OFFICIAL BRETT THE LIVING LEGEND THREAD

[Bretsky]

Brett is getting killed in the media for not getting over it. Ted gets to sit there and just say "we wish Brett the best" while letting Brett self destruct all on his own.

Getting killed in the media is a HUGE overstatement, IMO.

Any yeah, Ted is sitting there. Who felt they needed to hire a political pressman during this whole thing? That should tell you something in itself.

How about a guy that knmew he would get ripped to shreds becuase they decided to stick with Rodgers. A guy who knew anything he said would be twisted. Favre should have hired him first. This Fliescher thing is blown out of proportion because of who he was previously employed by.

could not disagree more; I think ever since they hired the political twister Green Bay has used the media like a pawn. They are dam good now and always one step ahead.

I think the homers sweep the twister hire under the rug and ignore that it ever happened.

If TT was the one who looked to sign him on he was the best free agent signing since Charles Woodson

[Scott Campbell]

Expect to see the worst of me more often.

Like here?

[MJZiggy]

Brett is getting killed in the media for not getting over it. Ted gets to sit there and just say "we wish Brett the best" while letting Brett self destruct all on his own.

Getting killed in the media is a HUGE overstatement, IMO.

Any yeah, Ted is sitting there. Who felt they needed to hire a political pressman during this whole thing? That should tell you something in itself.

How about a guy that knmew he would get ripped to shreds becuase they decided to stick with Rodgers. A guy who knew anything he said would be twisted. Favre should have hired him first. This Fliescher thing is blown out of proportion because of who he was previously employed by.

could not disagree more; I think ever since they hired the political twister Green Bay has used the media like a pawn. They are dam good now and always one step ahead.

I think the homers sweep the twister hire under the rug and ignore that it ever happened.

If TT was the one who looked to sign him on he was the best free agent signing since Charles Woodson

I don't know, as far as I can tell, team management has kept themselves completely out of this latest fiasco. They haven't said a word except a few player quotes from the locker room interviews. I don't thing Ari manages what the players say in the locker room.

[KYPack]

"exactly rocket surgery."

OK SC

WTF is "rocket surgery." anyhow?

[Harlan Huckleby]

Those that appreciate what he did in the past for the GB Packers understand that and appreciate it.

Who are those who appreciate that he did in the past?

Are you saying those who supported the PAckers in their decision to go with Rodgers rather than Favre don't appreciate what Favre did in the past?

And whiile I got you on the line, who exactly are the "haters" who you regularly refer to? What does it take to get into that club?

I hear a lot of hate in you towards TT, and it is totally unjustified, the way I see things.

[FavreChild]

If you let a good PR person like FavreChild craft their message, it could be a golden moment for them. If she's talking just because they're still mad at Ted, then the Favre's will get skewered.

Still waitin' for that call. I think Bus does the Favre's PR. Yeah.

[cpk1994]

Brett is getting killed in the media for not getting over it. Ted gets to sit there and just say "we wish Brett the best" while letting Brett self destruct all on his own.

Getting killed in the media is a HUGE overstatement, IMO.

Any yeah, Ted is sitting there. Who felt they needed to hire a political pressman during this whole thing? That should tell you something in itself.

And which way has the tide turned since that hiring? I see the tide turning further against Brett. Though I guess I'm biased, but so are you. I think there may be clues to which way the tide is turning even on this forum. Nutz and Partial seemed to find it harder to defend Brett after this latest episode. Those guys were solidly in Brett's corner before. I think there was far more media support for Brett even a month ago. And you never heard a peep from Jets players about Brett needing to just let it go. So that's why I think the tide may be turning against him.

What Ted and the Packers need to do isn't exactly rocket surgery. Stay out of the gutter. Continue to wish Brett well as he ridicules you for giving him a locker and being socially awkward.

In the end, none of it matters. Both sides need to move beyond it. Ted and the Packers appear to be beyond trying to beat Brett, and just want to move forward. Brett appears to still be trying to beat the Packers - to his detriment.


This whole thing will end once Brett decides to end it. IMO

Exactly. Remember TT's statement "We are trying to protect Brett's legacy"? Brett obviously doesn't because he is the only one doing damage to it, not TT.

[Patler]

Any yeah, Ted is sitting there. Who felt they needed to hire a political pressman during this whole thing? That should tell you something in itself.

So Fleischer was involved politically at one point. So what? He now has a public relations consulting firm that specializes in sports media relations. Here is his website:

http://www.fleischersports.com/home.php

The Packers hired him as a consultant for one month, August. His time was up long ago. I have seen nothing about any ongoing retention of his services, just the one month gig, but I suppose it might have continued.

The Packers were not the only NFL team to use Fleisher in some way. He was also hired by the Saints to do the same sort of player instruction as he did for the Packers:

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer will meet with the Saints today as a media relations consultant.

Fleischer, who now works extensively in sports communications, has been invited to meet with several NFL teams this offseason, including the Green Bay Packers during the middle of the Brett Favre saga. The league has made a push to improve media relations by mandating that teams provide players and coaches with some form of media training during camp.

"I decided to hire Ari to speak to our team because I felt he provided the best all-around plan for media training, and our players would get an opportunity to dialogue with a guy that would bring some interesting insight and stories to the presentation," said Greg Bensel, the Saints' vice president of communications, who added that Fleischer has been in such demand that it was difficult to work him into the schedule.

[Patler]

It strikes me that Favre should take some advice from his old friend, Reggie White.

White's departure from the Eagles was with very hard feelings. He felt they didn't do enough to try to keep him, etc., etc. Basically he was not on speaking terms with the owners for several years, and had some very critical things to say about them. He made some accusations of being run out of Philly, of the team starting rumors about him, etc. (Sound familiar??)

Anyway. some years later, I think after he retired, White and the Eagles officially "made up". White commented that he was blinded at the time to the difficult decisions that teams have to make with respect to players, and doing what is best for the team in the long run, even when it involves great players. He said he finally understood why the Eagles had to let him go. It was really no ones fault, just a situation that had to be dealt with.

I wish someone would remind the Favres of this.

[th87]

I decided to go back and watch:

1. Favre's retirement PC:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kACbVGsWN74

2. Favre's interview on Letterman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjLZCtlVu64

3. Favre's interview with Greta:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBc2aHH943U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRRXTdZfJ90

In light of what we know today, it is very interesting to see what was said. Certain sentences seem to have a lot more meaning today than they did then.

My take is that Favre is a sincere person, and EXTREMELY emotional, where those emotions may get in the way of better judgment from time to time.

When he retired, he looked very sincere in doing so. It did not look like he was forced into a decision, or forced to step down, or urged in that direction by TT. Not only did he say so, I saw a man, who, at the time was done with football. He wanted out, and was saying goodbye to the game and the fans. The retirement seemed 100% genuine and authentic.

The Letterman interview was interesting. To paraphrase: "By the time training camp comes around, something's bound to happen." The way he delivered it, it seems like this concept was on his mind, and gave a little "Oh whoops!" type grin. This tells me that he was definitely thinking about a comeback, but it hadn't materialized yet in his mind, so there was no use dwelling on it.

Between that point, and the Van Susteren interview, things began to snowball. Rumors flew that he wanted to come back, and Favre sent text messages denying this.

Then the Susteren interview. It is here where Favre lost many, many points in my book. He alleges that TT and MM wanted a decision from him before he was technically ready. But based on what I said above about the retirement speech, I have trouble buying this assertion. He looked completely done, and thought it over in his head. What do indecisive people generally do? Do they make a hasty decision, or do they go back and forth, and then finally come to a decision? I don't believe a "thinker" like Favre would choose to make that big of a decision in his life without being sure about it.

But let's assume he's telling the truth. That he was forced to make a decision before he was ready. What was his reason for not making the Packers wait on him? That he didn't want to be a disruption? That's what he insinuated. But then isn't going on Greta and demanding a release MUCH MORE of a disruption? It just doesn't add up.

He also said that MM said he would've let him wait until training camp. So then why not just ask for more time? He said that they talked every week. If they're that close, then what would stop Favre from requesting a little bit more time? Is their communication that bad that this simple request could be denied? I don't buy that either.

And what was so wrong with being a backup? He skipped the entire off-season planning session after he retired. They'd changed some things. Why is that so insulting? He could've come back, gotten up to speed, and if the team deemed it advantageous, he could've been elevated to starter. But instead, he was hell bent on leaving. And why was competing for a starting spot such a disgusting concept?

So in sum, I think Favre sincerely retired, but began to miss the game. He was confused as to how to proceed, and let Bus Cook turn the Packers into his enemy by feeding his emotional brain with rhetoric, which turned him from Anakin into a mini Darth Vader. We'd never seen that level of animosity prior to the events of this summer.

[RashanGary]

I sum it up this way:


The Packers have a very strong belief in off-season commitment.

They wanted more from Brett Favre this offseason, partly because they believe so strongly in it and partly because if he said, "no", they finally feel strong enough at the position to move on.

Rather than showing up to the offseason work, Favre retired. Mostly he retired because he felt he couldn't give any more. From there he started talking to people in the sport and previously in the sport. He began to feel that demand on him was unfair and that he had earned the right to take offseasons off if he so deemed. Chilly and company told him so. Att his point the Packers heard he was interested in coming back. They said they'd talk. Brett now feels pissed and is like, "no thanks, guys, I'm good" knowing he's going to wait till TC to get the time off. This pisses the McCarthy off as he is being jerked around so a guy can have the off season off.

Now McCarthy sets it in stone, in his mind and to his players. At this point they were excited about Aaron Rodgers and, quite frankly, didn't want Brett back. Brett sensed this and/or was told this and he became first hurt, then angry to protect his ego. Rather than going along iwth the typical parting of ways he got very pissed off. He believed he was bigger than Ted and wanted to force his way back with basically complete control of the team.

The Packers stood behind Ted.

Favre eventually gave up and the trade was on.


Favre is hurt, but moving on is no reason for him to be pissed off. He had his chance. He chose not to. The Packers moved on, choosing 100% of Aaron over half of Brett.

Here we are. It's really not something to hate and fight over, but people on both sides are doing it.

[LP]

And why was competing for a starting spot such a disgusting concept?

I think there may have been a little voice in the back of Brett's head telling him that he might not win a legitimate competition. Of course his ego would never let him admit it.


I also think the Packers were pretty sure he would get beat and were hoping to save him the embarassment.


OK, now everyone tell me how Brett Favre could never lose a legitimate competition to Aaron Rodgers.

[MJZiggy]

No, LP, I don't have a whole lot of evidence to prove it, but something tells me you're right. There's also the fact that if he didn't win the competition, many fans would never accept it anyway.

Hell, they won't even accept the trade, imagine the furor if Brett Favre got benched!

[GBRulz]

The furor if Favre got benched? Um, ok. Most of all here even agreed that we would be in a much better situation if he was our backup if Rodgers went down, instead of Flynn/Brohm.

[falco]

The furor if Favre got benched? Um, ok. Most of all here even agreed that we would be in a much better situation if he was our backup if Rodgers went down, instead of Flynn/Brohm.

if you are implying that there wouldn't be a furor, I disagree 100%.

in respect to favre being a backup in GB, I actually think that would be a worse situation for the team overall (chemistry and long term stability) if farve was here