I Wanna Puke

Did I miss something here? I know Brett Favre is one of the most loved athletes in football history, but someone, for the love of god, tell me why this story is so all pervasive in the sports landscape? I mean my goodness, you would think that Favre invented football or something (all he did was decided to end his self imposed retirement by signing a 2-year deal with the Vikings).

I don’t like Brett Favre.

I don’t like his ‘it’s all about me’ attitude, or the fact that you simply CANNOT trust a word out of his mouth as he clearly has no idea what he is doing as one day he is retired, the next day he is unsure, and the next days he is playing. Honestly, how could his wife, friends or teammates trust anything he says? When he finally decides to end his football career, who knows he might play until he’s 45, he should either (a) become a spy where lying is prized, (b) become an actor (we know he can cry on cue even when he isn’t certain that he is speaking the truth), or (c) maybe he could become a politician because we all know how those men and women break out into hives when they tell the truth.

Really, I can’t be the only one about to vomit every time I hear his name mentioned, can I? Of course, that didn’t stop Favre-center (Brian Kenny even used the term at one point), I mean Sportscenter, from spending, literally, the first 38 minutes of the show talking about Favre. That’s right, Sportscenter, reportedly a show about SPORTS, spent the first two-thirds of their hour talking about Favre. We got a full two minutes on the Nationals signing of Stephen Strasburg at that point, but right after that we were back to all Favre, all the time. Maybe we can get an All-Favre TV station? I don’t know what’s a bigger shock to me, that Sportscenter was completely dedicated to Favre, or that for the first time in five years it wasn’t dominated by coverage of the Yankees and Red Sox?

I know that Favre has nearly appeared in 300-consecutive games, a record unmatched in the annals of the game, but the man is 39 years old (40 in October), and that body will eventually break down (he has a minor rotator cuff tear in his shoulder in addition to the biceps that was recently operated on, though neither injury is expected to be a factor this season). In addition to that, there is this – his play suffered a massive drop off last season over the final four games of the season when he completed less than 57 percent of his passes with two scores, eight interceptions and a sickly 53.3 QB Rating. Sure he was hurt, but that is some awful work is it not? Moreover, Favre finished 21st in the NFL in QB Rating last year (81.0), threw for fewer yards than David Garrard (3,620 to 3,472) and led the NFL with 22 interceptions. I know he has the “name,” and I know that the two guys they had under center weren’t great options (Sage Rosenfels, Tarvaris Jackson), but has anyone paused in the euphoria of the signing to realize that he simply isn’t better than about 15-18 other NFL quarterbacks at this point of his career?

I wish Favre all the best, and in truth I’m happy that he finally signed so we will be spared having to talk about him every time a Vikings QB threw an interception this season.

By Ray Flowers