Brett Favre vs. Green Bay

The Brett Favre saga has been carried on long enough for me to get irritated enough to end my pseudo retirement from SPS and add to the perplexity.

First, I think Brett has dug his own grave here and needs to dig his way out of it. The Pack hold him by the balls. They can choose not to release him and even not to play him. Brett has no options but to accept the consequences of his retirement. His only play is to head to training camp and hope Aaron Rodgers slips up enough to force Brett on the field (and Aaron may have to slip pretty far as Ted Thompson has a massive man crush on him). Brett will have to swallow his pride and take his secondary role on the chin.

If Brett does this I think he’ll end up on the field again. Rodgers will not be able to handle the pressure of hearing the “We want Brett!” chants at Lambeau, knowing each incompletion could be his last in his first season starting in the NFL (which seems daunting enough for most quarterbacks, just ask Alex Smith, the quarterback taken ahead of Rodgers in the ’05 draft).

In this situation, it is difficult to see who is to blame. It seems there is enough to pass around between the two parties. When I take a look at this silly drama between Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers, I cannot help but see the strikingly similarities to a pre-teen relationship.

BF: I’m breaking up with you.

GB: No please don’t, we’ll keep you on the roster.

BF (a month later): I want you back

GB: OK!

BF: Not really.

GB: Fine! I have a new boyfriend anyways, Aaron.

BF (realizing his “hard-to-get” ploy has not worked): I want to get back together.

GB: I’m on vacation.

BF: I don’t want to talk to you anymore!

GB: We can be just friends, but that’s it.

In this situation, typically a breakup ensues. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll see how much Brett really loves Green Bay.