I am a Packer fan. I am a Brett Favre fan. And right now I am in Packer hell.
Unless you have been living on Mars for the last two weeks, you are probably aware that long time Packer quarterback Brett Favre announced that his retirement in March was premature, and that he wanted to play football again this year.
Thus the drama began as the Packers apparently did not want him back. They said, "Dude, we moved on", and I could certainly see their point. But by Brett's account they really pressured him to making a decision before the draft. At that time the decision was to retire, but says he is now mentally and physically ready to play. I can also see his point.
Since Brett announced that he wanted to return, Packers management have displayed an odd mixture of trying to protect the asset that Brett was to the organization, and heartily wishing he would go away. But he did not. He stuck with it and reported to training camp this week.
Brett had a meeting with Green Bay's coach and other quarterbacks, and coach McCarthy came out of it saying that Brett was not in the right mindset to play. I guess that means that Favre was messing up their plans by not agreeing to ride the clipboard as a backup to Aaron Rogers. The Packers did not want one of the best QBs of all time, and who had a wonderful season last year, to lead their team.
One of the painful things about this whole mess is watching Brett learn that while he was loyal to the team, the team was not loyal to him. I've seen this in corporate America over the last 25 years. The old idea that you are loyal to the company and the company is loyal to you is dead. The reality is that as an employee you have to look out for yourself, because the company will not. If circumstances require it, anyone can be escorted from the building at a moment's notice and without consideration for the employee. Even Brett Favre is not immune to this trend.
Last night I watched Brett stand in a press conference holding up a green jersey bearing the number "4" and his name, but it was a New York Jets jersey. It was the saddest sports-related event of my life.
Brett was traded to the Jets and with his blessing will be their starting quarterback. His new team is in a different division and will not play the Packers until 2012. I'm sure the fact that the two teams would not meet in the near future, and likely not until after Brett retires for good, was one of the factors that made this trade desirable in the eyes of Packers management.
So do I root for the Packers, whose management has shown me only bumbling idiocy, and who will be starting an untried quarterback? Do I root for Brett on his new team? Should I trade in my Packers gear and Green Bay number "4" jersey for NY Jets stuff?
In truth I will root for both Brett and the Packers. He was only part of what drew me to the Packers, so I continue will root for Green Bay. I will still wear my number "4" Packers jersey and my cheesehead. But I will also root for Brett when I watch him play. Since these two entities will probably never play against each other, I'm pretty safe there.
I always knew that one day Brett would not be leading the Packers, and that my faith in my team would be challenged as a new QB took the helm. I did not know that the ineptitude of Packers management would leave such a bad taste in my mouth. I did not know that instead of watching games from his home in Mississippi, Brett would be playing in New York wearing a frakkin' Jets jersey.
This is not the way it's supposed to be, dammit.
4 comments:
I dunno from what I reading it was far more, I am retiring, well maybe not, well I am retiring, I want to be traded, I'll maybe take a deal blah blah, blah a whole lot of hemming and hawing from Farve and he left them in the lurch and they had to do what was best for the majority of folks and not wait on him to figure out what he wanted. It was poorly handled by all agree but to put it all on the Packers organization is really unfair.
In no way did Brett leave the Packers in the lurch. He announced his intent to come back, and I have not heard him say he was re-retiring. I've heard him say he was not sure if he would play this year, but that was due to the whole trade/release situation. Brett did delay sending his formal request for reinstatement to the league, but that was at the request of the Packers GM.
Any other comments about trades, getting released, etc. would have been just speculation on Brett's part since the Packers had to make any such action happen.
I totally understand that the team had prepared for life with him, and when he wanted to return it made things difficult. He was willing to try out and compete with Rogers for the starting job, but the Packers didn't want to go there. Probably because they knew he would win the position.
My problem with how management handled this is not that they traded him, but that they were two-faced about the whole situation. They would pretend to be concerned about his legecy, but then want him to be 2nd string. They told him he would be welcome at camp, then tell him he doesn't have the right mindset to play when he gets there. They played on his sympathies to keep him away. They fabricated stories about Brett contacting the Vikings on a Packers-provided phone.
Brett was pretty clear. He wanted to play. But he wasn't going to be 2nd string without at least trying out for the starting spot first. When it became clear that he would not be able to play at GB, he asked for his release. Instead he got the trade, and he seems happy. I hope it works out for him, unless he meets the Packers in the Super Bowl.
I hope this helps clarify my thoughts on this matter.
He was asked to be traded before he even came to practice so I am not convinced he came in committed to play.
I have been seeing this the last few months from now both coasts and from people seem to generally think Farve was as much responsible as management. If not more.
As for the fabrication of the Vikings rumour, where did you get that, I am curious. Old political scientist in me, whenever I see statements like that I want to see documentation or I tend to be skeptical.
Funny thing is polling numbers of people in Wisconsin before Farve came to camp.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=780248
It seems to support the perception among people didn't think Farve was being fair.
In the end neither of us were in those rooms so where the truth lies is mostly speculation. ;-)
My first reaction at hearing that Brett wanted to un-retire was "Oh, no." I thought it was unfair to the organization and to the fans to have to switch gears at this late date.
One of my biggest fears is that he would do something like this and keep playing beyond his years like Jerry Rice did. Whether he will remains to be seen. After his performance last year, I believe he still has some good football in him. Based on the polls you mention, maybe most other fans disagree.
The whole flap about Favre allegedly talking to the Vikings on a Packer issued cell phone was reported on ESPN. It was referenced in the link below.
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3502994
The Packers did not refute this rumor as incorrect even though it appears they've issued cell phones to no one. Instead they filed a complaint with NFL Security that the Vikings were tampering with Brett. The next link contains the NFL's announcing that no tampering took place.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nfl&id=3519050
While the rumor has not been specifically linked to Packer management, I can read between the lines. In this case I think they rolled the dice hoping to get lucky and failed.
I agree that we are just speculating, and I'm sure things went on that were not reported in the media. Maybe in 10 years or so we'll get the complete story. :-)
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