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Man, he's getting some harsh treatment. I can't say that I feel bad. Then again, he who laughs last laughs loudest, and that is yet to be decided.
Brett Favre to the Vikings: A national media sampler
-- Former Packers salary-cap guru Andrew Brandt, writing at National Football Post.com, isn't surprised Favre joined the Vikings -- and for the same money he would have gotten in Green Bay:
"This is predictable behavior from someone who’s a good guy but troubled by having to make decisions without a clear, apparent choice. He would much rather have someone else, through his or her actions or words, make the decision for him. ...
"I always felt Brett wanted to do in football what Roger Clemens was able to do in baseball: join a team early in the season, bypass the minutiae of training camp and the offseason and just play the games. Now he’s able to do that – sort of. ...
"Brett has an insecurity about him that is not logical for one of the most established players in the game. "
-- Former Vikings QB Fran Tarkenton, speaking on Sirius NFL Radio, takes another whack at Favre:
"I really have no interest in what Brett Favre does. ... I asked a few friends here, maybe 10 or 12 people we were out with last night, I said, ‘What do you think about Brett Favre going back to the Vikings?’ You know who cared? Nobody."
-- New York Post blogger Mike Vaccaro takes a whack at Favre, too. It's the Daily Whack, in fact:
"This isn't revenge. This is ego-maniacal spite."
-- Sports Illustrated's Jeff Pearlman is thinking along the same lines:
"Brett Favre has officially tossed his legacy down the toilet. ... Favre is flashing a very large, very pronounced middle finger toward Green Bay, where his most loyal fans once resided. ... Brett Favre is just another egomaniacal jock with an unhealthy need for the spotlight."
-- As is Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
"John Smoltz has a massive ego. He won’t retire. He believes he still can help a team win a championship, even though people think he’s nuts. Gee, you would’ve thought he was Brett Favre. Big difference. ...
"Favre has managed to get his way and signed with the Minnesota Vikings ... which is what he wanted to do two years ago. But in getting there, he stepped on three NFL franchises along the way and scorched any remaining bit of character left in his soul. ...
"Whether you believe (Smoltz) can still pitch or not, he never damaged the Braves’ franchise on the way out the door. He still has universal admiration in that clubhouse, and it’s the same in Boston and around baseball. Favre is not embraced the same way. Players, coaches and management have come to recognize him for what he is."
-- Sports Illustrated's Ross Tucker, a former NFL player, thinks the Vikings are sending all kinds of bad messages to their players:
"Deep down some of them will have their doubts and be skeptical until Favre can prove to them he is a team guy and truly playing for the right reasons. Doubts and skepticism are not the foundation of a championship club in the NFL."
-- Clark Judge of CBS Sports thinks Favre will hurt the Vikings in another way:
"Which quarterback will make his new team better, Brett Favre or Michael Vick? Give me Vick. ... (Favre is) an old quarterback waiting to break down as the season wears on."
-- Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune disagrees:
"Is he disturbing the team's continuity by signing this late? For a while, perhaps, but he's going to make the Vikings better.
"Is he selfish? Very likely, but he's going to make the Vikings better.
"Is he the quarterback he once was? No, but he's going to make the Vikings better.
"All the crazy, ill-advised passes he throws -- he really is all about himself, isn't he? I attribute those passes to an incredible belief in himself, but the bottom-line answer is -- yes, that one again -- he's going to make the Vikings better."
-- Finally, Slate's Josh Levin documents how Sports Illustrated's Peter King finally got fed up with Favre.
On Tuesday morning, King tweeted this: "This is now officially a circus. Favre wishy-washiest player in memory, Vikes his enablers. This is ridiculous."
That afternoon, King wrote the same thing on SI.com: "Favre's the wishy-washiest player in memory —- and the Vikings are his enablers. It's ridiculous."
-- Former Packers salary-cap guru Andrew Brandt, writing at National Football Post.com, isn't surprised Favre joined the Vikings -- and for the same money he would have gotten in Green Bay:
"This is predictable behavior from someone who’s a good guy but troubled by having to make decisions without a clear, apparent choice. He would much rather have someone else, through his or her actions or words, make the decision for him. ...
"I always felt Brett wanted to do in football what Roger Clemens was able to do in baseball: join a team early in the season, bypass the minutiae of training camp and the offseason and just play the games. Now he’s able to do that – sort of. ...
"Brett has an insecurity about him that is not logical for one of the most established players in the game. "
-- Former Vikings QB Fran Tarkenton, speaking on Sirius NFL Radio, takes another whack at Favre:
"I really have no interest in what Brett Favre does. ... I asked a few friends here, maybe 10 or 12 people we were out with last night, I said, ‘What do you think about Brett Favre going back to the Vikings?’ You know who cared? Nobody."
-- New York Post blogger Mike Vaccaro takes a whack at Favre, too. It's the Daily Whack, in fact:
"This isn't revenge. This is ego-maniacal spite."
-- Sports Illustrated's Jeff Pearlman is thinking along the same lines:
"Brett Favre has officially tossed his legacy down the toilet. ... Favre is flashing a very large, very pronounced middle finger toward Green Bay, where his most loyal fans once resided. ... Brett Favre is just another egomaniacal jock with an unhealthy need for the spotlight."
-- As is Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
"John Smoltz has a massive ego. He won’t retire. He believes he still can help a team win a championship, even though people think he’s nuts. Gee, you would’ve thought he was Brett Favre. Big difference. ...
"Favre has managed to get his way and signed with the Minnesota Vikings ... which is what he wanted to do two years ago. But in getting there, he stepped on three NFL franchises along the way and scorched any remaining bit of character left in his soul. ...
"Whether you believe (Smoltz) can still pitch or not, he never damaged the Braves’ franchise on the way out the door. He still has universal admiration in that clubhouse, and it’s the same in Boston and around baseball. Favre is not embraced the same way. Players, coaches and management have come to recognize him for what he is."
-- Sports Illustrated's Ross Tucker, a former NFL player, thinks the Vikings are sending all kinds of bad messages to their players:
"Deep down some of them will have their doubts and be skeptical until Favre can prove to them he is a team guy and truly playing for the right reasons. Doubts and skepticism are not the foundation of a championship club in the NFL."
-- Clark Judge of CBS Sports thinks Favre will hurt the Vikings in another way:
"Which quarterback will make his new team better, Brett Favre or Michael Vick? Give me Vick. ... (Favre is) an old quarterback waiting to break down as the season wears on."
-- Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune disagrees:
"Is he disturbing the team's continuity by signing this late? For a while, perhaps, but he's going to make the Vikings better.
"Is he selfish? Very likely, but he's going to make the Vikings better.
"Is he the quarterback he once was? No, but he's going to make the Vikings better.
"All the crazy, ill-advised passes he throws -- he really is all about himself, isn't he? I attribute those passes to an incredible belief in himself, but the bottom-line answer is -- yes, that one again -- he's going to make the Vikings better."
-- Finally, Slate's Josh Levin documents how Sports Illustrated's Peter King finally got fed up with Favre.
On Tuesday morning, King tweeted this: "This is now officially a circus. Favre wishy-washiest player in memory, Vikes his enablers. This is ridiculous."
That afternoon, King wrote the same thing on SI.com: "Favre's the wishy-washiest player in memory —- and the Vikings are his enablers. It's ridiculous."
MMQB Mail: Vikings make mistake with Favre
"I'm sure I'll regret my decision down the road.''
--Brett Favre, to me, on July 28.
Down the road? That's a pretty short road. More like a driveway.
---
"I'm leaving an incredible opportunity on the table, and that opportunity is not coming back.''
--Favre, July 28.
Yes it is.
---
You would think I think this Brett Favre-to-Minnesota story is great, but I don't. I think it's wrong. I think it's a circus. And I think Minnesota coach Brad Childress is making a mistake.
If I were Childress, I'd have waited until Sage Rosenfels struggled -- if he struggled -- and then made the call to Favre. By doing it now, Childress loses Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson; how can they ever trust anything he says now? I'm sure both are furious, and Rosenfels, particularly, is crushed. And the way Favre talked to me three weeks ago, there's a chance he won't last the season and Childress will have to turn to one of his angry quarterbacks.
What Favre told me late last month he wasn't coming back because he felt totally beat after some hard summer workouts, how could he think he'd have enough stamina to make it through a season? He simply didn't think he'd be able to handle the physical rigors of the season. "I just didn't think my body would hold up the way it had in the past,'' he said.
The perfect scenario would have been for the Vikings to see if Rosenfels or Jackson played well enough through a piece-of-cake early schedule (at Cleveland, at Detroit, San Francisco), and if the position was an Achilles heel, then reach out to Favre to see if he was interested. By doing it now, Childress tells his team he doesn't trust Rosenfels or Jackson. That could come back to haunt him if Favre's body breaks down.
Childress has looked like a desperate man throughout this melodrama. He made it known internally that Favre had to do at least some work in the offseason program or the veteran mini-camp to be considered. Favre never showed. Then he had to come by the start of camp. Favre didn't come, opting for his third false retirement in 17 months. Now the Vikings let him come back after the team has gone through training camp. Favre's the wishy-washiest player in memory -- and the Vikings are his enablers. It's ridiculous.
"I'm sure I'll regret my decision down the road.''
--Brett Favre, to me, on July 28.
Down the road? That's a pretty short road. More like a driveway.
---
"I'm leaving an incredible opportunity on the table, and that opportunity is not coming back.''
--Favre, July 28.
Yes it is.
---
You would think I think this Brett Favre-to-Minnesota story is great, but I don't. I think it's wrong. I think it's a circus. And I think Minnesota coach Brad Childress is making a mistake.
If I were Childress, I'd have waited until Sage Rosenfels struggled -- if he struggled -- and then made the call to Favre. By doing it now, Childress loses Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson; how can they ever trust anything he says now? I'm sure both are furious, and Rosenfels, particularly, is crushed. And the way Favre talked to me three weeks ago, there's a chance he won't last the season and Childress will have to turn to one of his angry quarterbacks.
What Favre told me late last month he wasn't coming back because he felt totally beat after some hard summer workouts, how could he think he'd have enough stamina to make it through a season? He simply didn't think he'd be able to handle the physical rigors of the season. "I just didn't think my body would hold up the way it had in the past,'' he said.
The perfect scenario would have been for the Vikings to see if Rosenfels or Jackson played well enough through a piece-of-cake early schedule (at Cleveland, at Detroit, San Francisco), and if the position was an Achilles heel, then reach out to Favre to see if he was interested. By doing it now, Childress tells his team he doesn't trust Rosenfels or Jackson. That could come back to haunt him if Favre's body breaks down.
Childress has looked like a desperate man throughout this melodrama. He made it known internally that Favre had to do at least some work in the offseason program or the veteran mini-camp to be considered. Favre never showed. Then he had to come by the start of camp. Favre didn't come, opting for his third false retirement in 17 months. Now the Vikings let him come back after the team has gone through training camp. Favre's the wishy-washiest player in memory -- and the Vikings are his enablers. It's ridiculous.
We love comebacks, but Favre's return will tarnish his legacy
Two years ago, in the central Chinese city of Chongquing, the local government set out to build the world's largest bathroom.
The complex is, to delve into great understatement, a sight to behold. Flawless Egyptian façade. Soothing music played at all times. A whopping 1,000 bowls spread out over 32,290 square feet. Were he alive today, Sir John Harrington, the original inventor of the toilet, would, without question, be rendered speechless.
In other words, you want something flushed, here's the place to go.
I evoke Chongquing because, on this glorious Tuesday afternoon, Brett Favre has officially tossed his legacy down the toilet.
A dark moment, it is.
For the low, low price of a reported $12 million, Favre has officially -- and irrevocably -- morphed his reputation, going from greatest quarterback of all time to craziest sports egomaniac we've ever seen -- and that includes Michael Jordan, Will Clark, Wilt Chamberlain, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds.
Truly, it's a head-spinning thing. In America, we love comebacks. Absolutely, positively eat them up. Jordan mothballs his White Sox uniform to return to the Bulls -- we go bananas. Lance Armstrong dusts off his Huffy to give it another shot -- we're all in his corner. Heck, it doesn't even matter how ill-advised or ill-fated the returns are. Does anyone really recall Jordan as a Washington Wizard? Or Sugar Ray Leonard having his face re-sculptured by Macho Camacho? Or Jim Palmer getting lit up in spring training at 45? Come back, old friends. Feel free.
But this ... this is different. In signing with (of all teams) the Minnesota Vikings, Favre is flashing a very large, very pronounced middle finger toward Green Bay, where his most loyal fans once resided. Even with last year's sorrowful run in New York, Favre was still assured a place alongside Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, Jim Taylor among the city's all time Gods. Now, however, he is Wisconsin's own Benedict Arnold -- a cheese-hating, beer-gagging, bratwurst-regurgitating foreigner concerned more with himself than his peeps.
And for what? Yes, the Vikings are a good team. Potentially, a very good team. In Adrian Peterson they boast football's most dominant runner, and rookie receiver Percy Harvin is, by many accounts, the real deal. In what looks to be a pretty ordinary division, there's little reason to think Minnesota can't win 10 or 11 games. Maybe even reach the Super Bowl.
But, to cite that legendary poet, Derrick Coleman, "Whoop-de-damn-do." Come day's end, athletes are remembered more for who they were than what they did. Just as Jackie Robinson is, first and foremost, an integrator and Dikembe Mutombo an ambassador for human rights, Pete Rose will always be a gambler before the man with 4,256 hits; Barry Bonds will always be a cheater.
And so it is for Favre. On the day he officially dons that purple jersey, he is no longer a Green Bay Packer; no longer a man who saved the city's gridiron fortunes and made people forget Lynn Dickey and Randy Wright and David Whitehurst and Don Majkowski.
No, from this point on Brett Favre is just another egomaniacal jock with an unhealthy need for the spotlight.
He's just another quarterback.
Two years ago, in the central Chinese city of Chongquing, the local government set out to build the world's largest bathroom.
The complex is, to delve into great understatement, a sight to behold. Flawless Egyptian façade. Soothing music played at all times. A whopping 1,000 bowls spread out over 32,290 square feet. Were he alive today, Sir John Harrington, the original inventor of the toilet, would, without question, be rendered speechless.
In other words, you want something flushed, here's the place to go.
I evoke Chongquing because, on this glorious Tuesday afternoon, Brett Favre has officially tossed his legacy down the toilet.
A dark moment, it is.
For the low, low price of a reported $12 million, Favre has officially -- and irrevocably -- morphed his reputation, going from greatest quarterback of all time to craziest sports egomaniac we've ever seen -- and that includes Michael Jordan, Will Clark, Wilt Chamberlain, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds.
Truly, it's a head-spinning thing. In America, we love comebacks. Absolutely, positively eat them up. Jordan mothballs his White Sox uniform to return to the Bulls -- we go bananas. Lance Armstrong dusts off his Huffy to give it another shot -- we're all in his corner. Heck, it doesn't even matter how ill-advised or ill-fated the returns are. Does anyone really recall Jordan as a Washington Wizard? Or Sugar Ray Leonard having his face re-sculptured by Macho Camacho? Or Jim Palmer getting lit up in spring training at 45? Come back, old friends. Feel free.
But this ... this is different. In signing with (of all teams) the Minnesota Vikings, Favre is flashing a very large, very pronounced middle finger toward Green Bay, where his most loyal fans once resided. Even with last year's sorrowful run in New York, Favre was still assured a place alongside Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, Jim Taylor among the city's all time Gods. Now, however, he is Wisconsin's own Benedict Arnold -- a cheese-hating, beer-gagging, bratwurst-regurgitating foreigner concerned more with himself than his peeps.
And for what? Yes, the Vikings are a good team. Potentially, a very good team. In Adrian Peterson they boast football's most dominant runner, and rookie receiver Percy Harvin is, by many accounts, the real deal. In what looks to be a pretty ordinary division, there's little reason to think Minnesota can't win 10 or 11 games. Maybe even reach the Super Bowl.
But, to cite that legendary poet, Derrick Coleman, "Whoop-de-damn-do." Come day's end, athletes are remembered more for who they were than what they did. Just as Jackie Robinson is, first and foremost, an integrator and Dikembe Mutombo an ambassador for human rights, Pete Rose will always be a gambler before the man with 4,256 hits; Barry Bonds will always be a cheater.
And so it is for Favre. On the day he officially dons that purple jersey, he is no longer a Green Bay Packer; no longer a man who saved the city's gridiron fortunes and made people forget Lynn Dickey and Randy Wright and David Whitehurst and Don Majkowski.
No, from this point on Brett Favre is just another egomaniacal jock with an unhealthy need for the spotlight.
He's just another quarterback.
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