Shocking, I know.
Jeffri Chadiha has a surprising column up today over at ESPN.com. (It’s surprising only in that it is on ESPN’s site but complimentary of Thompson and the Packers, a rarity these days.) I’d like to highlight something that has been bugging me the last few weeks, ever since Favre gave his interview on FOX. Chadiha, who gets most of his facts straight, makes the same blunder almost every other journalist has made in covering this story. He writes:
If this past month should’ve told us anything about Favre, it’s that we now understand why Thompson and McCarthy got fed up with the guy in the first place. Favre simply couldn’t commit to their plan, either because he didn’t feel loved enough or because Thompson wasn’t willing to sign Randy Moss, hire Steve Mariucci and kiss Favre’s ring all in the same motion.
The problem with the bolded part is that it is 100 percent incorrect. Favre never demanded Thompson hire Mooch. He simply asked Thompson to interview him. It wouldn’t be so egregious, if, two paragraphs later, Chadiha didn’t write:
I’m not making this stuff up, folks. These are actual facts that can be checked simply by clicking on Google.
Maybe Chadiha trusts Google TOO much, because he’s obviously parroting everyone else’s mistake. Time and again I have seen it written, on both sports news sites and fan blogs, that Favre demanded Thompson hire Mariucci. But the fact is, Favre asked Thompson to interview an old friend, and Thompson indicated he would. To then read shortly afterwords that McCarthy had been hired and to learn from that old friend that no interview had taken place, after being told it would, well, I can understand Favre’s frustration. And it speaks to a patter between Thompson and Favre. I can understand Thompson not wanting Favre to run the team. But then SAY SO to Favre’s face. Even now, after all the drama, after weeks of being told that miscommunication was at the heart of this whole fiasco, Thompson admitted in his press conference yesterday that he still hadn’t cleared the air with Favre in a face to face meeting. After all this? Really? That is absurd. The least the two should have done at some point is sit down, one on one, away from Favre’s camp and away from the Packers organization, and had at it, much like McCarthy and Favre did earlier this week.
Would Favre still be a Packer? Of course not, but both sides owed at least that much to each other. Not to mention it would have been the grown up thing to do. Unfortunately, Thompson seemed incapable, for whatever reason, of opening up and telling Favre exactly what he felt. And if I were Favre, a man who lays his feelings out for all to see, I would have been beyond exasperated, to say the least.
lostinutah said in August 11th, 2008 at 2:38 am
