TheLastManInAmerica

For the first time in over a decade the Green Bay Packers began training camp without Brett Favre. Asked by Packers GM Ted Thompson for “a couple days” to resolve the situation, old Number 4, the Iron Man of the NFL, agreed. What will be done in those couple days remains to be seen, but a few things are certain: 1) Favre wants to play football, 2) the Packers don’t want him to play for them but, 3) they won’t release him and 4) they won’t trade him anywhere in the division, which may be the only place he stands a chance to win. We’re looking at uncertain times for Brett but no matter how opaque the future may be, it’s clear he’s headed for an end that is not befitting of one of the greatest QBs of all time.

            It’s been this off season’s soap opera with Brett Favre once again announcing his retirement following the end of last season and then wrestling with that indecision until he finally decides he’s not quite done yet, assuming his locker to be ready and waiting for him at Lambeau Field. But having gone from the Iron Man to the “Boy Who Cried Wolf,” the Pack decided they’ve had enough of the yo-yo act and said that if Favre wished to return it would be as a backup, as they are now committed to Aaron Rodgers, the 4-year vet out of California.  Not pleased by this, the saga proceeded with Brett contacting other teams on phones owned by the Packers and asking the team to eiter trade him or release him from his contract.

            And although the Packers are not too keen on having Brett around anymore, they aren’t ready to let him go so easily. Still a dangerous threat at his old age, Green Bay most likely will not trade him to any team within the NFC North for dread of facing him twice a year. This is also the reason they won’t release him before his contract expires in 2010 as it seems the team most interested in Favre and the most interesting to Favre would be the Minnesota Vikings. This leaves few (if any) positive alternatives for Favre because, as of now, the only other teams showing genuine interest are Tamp Bay and the New York Jets, clubs that are destined for mediocre seasons at best.

            So what to do for Favre? It seems he’s painted himself into a corner through his own indecisiveness. Had he not decided to retire or made up his mind to return in March when the Pack was still offering him his rightful spot, everything would be fine. Instead, he’s faced with unglamorous prospects any way he turns. He could come back to Green Bay and ride the pine behind Rodgers and in the process forfeit his record of 253 consecutive regular season games started, an idea that could cause the whole town of Green Bay to form a lynch on the hunt for Packers Coach Mike McCarthy. He could take the trade to Tampa orNew York and finish out his days of football as a great on a team of second-rates. Or he could end them now and let that fire that has burned so bright for years smolder inside of him, knowing that he did this to himself.