The James Campen trip, the one where he told Favre that if he simply showed up and forced the Packers hand, they would have to take him back, is becoming a real bone of contention.
According to the unaired transcript, Favre indicates that Campen had come to see him at the behest of the Packers. But Mike McCarthy indicated on Saturday that the team had asked Campen to visit Favre only “as a friend” after they heard Favre was considering coming back.
Let’s look at both quotes, shall we?
From Don Walker’s post on the JSOnline Blog yesterday, quoting an unaired part of the FOX interview:
Favre said Campen told him he was supposed to be in Hawaii vacationing with his family, but was deployed to Hattiesburg to talk to Favre.
“And I said, ‘James, what are you doing here? I mean, enough is enough.’ And he says, ‘I agree. I’d rather be in Hawaii.’
And Mike McCarthy this past Saturday:
I think he’s totally, wrongly been illustrated in this…Ted would not even talk to Campen about this. He said, ‘Hey, your personal relationship with Brett Favre is bigger than this, so don’t ever put yourself in that position.’ … James was put in a tough spot. He was put in a situation that was purely personal.
So wait, the Packers contend that Campen was visiting Favre for ‘purely personal’ reasons, but, according to Favre, Campen was made to skip at least part of a family vacation to go visit Favre once word was out that Favre was thinking about coming back? Interestingly, McCarthy indicated in the same interview that Campen would not be made available for interviews.
Shady. Reeeeeeaaaal shady…