My Thoughts on Favre: " His Epic Won't End In Championship Glory"

To call him a drama queen is to underplay the infuriating, suffocating absurdity of it all. In truth, Brett Favre is a freak show, a pampered, self-centered, 40-year-old child who at least is acknowledging that the sports public is universally disgusted by his annual play-or-retire tease. He used to be cool and unassuming, a country boy who showed up for camp without fuss and spent every season aw-shucking his way to more tales for his folk legend.

Now? It's as if he just discovered the new media down yonder in Mississippi and wants to squeeze every agitated sigh out of our tweets, chat rooms, comments sections and talk-radio audiences.

"This is the last year of my contract,'' he said during a news conference Wednesday, though no one believes it's necessarily his last year of football, "and I'm sure a lot of people are like, 'Yes!' -- including my family.''

It isn't the fact he's returning that bothers us. It's what Favre persists in doing in the offseason, a come-and-get-me charade that plunged to insulting lows this week. Much as we love watching him play, in a incomparable career that we'll all take admiringly to our rocking chairs, Favre should have been ashamed when Minnesota Vikings management felt compelled to summon the company plane and send three veterans on a recruiting trip to his Hattiesburg spread. They all but begged him to come back -- offensive lineman Steve Hutchinson, defensive end Jared Allen and kicker Ryan Longwell, all good friends of Favre -- and as they wooed him during a Jeep ride across his property, they found a man claiming to have little interest in subjecting his aching, battered body to a 20th year of NFL torture. How interested was he in returning to the Vikings when the trio arrived Tuesday?

"About 0.2 percent,'' said Longwell, who seemed to be serious. "He's pretty at peace down there. His family is around, and he was pretty open-and-shut about it, that he was comfortable there. We had to come up with something (creative) to get him back.''

"We brought a message to him from the locker room,'' Hutchinson said. "We said, 'We're here to find out what you want to do. Everybody wants you.' We told him how much all the guys loved playing with him, and that we would love to do it again. We also told him that if he didn't want to do it, then congratulations, you deserve it. You've had an incredible career, but we've got to know one way or another."

Coach Brad Childress' instructions to the Hattiesburg warriors were simple: stay all week, if necessary, as long as they didn't "take the jet to South America.'' Turns out they didn't need more than a few hours. They discussed the issue, with Favre doing most of the talking, and when they told him to come to the Twin Cities and have fun with them -- without mentioning the concept of winning the franchise's first Super Bowl and Favre possibly going out on top -- he finally relented.

"OK, I'll do it,'' he said.

In agreeing, Favre said he put aside the horrendous pain -- physical and mental -- of losing an overtime thriller to the New Orleans Saints in the NFC championship game. He threw an interception in regulation, and, because the Saints won the coin toss and drove for a game-winning field goal, he never saw the ball again. It would have been a sad way for Favre to leave the sport, just as it would have been sad had he stayed retired after throwing a killer interception as a Green Bay Packer against the New York Giants in the NFC title game. In the end, he made the right decision. Yes, he had injury problems, including a left ankle that wasn't surgically repaired until May 21 -- hmmm, wonder why he waited so long? "There is nothing on me that's 100 percent, there wasn't anything that was 100 percent last year or the year before," Favre said. "The surgery made me a little better. I have played 309 straight games. I can't complain." In other words, he knew all along he was coming back.

"This is a very good football team -- the chances here are much greater than in other places. From that standpoint, it was always going to be [easier to return]. -- Brett Favre So why does it always have to become such an ordeal, particularly after he broke a promise not to take the entire spring and much of the summer deliberating? Why does he need the ego boost and the persuasion? Is he better than everyone else? How inconsiderate, huh? How rude was this to the Vikings, their fans and two quarterbacks, Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels, who've had their competitive chains yanked the last two summers by the man of 1,000 moods in the land of 10,000 lakes?

"As we were driving on that last drive it seemed like it was destiny -- for us," Favre explained. "I was so close, so close to getting these guys to the Super Bowl. I owe it to this organization to give it one more try.

"Much has been made about the three guys coming down. It was really about the team. Believe me, when I left New Orleans, a big part of me (wanted to retire). The fact we lost that game -- it's hard to make people understand that you play 19 years, you're fortunate to have played on a winning Super Bowl team in '96, and you think you'll be back to another. No one ever wants to talk about the physical toll in that particular game, and the mental toll is what I really had to deal with.''

But so did his teammates -- and they reported on time. Only Favre can turn a wait into a national vigil, and when he finally decides and is greeted by an embarrassing onslaught of news helicopters and, he actually acts surprised. As tight end Visanthe Shiancoe tweeted: "Helicopters acting like they are following O.J. Where is the bronco." Please. A guy who had arguably his greatest season at age 39 -- career bests in completion percentage and passer rating, with 33 TD passes, 4,202 yards and only seven interceptions -- wasn't coming back for one more title shot with a talent-loaded team?

Which isn't to say Favre's career, if this indeed is the final chapter, will end in triumph. The NFC is much better this season, with Dallas bidding to play a Super Bowl in its home stadium, the Saints still potent offensively, and teams such as Green Bay and Atlanta on the move. Favre was able to operate freely last season, when teams focused on a running game led by Adrian Peterson, but with Peterson trying to overcome fumbling issues and Chester Taylor now with the division rival Chicago Bears, the defensive emphasis will be on stopping Favre. His presence turned Sidney Rice into a Pro Bowl receiver, but Rice has a hip problem that has kept him from practicing. Then there's the injury factor. Favre continues to own the most remarkable Ironman streak in sports history, given the physical nature of football and the quarterback position in particular, but at his age, he is more vulnerable to injuries that could sideline him for extended periods. Last time his body succumbed, with a biceps issue in New York two years ago that led to poor play at season's end, he vowed never again to play hurt. That's why Jackson has the right attitude when he says, without bitterness: "I felt like if my number's called, I'll be ready and I'll continue to work hard and get better. My teammates, that's their prerogative. I can't really control that so I'm just going to do my part."


I say the Vikings fall short in the second round of the playoffs. The pressure on this team is unbearable "I think this is our do-or-die year. We got to win it this year,'' nose tackle Pat Williams said. In the meantime, Favre will wonder if he's making the right call. "I could make a case for both playing and not playing," he said. "This is a very good football team -- the chances here are much greater than in other places. From that standpoint, it was always going to be easier (to return). Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I could play as well as last year. In my 18 years previous, I never played that good, period. I was amazed. But as well as I played, by far the best in my career, it wasn't enough (for a title). It just goes to show, all phases need to be hitting at all times. I need to come back and play well, be a great leader and do all the intangible things that are more than statistics.

"And then, part of me said it was such a great year, it would be easy to say, 'Hey, I can't play any better, why even try?' The other part is, 'Guys are playing on a high level. Why don't I go back out? Why not try again? You know you have a good football team around you.' The expectations are high here, as they should be. I can't make any guarantees. I'm not here to set any records. People say, 'You can do this, do this.' I've done it all. There's nothing for me to prove.''

In fact, there is. Brett Favre's legacy has been marred by a succession of silly summer sideshows. If he wins a Super Bowl, he'll prove that it was all worth it, that he had a plan in the end. If he falls short? We'll be left with one question.

Why?