BF contributed nicely to his own depotheosis last night with his bizarre, fidgety, rambling interview with Greta Van Susteren on Fox. Typically calm and straightforward, Favre seemed uncomfortable, to say the least; he also did nothing whatsoever to clarify his position. As a teaser for the interview yesterday afternoon, Van Susteren's show released this Old-Man quote:
"I am guilty of retiring early and there is a reason for that. And the major issue is 'Why did he retire?' and 'He asked for a release because he doesn't want to play in Green Bay.' That's not true. And I hope people are hearing this and saying 'OK, that clears it up'."
What's ridiculous is that, upon first reading it, I assumed it came just before or just after some kind of major revelation that would have turned the tables on this whole situation. In fact, this quote itself was supposedly the thing that was supposed to make me understand his point of view. It clears up exactly nothing.
Ted Thompson and the Packers are currently winning this PR battle, and not by a little bit. If and when Thompson collects a first-round pick for Favre, he will have entirely won; the Packers will be in the exact same situation they were in three months ago, only with two first-rounders next year. The cost will have been a fracturing of the Favre/Pack relationship. This is sad, a little, but it will go away the moment TT is no longer the GM of the team. Favre will be hanging around Lambeau in 2020, and there will be a statue of him there. Hopefully he won't be playing for the Los Angeles Jaguars.
Of course if Favre goes somewhere and wins, and/or Rodgers eats it, things might be a little different.
There's a rumor out there that the Redskins are perhaps interested, although it's only a rumor. It entirely denies the irrefutable fact that Favre will be sitting at a press conference in Tampa Bay in two weeks. Also, if Favre truly does go to the Redskins, he will be inheriting what is quite possibly the shittiest receiving corp ever assembled in the history of the NFL. Tampa Bay and Minnesota are a close second and third. Oh...how funny. Those are the other teams he might play for.
Then again, Antonio Chatman once had (nearly) a 100-yard/TD game with Favre at quarterback. Something tells me that wasn't really Antonio Chatman's doing.
Also interesting is that Favre has backed himself into a corner discussing his various motivations and mixed feelings about Favregate itself. His criticisms of Ted Thompson's strategies are irrelevant, not to mention myopic. Brett: look at your receiving corps. Compare it to your receiving corps in 1996 and 1997. You are stacked, my friend. Jordy Nelson, kid. Your 4th receiver is an absolute stud. The logical thing for him to do, if he is being honest about what's happened and what he wants for next year, is to show up in training camp. He's silly if he thinks he wouldn't win the job. But I doubt he can handle that kind of situation.
Again, I keep coming back to the same thing. If, in March, Favre decided he wanted to play for a different team, this is pretty much the only way it could happen.
The clinic in passive-aggressive behavior, however, is not at all necessary.
(Unless Thoery #408 is correct.)
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