An open letter to Brett Favre

The Game Room
1

Dear Brett,

Please. Go away. Or stay and play. Do whatever you want. But for god’s sake, shut the fuck up already. Every year, sports fans have to suffer your drama. And if you don’t hear your name for a week after the draft, you announce you need ankle surgery to play this year. What a surprise. :rolleyes: Didn’t see something like this happening. Drag out your personal situation through the summer.

Signed,
EVERYONE

OK, serious questions below:

For the rest of you, is there anyone out here that is a psychiatrist? He seems to be one of the most insecure sports figures I can even think of. I wouldn’t be surprised if, in one of those Snickers commercials, when the diva bites into a Snickers bar, Brett pops into the back seat.

Did he fall off his tractor in the past week, or trip and fracture his ankle on a walk to his favorite fishing hole? Or has his ankle been an issue since the end of last season… 5 or so months ago? Why wait until now to get it operated on? The only reason is to make himself the center of attention as much as possible for yet another summer. What does he actually get out of this, from any standpoint?

He seems to be as big a drama queen as T.O. ever was, except they are going in opposite directions. As T.O.'s career winds down, he’s been winding down his act. As Favre’s career nears the end, he continues to crank it up. What psychological need is he filling?

I have no doubt that he will return to the Vikings this year. I knew he would play last year, as did just about everyone else. No one believes him, and until he goes away for a season and no team signs him will I believe he will be done with football.

With that said, I don’t wish him any harm. I don’t care one way or the other if he plays or not. ESPN blows everything out of proportion, so I realize that media creates many issues that aren’t there. But Favre seems to bring this on himself, and he enjoys it.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but at this point, I think I’d prefer to deal with T.O. on my team than Favre. Favre is just not worth the time, and since an offense is created around a QB, I’d like to have one a bit more stable. Getting rid of a receiver is much easier, so T.O. might be a bargain at this point to take a flyer on.

OK, I’ve given Favre attention again, and I will try not to think about him until the football season rolls around. But he (and ESPN) just don’t seem to want to give me a break!

2

It’s really pretty easy to avoid the annoying Favre coverage. Just don’t partake. Skip over anything on him in print or online. Read a magazine or flip around during SportsCenter segments, just as you would during commercials (and it’s not like SportsCenter is hard up for stupid time-wasting segments with the IQ of chilled pudding). (Some) in-game broadcasters are going to slobber over him, but, again, it’s not like broadcasters are otherwise hurting for stupid, annoying things to say.

I’m telling you, being over Favre is so passé. Until it’s fashionable to be sick of people who are sick of people being sick of Favre, we should all chill out and hope he plays next year.

3

Wild-ass off-the-cuff armchair-psychologist guess…(to save time, please insert “probably” and “maybe” and “could be” at appropriate points).

He’s been playing football so long he has no concept of himself outside of the game. The idea of a Sunday morning rolling around and him not having a standing engagement somewhere is terrifying. He’s literally never conceptualized a life without football, and even though he knows intellectually that it’s time to hang it up, he gets to that line, and…can’t. He makes plans for retirement, knowing he should, knowing the time is coming that he’s going to have to, knowing that going out now on his own two feet is better than going out at someone else’s whim, but when the deadlines start to loom, he doesn’t know how to go quietly into that good night.

And since he might not even be someone who can be hired for a color commentator spot on some sports show (although if Shannon Sharpe can get a job, Goddess knows Brett should be able to), he’s facing a new life for the first time in years, and he’s freaking out. He doesn’t know how to see himself as other than “football player.”

This, of course, is the charitable possibility. Others believe that he is a narcissistic egomaniac who can’t stand the idea that he’s not in the spotlight 100% of the time, so he knows how to manipulate the news to remain front and center.

4

I don’t much like Brett Favre. I never have. And the "Will He? Won’t He?"coverage does get annoying.

But is it so hard to understand that…

  1. The guy loves the game of football ,and would LIKE to keep playing as long as he can?

  2. At his age, he’s just not sure from year to year whether his body is up to the job?

He wants to play. He’s not sure if he can still do it at a high level, or whether his body will let him. He’ll keep us posted.

5

It’s not hard to understand. However, he is facing what every other player who ever played a game in any league has faced or will face at one point in their career. This is not something that should come to a surprise to him.

I cannot think of any other player who has struggled so hard to let go. Many have had trouble, for sure, but Favre has taken it to a level that I don’t recognize. It borders on pathetic.

One thing I think his behavior HAS done is hurt his chances to be on a network, because I think he’s turned off a large percentage of his fan base (and I’m one of those people who, although not a Packer fan, did enjoy watching Favre the player.) I now have no desire to see/hear Favre after his career is over.

I heard the phrase “narcissistic egomaniac” this afternoon on the radio, so for an armchair psychiatrist, you may have hit a potential diagnosis.

6

Last year, he managed to delay signing a contract. If he’s coming back to the same team, rehabbing his ankle may have been the only excuse he could think of to skip training camp.

7

Vikings fan here. I’ve heard exactly 3 mentions of Favre since the Super Bowl. They went like this:

  1. Childress talked to Favre - no decision yet; Vikings are cool with that.
  2. Childress talked to Favre - no decision yet; Vikings are cool with that.
  3. Favre says he needs ankle surgery to get in game shape - no decision yet; Vikings are cool with that.

Hardly a torrent of Favre headlines. Get over it, OP!!!