dignity is so important.
I agree with Maceo, GB probably just said, “Brett, we need you to make a decision.”
I support the Packers’ position. IMO, Favre throws way too many interceptions to be a reliable QB, and by all accounts Rodgers has a very solid future. (We SC fans remember that dude from Cal.)
Are the Jet’s a haven for old washed up QB’s?
Vinny Testaverde
Chad Pennington
….they were willing to pay him 20 million just to stay retired
As a Bears fan. I say keep him in there. (Thanks for the picks Brett). And why didn’t they trade him to Tampa (hello Mr. Simms).
I like Brett Favre and respect his decision to continue playing with the hapless Jets. However, Brett Favre has no idea what he has gotten himself into. The New York media is NOTHING like the Green Bay media which treated him like a legend and icon for many years. A few bad games (and there will be many of those) the media will be in his grill and poor Brett will quickly question WHY he came out of retirement. Good luck Brett!
It’s a shame that Favre is going to spoil his legacy. Just like O.J. playing with shot knees. Or Ali’s last fight in the islands. That was really sad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hprT5V189sI&feature=related