Originally Posted by
Bretsky
I listened to an interview with Pete Dougherty... He gave his inside take on Favre...
His attitude was along the process MM communicated with Favre and wanted to make sure Favre was 100% committed before making his call. It was his view that there was no ego massaging, no please come back's, and no we need you from MM or TT. Their public tone was we hope he comes back but in private they were fully fine with moving on either way.
He felt TT and MM were high enough on AROD that they were ready for the new era to begin if Favre was not 100% positive he wanted to returning.
I think this is an accurate assessment by Dougherty, and Favre's emotional responses to the media reinforce that MM and TT took the exactly correct approach.
Brett Favre is a big boy with a ton of experience. He understands his value to the team without having to be begged to return by management. He also clearly understands the importance of hard work throughout the offseason, particularly for an aging player - even though he impetuously (and predictably) says that returning without doing the required offseason work would be "tempting."
If Brett were to have returned, he would have owed it to his legacy, the Green Bay Packers, and we fans (who have given him the financial capacity to provide for his family and his heirs for generations to come) to get himself prepared to play at the top of his game. The Green Bay Packers owe it to the team and to the fans to demand that of each and every player, particularly their highest paid players. That's understandably much more difficult to do at 39 than 29, but that doesn't change the fact that it must be demanded.
A personal decision about retiring, which few players get the luxury of making, deserves to be made rationally and objectively. Having the team apply emotional pressure to persuade him to hang on for its own self-interest and/or making special concessions for one player would be unprofessional and compromising to the integrity of the team.
I certainly hope he doesn't make the mistake of returning at the age of 39 after ridng a tractor all offseason, but I don't think that'd be much of a risk knowing the leadership we have with this team.