Required Reading
By Aaron Nagler on May 04, 2009 with 33 Comments
From someone named Gregg Doyel.
Money quote:
It would be hilarious if it weren't so sad, but it is sad, and my goal today is for one of you Brett Favre apologists -- just one of you -- to read everything I have to say and then, at the end, concede that you're wrong. That I'm right. That Brett Favre isn't merely another great athlete struggling with the decision all great athletes have to make, eventually, about retirement. That Brett Favre is actually a liar, a fraud, a creep who for some reason -- and I think it's a lack of intelligence, I really do -- cannot stop burning through his hard-earned goodwill any more than a chain smoker can stop burning through Camels.
Just one of you. Please. This is your come-to-Jesus moment. So come, my son. Confess that Brett Favre isn't a jeans-wearing, spiral-throwing good ol' American icon. Confess that he's a deceitful egomaniac willing to step on anyone, in any town, to get what he wants.
And what does he want? To play for the Minnesota Vikings apparently. Makes no sense to me, mind you, but that's what Favre wants. He wants to play for the one team that his fan base back in Green Bay dislikes more than any other, short of the Dallas Cowboys...It's incomprehensible, but there it is. He wants to be a Viking. He wants to take those 16 years he spent in Green Bay, winning three MVPs and one Super Bowl and hundreds of thousands of loyal fans, and flush them down a purple commode.
Read the whole thing.
Filed Under: Brett Favre
Dang. That’s some good vitriol right there.
Does anyone else understand the Vikings’ love for rummaging through the Packers’ garbage? First Longwell and Sharper, then Robert Ferguson. FERGUSON! The same one who couldn’t crack the top 5 on the Packers became their number 3 receiver. The only way he even makes their team is because he’s a former Packer. And the Vikings fans LOVE this. They are praying that they get Favre, even after seeing him fall apart as the season grew longer.
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I just don’t get it. Why do they love digging through our trash?
You know what’s worse that anger or hate? Apathy. I honestly don’t care anymore. A week ago this might have riled me up, but now, I just don’t care. I can’t wait to see Clay Matthews bearing down on whoever plays QB for the Vikings.
It’s not like Brett will know the Packers defense anymore, and now there are 2 new defensive players who never shared a locker room with the guy. Yeah, it would be painful and would amp up the Vikes-Packers rivalry, but at this point, I think the bulk of the ‘pain of betrayal’ would have worn off and all that would be left is anger and ‘let’s get him’ attitude. Frankly, Brett has it coming if he wants to play in purple. Ditto the anticipation about Matthews, Keith — the tape on him makes me smile gleefully.
WHAT!? Correct me if I am wrong, but doesnt the Fan Hate Team List go in the following order:
1) Bears
2) Vikings
3) Cowboys
AR – Hardcore traditionalists would say yes. That is certainly the order I put them in. But I know a lot of younger, modern fans have the Cowboys and Vikings at the top of the list. The Cowboys for all the times the Packers had to go down to Texas Satdium in the playoffs and lose. And the Vikings because they’re scum.
This may be a reflection of me living in NYC and being 25, but the teams I hate, in order: Dallas, Minnesota, Tampa Bay, Chicago.
Dallas caused me more angst growing up than acne did. EDIT: And there are a ton of Dallas fans in NYC, in part because of the old NFL TV rules and in part because the Cowboys were really good when I was growing up. So I had to deal with a lot of bandwagon Cowboys fans. I really hate that organization. Minnesota has been our most consistent divisional rival, and their fans are really obnoxious online. TB was another pretty serious rival when I was younger, before realignment. Plus, that was the team Sterling sustained his neck injury against, and even though I know it wasn’t intentional, I have always hated them since that moment. Chicago just hasn’t been much of a threat to me as a Packer fan. This is probably where growing up in NYC in a family of Giants’ fans comes in… a hatred for the Bears wasn’t passed on to me.
Personally it would be
1)vikings
2)bears
3)cowboys
One thing I never understand is why everyone gets so upset by the notion that Brett may come back. Is it any wonder that these guys who have never done anything else in their lives want to hang on as long as possible? Suddenly your 40 years old and you have to get a real job and get on with your life.
I know when I graduated the thought of going back instead of having to grow up was tempting. If anyone would have wanted me I would have played forever. And no one ever chanted my name in a sold out stadium.
There are only so may TV jobs available. So what do they do?
I hope Brett comes back and throws for 4000 yards and 40 touchdowns. Then loses the MVP award by 1 vote to Rodgers. Then we trouce him in the playoffs.
Let all these guys go out anyway they want. After 15 or 20 years of giving everything to help build this league they deserve it.
The Idiots to be mad at is the lazy media people who are too unimaginative to come up with any real stories so the keep going to this well. All the while they tell us how tired they are of this and he should make up his mind and never change it.
Inside though they are thankful for not having to do any work just the same stuff over and over.
Rainman, I don’t think that people are all that angry about the fact that we assume he wants to play again. It’s the way he’s gone about it. Favre has made it clear that he wanted to play for the Vikings. To many, this is about the worst form of treachery that a football player can commit. “I don’t like the way I was treated so I want to go to the team that you hate the most.” It’s just selfish.
Jayme,
Let him be selfish. For many years he gave everything he had to win games for this team. Never once did anyone think “gee Favre is just playing for the money” or “he just doesn’t look like he’s trying”. If anything there were time I thought he was trying to do too much.
We want our players to have the attitude that they would do give anything they could to win a Superbowl. When we are done with them how can we expect them to shut that off right away.
The vikings have a good squad and some coaches that Favre is friends with. If he thinks he could get a chance at winning there “Hav at er”
The Packers are done with him.
On a side note how is it on this, the greatest of all sports blogs, one dedicated to the greatest Football team ever, has a spell check that doesn’t recognize Favre or Superbowl?
Never once did anyone think . . . “he just doesn’t look like he’s trying”.
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I have thought that numerous times. Rewatch the Eagles playoff loss. He wasn’t “trying too hard” to make a play in overtime. He just threw the ball up for grabs as if he didn’t give a shit. Remember his illegal forward pass in a home playoff loss to the Vikings. He threw the ball after he was well passed the line of scrimmage to avoid taking a hard hit. **Then laughed about it on the way back to the huddle.** Just two examples, I’m sure there are many many more. But, yeah, Favre spent many seasons with the Packers “just havin’ fun out there” and not really caring about winning and losing.
Exactly what Jayme said. Almost everybody supported Brett last year playing for the Jets. I watched a lot of Jets game. But just the possibility of an ex-packer wearing purple makes my blood boil, and when it’s a guy like #4, man, thats worse than your wife cheating on you. And my list goes bears, vikings, dallas, tampa. But I kind of dislike any other franchise. I respect some, like the steelers, but I dislike them nonetheless…
…and then there was the time he took a dive for Strahan. He wasn’t “trying too hard” there, either.
Maybe you have to live in Wisconsin to fully understand the rivalry between the Bears. I live in the Dells too, so it is constantly flooded with flat lander Bear fans during the summer.. If we went 2-14, and both wins were against the Bears, I would consider it a great season. Maybe then I won’t have to listen to them all say “And what exactly is Lovie Smith’s record against the Packers? That’s what I thought!”
DDD, I think you’re being a bit harsh. I don’t have a problem with people feeling betrayed or angry with him for going to Minnesota (if he ends up there), but to retroactively criticize, I don’t see the point. I’m sure we could pick every nit from his 16 years in GB, but you could do that with every player. Fact is, the dude won 3 MVPs, a Super Bowl, only had one season under .500, and set every record imaginable (good and bad) while in GB. Case closed.
PS: Andrew in Atlanta, sorry… had to say something. But I feel like that was a pretty tempered response.
“But, yeah, Favre spent many seasons with the Packers “just havin’ fun out there” and not really caring about winning and losing.”
SO I assume that during those years I missed the Packer Fans calling him over-payed because he wasn’t giving his all. He seemed to be willing to play though pain for us. Or the huge amounts of people saying we should play the backup, and there were some good ones.
The Strahan thing was stupid and dimminishes the record, but it had no effect on the Packers winning or losing the game.
Hindsight can be used to support many arguments especially when a person is looking though rose or brown coloured glasses. I have no doubt you could find 100 other individual plays that he’s been the QB that you would question. Mine tend to be rose when it comes to our QB the last 2 decades.
The Pack was done with him, we got good value in trade for him and it was best for the team. The Jets are done with him, they didn’t get value in trade for him. If someone else thinks they see value in him great.
If you think that you were cheated by the way he played or the effort he gave then, WOW, I don’t know what to say.
DDD – When Favre threw that over-the-line pass in the Viking playoff game, I remember it was the first time ever that I thought perhaps my Favre-bashing friends had a point…
There are no more adjectives left to describe this fiasco. We are seeing the mind of a child pilot the body of a 39-year-old man.
List of Hatred:
1.) Vikings
2.) Vikings
3.) Dallas
4.) Team that loses to Vikings.
5.) Dolphins (uniforms)
I said somethnig along this line at packergeeks, but I’ll repeat it here: I think a lot of this is pure speculation with very little factual basis. ”
ZOMG!!! Favre wanted his release so he can play with the Vikes!”
The thing with Favre is, he likes the games, but he doesn’t like the stuff involved in preparing for the games. That’s understandable, because he’s a 39 year old man with a good amount of mileage on his bones. The problem is that the preparation is what makes any QB- including Brett Favre- successful.
Until I see some evidence to the contrary, I don’t believe that Favre is willing to do the work- offseason, preseason and during the season- to prepare his body and mind to play football. And if he takes a job somewhere in the league where he doesn’t have to do the prep work- well, then, he’s not a threat to do anything but lead the league in INTs again.
I have a question for all you BF haters (I was the first to wish Favre farwell when he left green bay) but despite your skills would you play NFL QB for 10 Mil this season?? I know I would. I would just tell everyone that I wanted to do it. Not sit around and keep people waiting.
No worries Keith, looks like it’s only going to get worse in the coming weeks. I’ll wait to comment (but I warn you it won’t be pretty when I do). And yes, that was a tempered response
Agree with Aaron, lots of angst about all those playoff loses to the Cowgirls. The Bears still suck, but my order would be
1. Cowboys
2. Vikings
3. Bears
Rainman: if the point is that Brett Favre has somehow “earned” the right to be an asshole because he “gave everything he had to win games for the team,” I have to disagree for the reasons stated. Favre is/was a great player, but he was always every bit as flawed as your average athelete. Those flaws include giving up on playoff games at crucial spots and putting himself above the team.
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He should be judged just like everyone else.
Hater List
1. ViQueens – Closet Packer Fans!!
2. Eagles – Come to Jersey, you will hate these bastards just as much as the Queens. They both belong on an island far far away.
3. J-E-T-S SUCK! SUCK! SUCK!
4. Cowboys – especially the 90`s cowboys teams
5. Anyone that loses to the Queens and Eagles.
NFL Hate List
1) MN – I live in MN and I got a ton of crap from the Viking fans in high school
2) Dallas – They are not ‘America’s Team’
3) Chicago – Division rivals
4) New England – Belichek annoys me.
The worst thing that happened to Favre is that Big Irv died. The second worst is Sherman handing him the keys to the franchise. The third worst thing is Bus Cook.
Hate list:
Bears
Queens
Cowboys
Broncos
Heard on the radio today that Favre texted Trent Dilfer, telling him he has no desire to play again. Mark Chmura vowed to shave his head if Brett comes back to play in’09;
he’s certain he won’t.
DDD: I am not saying that we should bow at Farve’s feet or that he doesn’t have any other flaws. I’m sure he has lots that we will never know about.
I think that with all his faults and the infuriating throws he sometimes made the good far out weighed the bad. And for those 16 years I would take him over all but 1 maybe 2 QB’s I ever saw play.
But that’s not the point I’m trying to make. Football is a the toughest sport from a business standpoint there is. The Packers got all they felt they could out of him and now that they feel they have a better option they moved on. I agree with that decision but if the team is going to do that then they have to let him do the same.
He wanted to play for a coach he was friends with and if they want him great. I’ll remember all that I enjoyed about his play much like I remember the play of Majkowski before him. I’ve stopped wearing my Favre jersey for now, but if the day comes thet he wants to come back to the fold and be a Packer, I’ll dig it out.
Don’t let your bitterness consume you.
Besides there is the possibility that he asked for his release in the hopes that he can sign a 1 day contract with the Pack to retire at Lambeau.
Rainman: If it was really about winning a championship, I would have no problem cheering for Favre, but it’s obvious to all but the few remaining holdouts that Favre actions have nothing to do with football and everything to do with petty grudges.
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There is also just a weeeee bit of revisionism on your part to suggest that the “Packers moved on” when they felt they didn’t need him anymore. The Packers moved on when Favre retired.
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In fact, Rodgers may have never even been drafted in the first place if Favre wasn’t such a drama queen threatening to retire every single off season for the previous three seasons.
I love reading this thread. It’s brought out the discontent in all of us. I especially appreciate how this has given us a chance to post our rivalry orders. Here’s mine.
1. Vikings
2. Cowboys
3. Bears
This is my own personal theory, but I think Brett just needs the money. He plays, gets worn out, retires, then goes back home and is surrounded by his leeching extended family/entourage/Bus Cook pouring piss and vinegar into his ear for three months. Then he’s back and pissed off at anyone who would mess with his livelihood. Hence, the 20 million personal services contract. Plus, switching teams constantly means new jersey sales, which he gets a big take of.
Also– (1) Bears, (2) Cowboys, (3) Vikings (too moronic and half-assed (see the HHH dome) to get that worked up over), (4) Broncos (still pissed about all their salary cap violations/holding during the 2nd Super Bowl), (5) Pats (too much success).
DDD: When the QB who should have been drafted first overall falls that far you have to draft him. TT would have taken him regardless of the QB position at the time.
As for whether they wanted him, if they had decided they would take Favre back after the unretire it would not have taken any effort to give him the reigns again. In fact it would have been the far easier thing to do, they would have avoided all of this.
The fact that they chose to stick with Rodgers, instead of the safer and easier chose of Favre shows they did not want him, and I think it was the right decision.
Even if Favre is doing this just for a chance to “get the Packers” Let him. At this point We have the better choice at QB.
I think though if you were a Veteran QB and were looking for a team that needed a QB with a reasonable shot at going to the Superbowl, the vikings would be near the top of that list. Throw in the fact that we is good friends with the QB coach and it seems to fit.
Lucky for us they have the 3rd worst head coach in the league and he couldn’t lead the ’72 Dolphin to the championship.