In case you didn't know it or haven't been paying attention, this is Brett Favre's world and the rest of us just happen to live in it. He is lord and master. Everything revolves around Brett. He is the axis upon which the earth turns. He is the alpha, not to mention the omega. Not only can he pitch a football, he can walk on water as well.
At least, that's what most of an absurdly fawning media would have you believe. They've fallen all over themselves while covering Favre's tiresome saga with his longtime and now former employers, the Green Bay Packers.
They've made Favre out to be all things to all people. He's Washington, Lincoln, Churchill, Gandhi, Pasteur, Mandela and Montana, all rolled into one. It's a wonder mankind managed to survive until good ole Brett came upon the scene.
Never mind the energy crunch or other pressing issues of the day. They're insignificant when compared to what's going on with Brett. Much of the national sporting media has made Favre the focal point of their coverage for the better part of three weeks, with little let up in sight.
The Favre fascination has gone beyond mere curiosity. It's developed into a full fledged fixation. It's become a warped and sick obsession. It's almost reached the point where the press will be giving us an hour-by-hour account of what's the latest with Brett. We'll soon find out what kind of toothpaste he uses, how many times he goes to the bathroom and exactly where he scratches himself.
Some of you may laugh at such absurdity but that's where the Favre coverage is headed. It's already been ridiculously excessive and over the top. It now borders on the inane and ludicrous.
ESPN has been particularly guilty of milking the Favre soap opera at the expense of virtually everything else that's been going on in the athletic arena. In doing so, they've sacrificed lots of credibility and relevance. Even the network's own Scott Van Pelt has acknowledged a definite Favre fatigue setting in and he kidded about ESPN being the place where you'll get Favre news all day, all the time.
As Van Pelt inferred, anybody with a modicum of a brain was probably getting tired of hearing about Favre. I would venture to say that just as many people are sick of the Favre episode as are interested in finding out any new details, if there happen to be any.
What made ESPN's incessant coverage and overemphasis on this topic journalistically dishonest is that for much of the time, virtually nothing was going on. In so many regards, this was a non-story, trumped up into nothing more than hot air. Not much was happening and there was little or no movement on either the Packers' part or from the Favre camp. ESPN wasted a lot of valuable time on meaningless and idle guesswork.
Only in the past few days or so have events warranted expanded coverage of Favre's circumstance. But that didn't stop ESPN from giving us better than a fortnight of blather that, in the end, amounted to basically a pile of crap.
Another aspect about the Favre affair that troubles me is this myopic insistence that casts Brett as the white knight while vilifying those in the Packer hierarchy. In truth, it's Favre who's brought much of this on himself with his continual waffling and constant need to be stroked.
No one put a gun to Favre's head to retire. As recently as late March, the Pack, aware of Favre's tendency to vacillate and have a change of heart, afforded him a chance to return to the fold as their starter. Typically, Favre sent mixed messages before he rather half-heartedly indicated that he was done.
As a result, the team took steps to move on and prepared for life without Brett. But Favre's ego and his itch to play proved to be too strong. He started making noise about wanting to comeback which placed the Packers in an untenable position. Either they bail out on their commitment to qb Aaron Rodgers and renege on their word or they appear to stiff a legend who decides he isn't quite done. Hardly an enviable situation to be in.
Anyone that knows anything about Favre and his makeup isn't surprised by his recent actions. The guy is easier to read than a first grade primer. He possesses a profound ego and it's no secret that he craves the attention and adulation that comes with being with a high profile athlete. He may be a good ole boy but that doesn't mean he doesn't have a big ole head.
You couple his seemingly insatiable need for attention with his fervent passion for the game and it would have been more than shocking if he'd stuck by his short-lived retirement. The fact is that Favre is football addict. He needs and feeds off the adrenalin high that competing in the NFL brings. Right now, he's not equipped, either emotionally or physically, to deal with the symptoms he'd suffer if he were forced to quit his habit of being a pro quarterback. He's hooked on being a football player and clearly not ready to give that up.
Now, there's no need to apologize for feeling like that. Everyone should toil at whatever they enjoy and whatever drives them, for as long as they can. But don't jerk other people around in the process. Don't say or intimate one thing and then do another with the frequency that Favre has done. He's been the adult equivalent of the little boy who cried wolf.
One final point. In this crazy rush to document the Favre story and, for whatever reason, elevate him to almost god-like status, some serious revisionist history has been going on. All of a sudden, there are more than a few pundits and commentators spouting the nonsense that Favre is the NFL's greatest qb ever. Yeah, and Jimmy Carter was a great President.
Anyone and I don't care what their credentials are, who claims that Favre is the best of all-time doesn't know squat about football, the quarterback position or how to properly evaluate a player's historical standing. Not only is Favre not even in the ballpark when it comes to being pro football's top signal caller, you'd be hard pressed to find a spot for him in the top 5.
Granted, he's put up some impressive numbers but some of those stats are due directly to sheer longevity and not necessarily to continual stellar play. To some extent, Favre is a compiler which isn't always reflective of excellence.
Favre falls down historically because of his not infrequent propensity for awful decision making and throwing picks at the most critical and inopportune times. Though the public and the press praise him for his gun slinging mentality, it has been that very trait that has led to big-time interceptions and huge failures in the postseason when the Packers were poised to win.
It's in the playoffs, where the stakes are the highest and everything is magnified, that the best of the best come to the fore and truly shine. In this area, Favre has come up short many times.
And though Favre has certainly had his moments in the postseason, including a Super Bowl triumph, he has also frittered away golden opportunities with some boneheaded and untimely interceptions. For example, please note the NFC Championship game earlier this year versus the New York Giants when Favre telegraphed a throw that led to an overtime pick and a crushing Packer loss. And that gaffe was just one in a long list of miscues.
Blowing up in the playoffs hasn't been an isolated occurrence for Favre and for that reason alone, although there are many others, Favre can't be considered the greatest of all-time. Too often in the ultimate clutch, he gagged or made an ill-advised decision.
Is Favre a Hall-of-Famer? No doubt. Has he done some incredible and memorable things? No question. Has he become a football icon? Most certainly. But don't elevate him beyond where he belongs in the pantheon of qb greats. Surely put him in the all-time top 10 but you're stretching it to place him inside the top 5. That's rarefied air in which he just doesn't belong.
Thankfully, we've had some sort of closure with the ongoing Favre story with his recent trade. Now that Favre has taken his well limbered arm and comfy Wranglers to the New York Jets, maybe some of this Favre mania will be tamped down. But don't count on it. That's probably wishful thinking. Given the exposure that athletes receive in the Big Apple, Favre might dominate the headlines even more than he has in the past few weeks. If that's the reality, heaven help us. I'm already getting my blindfold and earplugs ready.
Or maybe I'll just decide to tune out and ignore the rest of the crap and hoopla. Like much of America, my case of Favre fatigue has gone chronic. And I don't think I can take much more.