Favre it

At last our long national nightmare is over.

What were the chances that as I arrived in Wisconsin, Brett Favre would actually be in Cleveland? Strange huh.

I lost a lot of respect for Brett in the last month. (And to me also losing respect was ESPN's Mark Schlereth- his idiotic spew all day was disgusting.) I think Favre handled everything wrong and whether he meant to or not slapped a lot of his former teammates in the face. He retired. The Packers attempted to let him un-retire and he decided to stay retire. They based their draft and off season on him being retired. And when in July on the dawn of camp, Favre changed his mind - the Packers did the right thing. No one is bigger than the team. Not even a Hall of Famer.

A few things that really bothered me where these complaints Favre had:

Ted Thompson did not sign Randy Moss. To me that was throwing his receivers under the bus. The Packers were one play away from the Super Bowl last year and it was his poor interception in overtime cost the team. They had the players to win last year.

Ted Thompson did not interview Steve Mariucci when the head coaching job was vacant. Again he threw his coach Mike McCarthy under the bus. A man who got his team into overtime in the NFC championship last year. Everyone talks about how Favre had one of his best seasons last year. And why was that? McCarthy, for the most part, convinced Favre to pull back on some of his gunslinger antics and got him to play within the system. In 2005-2006, Favre threw 38 touchdowns but had 47 interceptions. Last season he threw 28 touchdowns and 15 picks. Some of that credit has to go to buying into film study and trusting his teammates rather than just tossing it up there.

The man is/was a great player. But I agree with Dr. Z at Sports Illustrated that in some ways Favre underachieved. I know it sounds weird but he won just one title. And he threw away chances for several more.

Most of the media danced around it but Favre was the goat in the NFC championship game. He may be the most talented quarterback of all time, certainly one of the most popular but the truth is despite his smiles and head slaps, he has never been team first. He has made selfish throw after throw over the years and that character showed the last month. Favre has always been about doing it on the field, for him to win in New York- he is going to have to work harder than he ever has in the classroom. It will be interesting to see how he handles this challenge.

During his hours and hours of discussion with Favre, McCarthy asked him if he was still committed to working hard in the film room and Farve said, "That's a good question." Yesterday McCarthy said in his press conference I asked him if he was committed to the Packers and if he had been, the discussions would have continued. And still Favre's hardcore fans, thought the team should have just handed him his job back. I don't get it. And for Farve to say yesterday that any fans who question his actions aren't hardcore Brett Farve fans after all. What an ego. He is perfect for New York. The man has the talent to make this work and if he succeeds, I will tip my cap to him. But I don't see it. And I certainly won't be cheering for him anymore.