There will be no winners in this one.
A great storybook ending turns into mush; a great career to be remembered in this way; and a franchise that now has no good options.
It is very hard for great players to know when the time is right to move on.
The fans will never let go.
The media will keep at it.
This will go on and on until Favre gets his way. Very sad to watch this unfold.
Tags: Brett Favre, Green Bay Packers, NFL, Ted Leonsis, Ted's Take
This is indeed a shame. You see it too often, though. Aging former superstar with declining abilities refuses to acknowledge the obvious and either move on or accept a lesser role, forcing the club into a no-win situation. Resulting hurt feelings, fan uproar, and bickering back and forth leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.
Sound familiar, Mr. Kolzig?
I don’t understand why this is so sad. So what, a guy who retired a few months ago wants to come back and play. What’s the big deal? He has every right to do that. Why would anybody doubt him that he wants to stay in Green Bay? Why would one of the greatest quarterbacks ever want to play for anybody but the greatest franchise ever? Why does it have to be such a big deal that he wants to play with another team if he can’t play in Green Bay? The man loves football, and he wants to play it somewhere.
Why does every big sports star have to retire the way that the media wants them to? Don’t you think Brett Favre has earned the right to end his career (or not end his career) any way he wants? Why would ANYBODY take this personally, or have any emotions about this, outside of the people that it directly relates to.
We’re talking about a man’s life, and his career. Let him do what he wants with it. It’s not tragic if that doesn’t line up with some precious memory that we’re too fragile to deal with having tarnished.
There are countless teams in the NFL that would kill for a chance to have Brett Favre, even now. He has every right to want to play football.
alpca3877, that’s the exact comparison that immediately sprang to my mind, sadly.
I agree with Nathan on this one…
This situation is very different than with Olie Kolzig. Brett Farve is one of those jerk players who has the sick need to be all powerfull, to be in total control of the team’s fate. It doesn’t bother him that the team doesn’t know what to do, while awaiting his decision. All the while he knows he has no intention of retiring. If the team says they can’t wait any longer, he says he’ll retire just to be free of his contract. Then he’ll come out of retirement to play for some other team dumb enough, or desperate enough to take on his gigantic ego. I feel sick to my stomach whenever anyone talks about this inhuman jerk.
Favre doesn’t have the right to jerk around a franchise and change his mind every 5 minutes whether he wants to play or not. If he’s that great, if he is so coveted by other teams, then one of those other teams will trade to get him. Simple.
My only question is, does his contract cover the cost of all the kleenex he’ll use crying at every press conference? Give me a break! Hey Brett, THERE’S NO CRYING IN FOOTBALL!!!!!!
As a fan, I’d like to see the pro leagues put in a “if you say you’re retired, you’re retired. Period. No coming back” rule. It’s getting as bad as boxing or Cher’s umpteenth farewell tour.
At least with Olie, both parties had their say at the end of the year and while it wasn’t pretty at times, both moved on. Favre’s turning this into a national joke. He retired once and the Packers started to move in another direction. Then Favre decides he wants to come back and with that, disrupts the Packers progress of moving forward. Aren’t there salary cap implications with him coming back? He’s acting like a little kid and I don’t blame the Packers one bit for not releasing him so he can play elsewhere.
I think GB could turn out to be the dumbest NFL team around. Yes Brett has put them in a difficult situation and I would understand more if his skills were deteriorating but he was one of the best QB’s in the league last year. Completely different argument if he can’t perform and is living off of his legacy but this guy is still a top 5 QB in the league and GB would be stupid to not let him come back as the starting QB. Fine go ahead and say it’s an open race a training camp and whoever wins the jobs wins, do you really think Rogers is going to beat Brett in training camp? GB has a responsibility to it’s fans to field the best team possible.
He had one of his best career years, and they went 13-3…he changed his mind….if Wayne changes his mind, you bring him back…simple….
((This will go on and on until Favre gets his way))
That seems to be the major issue, Farve doesn’t know what HE wants to do.. and keeps ‘changing his mind’. One can’t blame the team for finally taking a stand, regardless of how ‘popular’ he might be with the fans….
But yes, you are correct…. in the end, no good will come of it.