The Football Movie I Hope Is Never Made

When I count things now, I skip number 4 and just add one on at the end. My Brett Favre shirt is worn inside out and only for walking the dogs. Any newspaper stories about him get put directly beneath the litter boxes.
"Oh, she's so bitter!" you say. No, really I'm just mad at myself for thinking that loyalty exists in professional athletes. There is certainly enough bad behavior among NFL, NBA, and MLB players for anyone to realize that they often aren't deserving of the pedestals on which we place them. But as a Packer fan for nearly 40 years, I foolishy thought that we were different. Our team is from the smallest city in the league and is owned by the fans, not some rich old guy. Anyone who plays there is surrounded by the tradition, the history, and the legends. It's easy, as a fan, to get caught up in all that and think that the players feel the same way about the Packers, the town, and the legacy as we do.
I was naive to believe that Brett Favre, or any other player for that matter, feels allegiance to the team he plays for or the fans who love him. It's a job, a game, a business. Ok, I finally get that. But why does he have to look at the camera yesterday and say, "Monday night is just another game."? Come on, Brett! At least be man enough to say that "The Packers hurt me, and now is my chance to hurt them back." Do you think people would think less of you? I'd say you've already crossed that bridge, pal. It was worth it to you to come out of "retirement" twice, risk injury, destroy the good will and hero status you had in Green Bay, and maneuver to play for the team that is the Packers' biggest competition. So don't sit there and tell us this is like any other game. We fell for your heartfelt first departure from the game 18 months ago, but as we've since learned: your words are empty.
If the Vikings do make it to the Super Bowl (and lose for the fifth time) it should make him proud that they are using him just as he is using them. For revenge. For glory in the twilight of his career. But not for years of loyalty from a team and its fans. That seems pretty hollow compared to what he had in Green Bay.
Oh yeah, I forgot again. Loyalty has nothing to do with it.

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.