Mississippi Mud

I didn't want to write about Brett Favre, but that was before his traitorous return from retirement yesterday to play for the team I have detested since I was 13 years old. I was so relieved three weeks ago when he chose to stay retired because I wanted to hang on to some of the good feelings I still had for him. Yes, I was upset last summer when he waited until training camp to announce that he still wanted to play. I wasn't happy that he became a Jet and would retire--I thought--as one of them. But I had mostly gotten over that and thought that at least he hadn't irreparably damaged his image and legacy. He's not the first big-name quarterback to leave the team he made his career with and finish up somewhere else. I felt he would still be welcomed back to Lambeau Field for the retirement of his number, recognized by the majority of the fans for what he'd meant to the team, the town, and the state.
However, that was before yesterday's knife to the hearts of Packer fans everywhere. I believe that he wants to play for the Vikings because it's the best way to hurt the Packers and the fans--as he told Sports Illustrated--"who never really loved me." He decided before training camp started that he couldn't give 100% and called off a comeback--then ambushed us by appearing in Minnesota yesterday and signing a 2-year contract. Gotcha!! He grins, holding up his new purple jersey, talking about how he had 16 great years in Green Bay, but they've moved on and so has he. Right.
I'm not saying the Packers are blameless in all this. I don't like Ted Thompson, and we will probably never know what went on behind the scenes with the Packers' management and Brett last year. But these latest choices are all being made by #4, and if he thinks that we have forgotten his desire to "stick it" to Ted Thompson by playing for Minnesota, then he must also think we have cheese for brains.
To many he has become a laughingstock, an athlete in the twilight of his career who can't face being out of the limelight or make a decision and stick with it for more than a month. Maybe looking at 40 in two months has made him temporarily insane. Who knows?
On March 6, 2008 during his tearful retirement press conference in Green Bay, he said: "It was never about the money or fame or records...it was never about me." Maybe it was true when he said it. It isn't any more.