Roger Clemens and Brett Farve

[Kiwon]

Roger Clemens retires, unretires, retires again, and then sells his services to the highest bidder (not literally) in coming out of retirement to pitch half a season of baseball for $12.6 million. No one has a problem with his actions.

Brett Favre struggles with a once-for-all retirement decision, contemplates bypassing a $10 million payday and is vilified for it.

Why the double standard here? Both men are sure Hall-of-Famers and ultra-competitive. They play to compete and win. Money is secondary. Why is one praised and the other castigated?

[Patler]

Quite a bit different impact on the teams and the fans in the off seasons. On the one hand you are looking at a guy who handles the ball on vitually every single offensive play that you run. On the other hand is a guy who pitches 6 or 7 innings once every 5 games.

Not that a HOF pitcher isn't important, he is. But for 4 out of every 5 games it doesn't matter if he is there or not. He will not be in those games anyway. A baseball team is not defined as much by one of its starting pitchers as a football team is by its QB.

[woodbuck27]

Roger Clemens retires, unretires, retires again, and then sells his services to the highest bidder (not literally) in coming out of retirement to pitch half a season of baseball for $12.6 million. No one has a problem with his actions.

Brett Favre struggles with a once-for-all retirement decision, contemplates bypassing a $10 million payday and is vilified for it.

Why the double standard here? Both men are sure Hall-of-Famers and ultra-competitive. They play to compete and win. Money is secondary. Why is one praised and the other castigated?

As the great Muhammed Ali said:

Life . . . is a mystery.

I believe alot of it has to go to Favre's Status in the NFL - as 'an ELITE' player and personality. Favre has an incredibly huge fan base and not all of it is given to his positive popularity.

I'll weigh in with another factor. I suspect that Brett Favre has many detractors that plain n' simple don't/didn't want to see him seize the TD's record from Dan Marino.

That is purely speculative as I don't see the concern if that is 'in fact' the case.

As for him to accomplish that this season, given all the obstacles he's been handed with new coach's, a newly installed form of the WCO - coupled with the new ZBS - 'that may indeed impact OUR success running the ball'. . . that in turn affects setting up the pass as a true weapon, is overwhelmingly enough, to keep that record safe.

Now to that, add the quality of OUR debth at WR, and can anyone seriously believe Favre will pass for 25 TD's ?

By Damn I hope he does.

I hope Brett Favre begins the schedule as he did last season. . blistering HOT . . . and then watch what the media has to chime in with, that takes more away from what we TRULY appreciate in Brett that is positive.

[pbmax]

Clemens has been running this prima donna act for years. I believe it started in overdrive after he "retired" from the Yankees.

I remember the same kind of consternation when Clemens went to the Astros. However, Clemen's public perception has been of mercenary since he left the Red Sox for a bigger payday in Canada.

Favre is still riding on the good will he has earned for 15 plus seasons with one team. His public perception had been/may still be the guy who would play for next to nothing.

Beating expectations is the toughest thing to do. Clemens lived down to his reputation. Favre was guilty of not living up to his. At least from the public's limited point of view.

[Carolina_Packer]

>>However, Clemen's public perception has been of mercenary since he left the Red Sox for a bigger payday in Canada.<<

The real truth is that the Red Sox thought Clemens was on the decline after a couple of sub-par seasons by his standards, so they didn't show as much interest in bringing him back. That's not mercenary, that's a guy just catching on with another team and continuing his career. Obviously it worked out well for him, having won two Cy Youngs in Toronto.

[pbmax]

>>However, Clemen's public perception has been of mercenary since he left the Red Sox for a bigger payday in Canada.<<

The real truth is that the Red Sox thought Clemens was on the decline after a couple of sub-par seasons by his standards, so they didn't show as much interest in bringing him back. That's not mercenary, that's a guy just catching on with another team and continuing his career. Obviously it worked out well for him, having won two Cy Youngs in Toronto.
He well may have been seen in decline, but he was still offered a contract and he took the higher money in Canada. I am not saying he was wrong, I am saying that Clemens has been chasing an acknowledged personal agenda for years, as opposed to Favre, who has been with the same team and a minimum of contract squabbling.

[motife]

Mike Florio, the leftie lawyer at Pro Footballtalk.com (maybe he's L.J.?) says the reason Favre came back this year is he wants to break George Blanda's all time career interception record.

After the Ben Roethlisberger incident, the Packers have asked Favre to wear his football helmet while mowing his apparently huge lawn in Mississippi, in case he flies over the steering wheel headfirst ala Ben.

I thought it was funny that Mike McCarthy teased Favre in a press conference that ANY conversation with Favre ends up lasting 3 hours. He does go on. His press conferences are unlistenable. He always says something he doesn't really mean and then regrets it later. I wonder who he's going to talk to when he retires? Probably Chris Mortensen from ESPN who loves the "Favre speaks" headlines. The "false alarm" press conference one Saturday I think in March was a hoot.

I hear after Big Ben's injury, the Steelers are desperate to trade for Kellen Winslow from the Browns. They figure they'll be a matched pair now.

[woodbuck27]

"Mike Florio, the leftie lawyer at Pro Footballtalk.com (maybe he's L.J.?) says the reason Favre came back this year is he wants to break George Blanda's all time career interception record. " motife

That piece of CRAP wasn't anything that give's Mike Florio any credibility.

Mike Florio = GARBAGEtalk.com. when it comes to any Brett Favre issue which is 'in most cases' a non-issue.

[motife]

"Mike Florio = GARBAGEtalk.com. when it comes to any Brett Favre issue which is 'in most cases' a non-issue.

Don't ever send Florio a complaining email because you'll find out he IS garbagetalk.com. There'll be at least 3 F-bombs, a couple D-heads, followed up with "a**h*l*".

Typical lawyer/leftie talk.

[motife]

by the way, for the record, here are the career QB records Favre has to shoot for :

At the end of the 2005 season, Favre had closed in on several NFL career passing records. Favre currently stands at:

Second all-time in career passing touchdowns, with 396 (Marino, 420)
needs 24 to tie, 25 to break

Second all-time in career passing yards, with 53,615 (Marino, 61,361)
needs 7,747 yards

Second all-time in career pass attempts, with 7,610 (Marino, 8,358)
needs 749 attempts

Second all-time in career pass completions, with 4,678 (Marino, 4,967)
needs 290 completions

Second all-time in career interceptions thrown, with 255 (George Blanda, 277)
needs 22 to tie, 23 to break

Third all-time in career wins as a starting QB, with 139 (Elway, 148; Marino, 147)
needs to win 10 games

so, to have a good season this year, these should be Favre's stats :

290 completions in 749 attempts for 7,747 yards, 25 TD's and zero interception.

[woodbuck27]

"so, to have a good season this year, these should be Favre's stats :

290 completions in 749 attempts for 7,747 yards, 25 TD's and zero interception." motife

Uhhhh ! LOL

Maybe he gets the 25 TD's but for the rest. . .of course your not serious.

[Packers4Ever]

[quote="woodbuck27"

By Damn I hope he does.

I hope Brett Favre begins the schedule as he did last season. . blistering HOT . . . and then watch what the media has to chime in with, that takes more away from what we TRULY appreciate in Brett that is positive.[/quote]


Woody I'll drink to that !!! :D

[Fosco33]

What's the feeling about MJ unretiring twice to less than stellar success? Or Deion Sanders, Mario Lemieux, etc?

Brett's not even in the same league as these guys - because although he's played w/ the idea of retirement - he's played every fricken game since he came to GB!!!

I feel I'm gonna grow sick of all the talk - especially if the Pack doesn't return to form. Let's say Favre has another '05 - I, for one, will never say, "Boy, he should've called it quits last year."

He's just one of 22 guys who can make/break this season at any given moment of play.

[Rastak]

You guys piss and moan too much about Florio....he dissed the Vikings 100 times last season and he's still fun to read.

[Homer Jay]

I think the comparison is a valid one and at the same time ridiculous.

Brett Favre basically said that he wanted to play football, that he only wanted to play for the Packers and that he wanted the Packers to get better.

Roger Clemens says well maybe I will and maybe I won't. It depends on if I can have every other day off and only show up on days I pitch. Oh, and if you pay me millions to be here when I decide to be here.

Brett Favre gets barbecued if he misses a mini camp, (with the coaches OK), or isn't at every OTA, but Clemens decides to show up half way through the season on his terms. Talk about separate rules.

[cpk1994]

In Houston though, they have two guys named Roy Oswalt and Andy Pettite. If I was a Hoston fan, I wouldn't exactly worry about Clemens not deciding until half way. GB on the other hand, is Aaron Rodgers. Big difference.

[woodbuck27]

You guys piss and moan too much about Florio....he dissed the Vikings 100 times last season and he's still fun to read.

Rastak:

In all fairness, that is one of the main sites I visit to get insider info.

As a critic Mike Florio certainly stands out and his take on issues is certainly interesting, and 'of course' often controversial. That is what makes http://www.profootballtalk.com/ work, I suspect.

[HarveyWallbangers]

In Houston though, they have two guys named Roy Oswalt and Andy Pettite. If I was a Hoston fan, I wouldn't exactly worry about Clemens not deciding until half way. GB on the other hand, is Aaron Rodgers. Big difference.

That's 2 of the 5 starters. Houston is .500 team without Clemens. With Clemens they are a playoff team.