I can honestly say that during Brett Favre’s 47 year career with the Green Bay Packers my opinions about him never went further than “he’s real good.” Being an AFC guy, I never particularly went out of my way to watch Favre torch the Panthers during the morning games on FOX. Over the past year, particularly the past few weeks, my opinions have gone from “he’s real good” to “he’s a real douchebag.”
On Favre’s interview with Greta Van Susteren yesterday, he pointed out the reasons why he feels like he’s not wanted in Green Bay.
“Favre told Van Susteren that “I worked my butt off two years ago to try to get them to sign Randy Moss,” adding that he was willing to give up salary to land the talented receiver. But Favre said Thompson denied publicly that Favre had lobbied to get Moss, which Favre said was not the case. Moss signed with the New England Patriots. In a second instance, Favre said he once tried to convince Thompson to re-sign Marco Rivera and Mike Wahle, two key linemen, but the two got away and signed elsewhere. In a third case, Favre told Van Susteren he tried to convince Thompson to interview Steve Mariucci, an old friend, for the head coaching job vacated by Mike Sherman. Favre said Thompson ended up hiring Mike McCarthy instead.” – Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about players lobbying to try and improve their team in one way or another. Favre, however, sounds like he wants to just run the Packers. Sure, he plays quarterback, but I think he also wants to play GM too. Didn’t this team make it all the way to one interception from being in the Super Bowl? Oh thats right, it was Favre who threw that pick and gave the Giants the NFC title.
This is a rewind of Junior Seau playing the Chargers like butter plays toast a few years ago. Declaring that he was ready to walk away from the game and cement his legacy only to return the following season, not welcome in San Diego, and play for the Patriots. Favre faces the same choice, moving on to play elsewhere for a team that will only be an afterthought on his legacy when he finally decides to retire (for real this time). In the meantime, however, he’s done his best to blow up any good relations that still remain with the Packers as well as fault the club for the entire saga despite going back on his word of retirement. Look Brett, when you said you were going to retire, the Packers said they were going to move on. This is on you, buddy. Don’t try and sugar coat it.
Often we look back on the steroid era as a dark period of baseball history. But there’s no denying that the one thing that made the steroid era worthwhile was the yearly Home Run Derby when 8 mammoth sluggers flexed their roid prescriptions and hit bomb after bomb after bomb. Anyone remember Sammy Sosa’s display at Turner Field when he was hitting balls to places where baseballs shouldn’t travel? How about in ‘99 when Mark McGwire and Sosa showed Ted Williams how to find the vein and pump the andro hit tape measure shots without tiring? Now, in a cleaner and more politically correct period in baseball history, we get flabby fat asses like Lance Berkman hitting a few into the upper deck and then getting exhausted by the middle of the second round.
My finger points to the format. Do we need three rounds to determine the winner? It took us three hours to find out that the guy who had the least number of home runs in the regular season amongst the competitors would be crowned the winner. If you ask me, the only worthwhile part of that three hours was the time when Josh Hamilton was in the box. The Great Hambino put on a performance that the Home Run Derby had never seen before, hitting moon shot after moon shot in the first round. 28 home runs is ridiculous. No…it’s sick. Yet after Hamilton’s first round display, he went on to hit only 7 home runs in the following two rounds. How does the guy who hits 35 home runs in the Derby lose to the guy who hits 22?
Before I jump off my soap box, I’d like to make one more suggestion. Lets not have guys in the derby who aren’t hitting bombs during the regular season. Lets learn from the NBA Dunk Contest and get the 8 guys who absolutely crush, regardless of whether or not they got picked to play in the All Star Game. Ryan Howard leads the world in home runs right now but, because of his .234 average he wasn’t invited to the Mid-Summer classic. Adam Dunn falls right behind Howard in the home run count but, like Howard, has an atrocious batting average and was left off the All Star team. Now, who the hell wouldn’t want to see Dunn and Howard slug it out in a meaningless competition to see how far each can hit a baseball. This isn’t a singles competition. I don’t want to see either guy try and hit the outfield gaps just like I don’t want to see Dunk Contest competitors try and hit a 15 foot jump shot. Until it’s fixed, the Derby is going to continue to deteriorate while ESPN attempts to fill three hours of airtime with interviews and anticlimactic endings.
