Favre to Peppers: “Beat the Packers”
Posted by Mike Florio on December 22, 2010, 1:21 PM EST
Though it may not have the same effect as Adrian’s post-coma, one-word plea to Rocky, former Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre had a message for current Bears defensive end Julius Peppers on Monday night.
Beat the Packers.
“I talked to him after the game,” Peppers tells Michael Wilbon of ESPNChicago.com (via Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune). “I told him it was an honor to play against him. He said, ‘Likewise. . . . Go beat the Packers in a couple of weeks.’”
And so we have obtained another glimpse into the character of Brett Favre. At a time when his current team has just been embarrassed on national television, when his disappointing final (maybe) season is ending, when he’s walking off the field for the last time (perhaps), he’s worried about the Packers for nudging him into his First Annual Retirement nearly three years ago.
Remember when Jay Glazer of FOX reported that Favre helped the Lions and Matt Millen plan for the Packers in 2008? The report widely was denied.
We believed it then, and we believe it even more in light of Favre’s comments to Peppers.
Already been discussed on previous page.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in - Leonard Cohen
Senior moment.
C.H.U.D.
LIFE IS ABOUT CHAMPIONSHIPS; I JUST REALIZED THIS. The MILWAUKEE BUCKS have won the same number of championships over the past 50 years as the Green Bay Packers. Ten years from now, who will have more championships, and who will be the fart in the wind ?
Ok, so here it is: Favre's been an ass's behind for the last 3 years. He's lied, manipulated and (at least tried) gone back to his old womanizing. I can't respect that. Does him telling Peppers to beat Green Bay (knowing it will end up on ESPN and likely make national headlines for millions to read) make him more of an ass than some anonymous poster on a message board who types that he hopes the dude breaks something? I'd say yes. HOWEVER, the one thing that I've always respected most about the dude is his work with kids. I've seen presentations where he was involved with sick kids and believe that his gestures toward them are completely genuine. He was raised by a special ed teacher. One of his best buds for years was a mentally challenged man that he became friends with while a kid himself. It doesn't surprise me that his coach let him off to go do this as no one thought he'd play this week anyway. I think Brett Favre has turned into a complete prima donna dick, but I do think this move was genuine and honestly motivated. He has a true talent with these kids that most do not and I believe this is what he should be doing post football.
"Greatness is not an act... but a habit.Greatness is not an act... but a habit." -Greg Jennings
It's a stretch to say that Favre knew that something he said to Peppers on the field would end up in a story by Michael Wilbon. If Favre wanted to get a certain message out through ESPN, he could have done that himself. I agree that Favre has often manipulated the press to get his message out. I don't think this was one of those times.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in - Leonard Cohen
And how many of his other post game comments to players on the other team have ever gotten out? How many times does Rodgers, Mannings, Brady's? I am sure they all talk a little trash at tiems and ask for them to go beat whoever. The reason this got out was because Peppers brought it to light. We rarely hear about these comments otherwise. To expect it to make headlines is a bit of a reach here.
To me, the surprising thing about Favre's comment to Peppers is that the subject was at the forefront of his mind at that moment. Here he was at the end of perhaps his last game against a perennial rival, talking to a current league star on a team that just clinched the division title. Depending on his injuries, it might have been the end of his last NFL game ever. The Bears gain no great benefit from beating the Packers, so Favre didn't say it as an encouragement for the Bears to go on and accomplish something. There is no advantage gained by the Vikings if the Bears beat the Packers, so concern for his present team had nothing to do with it.
Nope, at that moment, which could have been an emotional one for a lot of reasons, at the forefront of his mind was his grudge against the Packers. After three years and all that has happened since, his vendetta against TT/McCarthy/Murphy is still at the forefront of his thinking. Kind of amazing, really.
The problem about him saying and doing negative things like that toward the Packers is that it is a slap in the face to some former longtime teammates still in GB for whom he should still care and want to see succeed. It is also a slap in the face to the many, many fans who idolized him while he was a Packer. Many of those fans have cheered for his success as a Jet and as a Viking, while still wanting the Packers to succeed as well. Neither the Packer players nor the Packer fans did anything to cause the situation between him and the Packers, yet Favre's hurt feelings cause him to take it out on them as well. For his own good, he should exercise more discretion, especially three seasons after the fact. With each new incident, he loses fan support and his image tarnishes just a bit more. For his own happiness, it is time to move on.
It's time for him to act like an adult in accordance with what he has always said he knows to be true, that football is a business and that teams are run like a business. He continues to make it personal. He needs to stop for a lot of reasons.
After lunch the players lounged about the hotel patio watching the surf fling white plumes high against the darkening sky. Clouds were piling up in the west… Vince Lombardi frowned.
Has Favre commented on this story?
C.H.U.D.
I have a close friend who has maintained that she and her family will be making the trek to Canton when Favre gets inducted. Through all the grief she has wavered sometimes, but always returns to the fact that she'll make this trip.
Ironically, during an exchange of holiday greetings yesterday morning, we talked about Canton, and she was on the fence once again, however, at the end of the call she was again going. Later yesterday, she read this story regarding Peppers, and I got a voicemail on my cell yesterday evening. All it said was this "Not just NO - HELL NO".
Me thinks she's finally done this time, and that's a very sad thing indeed, but completely understandable.
Swede: My expertise in this area is extensive. The essential difference between a "battleship" and an "aircraft carrier" is that an aircraft carrier requires five direct hits to sink, but it takes only four direct hits to sink a battleship.