Back in 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross introduced the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. As a long time Green Bay fan (starting with Packers teams that featured Lynn Dickey, Paul Ott Carruth, Eddie Lee Ivery and a host of other players with ridiculous-sounding games), I have firsthand experience with these five stages as I’ve dealt with Brett Favre and his annual retirement dance.
In the summer of 2008, when the news leaked that Favre was interested in unretiring, I argued that the Packers should bring him back. He was coming off a stellar season and I firmly believed that he gave Green Bay the best chance to win. At this point, I couldn’t comprehend that the Packers would choose to move on without Favre and this denial quickly turned to anger as I saw just how entrenched management was in that decision.
But I wasn’t aware of a crucial fact: Favre flirted with coming back earlier in the spring and then changed his mind when head coach Mike McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson were prepared to fly to Mississippi to discuss it. At that point, I totally understood why the Packers said ‘enough is enough’ and made the decision to cut the cord once and for all. And I understand why Favre was upset that the organization didn’t welcome him back with open arms. After all, he is one of the most iconic players ever to play in the NFL and has to have an ego to match. I figured that if he couldn’t come back and play for the Packers, then he’d make the wise decision and hang ‘em up, once and for all. This is the third stage of grief — bargaining.
Unfortunately, Favre’s anger towards the Packers quickly turned to spite as he tried to maneuver his way into either Chicago or Minnesota, the Packers’ two biggest rivals. It was obvious what was going on at the time — that Favre wanted to stick it to the Packers, specifically Ted Thompson, who made the final call (and was the one who drafted his successor) — and Favre confirmed this in a interview conducted a few months later. At this point, depression sunk in. I couldn’t believe that Brett Favre — my all-time favorite player and the guy that I would schedule my Sundays around — would risk the goodwill of the Packer faithful just to get revenge on those whom he believed wronged him. This spiteful behavior was just sad.
The NFL Network’s Scott Hanson is reporting that Brett Favre will continue to throw and work out, despite telling Vikings head coach Brad Childress that he wants to stay retired and not play in 2009.
You’ve got to be kidding. Favre reportedly said he’s still not totally sure about whether he’ll stay retired or try to play, even after “confirming” he’d re-re-retire to Childress and in an ESPN interview. Asked by Steve Mariucci how he’d feel about his decision on Wednesday morning, Favre replied “I’m wondering that myself.” It wouldn’t shock us one bit if Favre “gets the itch” again and tries to come back late in camp or even after the season kicks off.
If I’m Childress and Favre calls me in a week saying that he’s ready to come back, I tell him to piss off.
Brett will always be a NFL legend for what he did in Green Bay and I, as well as many other football fans, will always admire how he played the game with such passion, reckless abandon and determination. The guy was flat out fun to watch.
That said, news of him being unsure about his decision to stay retired shouldn’t surprise anyone. Favre is more indecisive than a 15-year-old girl at the mall and I wouldn’t be shocked if he changed his mind once every day until the start of the season.
He’s just flat out incapable of making a decision without changing his mind 14 times.
Judd just received a phone call from Brad Childress who said he talked to Brett Favre and that he was informed that Favre is staying retired. Childress cited the daily grind both mentally and physically as part of the reason why Favre remained retired.
“I just think it was a rare opportunity to explore a Hall of Fame quarterback who had background in the NFC and in this division,” Childress said. “He knows our system inside out … This doesn’t change anything about how I feel about our football team.”
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m shocked. I thought for sure that Brett was coming back, but ultimately I think this was the right decision. I don’t think his body would have made it through a full 16-game season and I know just the thought of him being in white and purple was enough to make most Packer fans throw up their lunch.
My first thought was to write about how Brett screwed the Vikings by putting them and their players through the ringer for the past two months. But really, what has changed? They planned on going with either Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson before all of the Favre talked spread, and now those two players will battle it out in camp. Chances are, Rosenfels and Jackson are going to put all of these behind them fairly quickly and get ready for training camp. With the season still a couple months away, Favre will be old news in Minnesota in a few weeks and the players will move on.
Then again, the season is still a couple of months away, so Favre could still change his mind…no! He wouldn’t…would he?!
Will Brett Favre play for the Vikings in 2009 or will he stay retired? In their latest ‘toon, Bang! Cartoons suggests (via Brett’s agent) that Favre take an, uh, unconventional route to becoming a legend.
If you liked that cartoon, click here to check out more Bang! Cartoons.
Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton, appearing on 790 The Zone in Atlanta, said “it’s all about” Favre when discussing the subject and also had some interesting comments about NFL owners in general. Tarkenton, a resident of the Atlanta area, didn’t need any encouragement to go after Favre and was especially critical of how the future Hall of Fame QB has treated the Packers after playing 16 seasons in Green Bay.
“I think it’s despicable. What he put the Packers through last year was not good,” said Tarkenton, who played for the Vikings from 1961-66 and again from 1972-78. ”Here’s an organization that was loyal to him for 17, 18 years, provided stability of organization, provided players. It just wasn’t about Brett Favre. In this day and time, we have glorified the Brett Favre’s of the world so much, they think it’s about them. He goes to New York and bombs. He’s 39 years old. How would you like Ray Nitschke in his last year [playing for] the Vikings, or I retire, and go play for the Packers? I kind of hope it happens, so he can fail.”
Favre did the retirement dance with Green Bay for multiple years and then ultimately got upset with the team when they decided to finally commit to Aaron Rodgers (after giving Brett at least two chances to return) last offseason. Then he wanted to be traded, so the Packers obliged. Then he retired after one year with the Jets, but now wants to play for the Vikings to burn Green Bay GM Ted Thompson. And for what?
Favre should have played in Green Bay until his arm fell off. He would have been a hero not only in Green Bay, but he would have been one of the biggest sports figures to have ever played. Instead, fans are tired of hearing about him and even a Hall of Famer is calling his actions ‘despicable.’ It’s sad in a lot of ways, because we’re talking about one of the best quarterbacks of all time, yet he has set himself up to be criticized with the way he’s acted the past couple of years.
If you’ve never seen Al Davis rap, you’re going to want to check out the latest ‘toon by the guys at Bang! Cartoon because it might be their best to date. Aside from handing Al the mic, Bang! also checks in with the Bengals as they prepare for HBO’s latest edition of “Hard Knocks” and have an update on Brett Favre and “Retirement III.”
On Monday, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported that Brett Favre would have surgery at the end of the week to repair a tear in his right biceps so that he could eventually sign with the Vikings. But ESPN.com’s Ed Werder is disputing that claim and says that Favre doesn’t want to have surgery.
Favre, however, remains focused on non-surgical options, including cortisone injections and natural movements like light throwing and bicep curls that might cause the tendon to release naturally, the source told ESPN. If the tendon releases and the pain subsides, Favre is virtually certain to play again. If he has surgery and his arm strength diminishes or the pain remains, he will remain retired, the source said.
At 39, Favre believes the less he has to do to correct the problem the better as he believes he still possesses the arm strength he had 10 years ago. The difference now is the injury is causing pain. According to the source, Favre will return to the NFL to play for the Minnesota Vikings if the tendon ruptures and it makes him pain-free. If he submits to arthroscopic surgery and it fails to resolve the problem, then Favre intends to remain retired.
Either way, Favre is losing patience, causing the source to say the shoulder problem must be overcome soon or Favre is likely to abandon his effort to play a 19th NFL season.
It’s past the point where we should question anything the St. Paul Pioneer Press reports about Favre. It’s almost becoming second hat that when they report something, it’s going to be disputed the next day by a major media outlet, although ESPN did take the bait yesterday in regards to this story, because they linked to the St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Favre-surgery report themselves.
It’s getting harder and harder to decipher whether or not Favre will play next year. One moment it looks like he’s doing everything he can to return, and the next it looks like he’ll stay retired. The key hurdle seems to be his health and whether or not he can play without having surgery. In the end, maybe he’ll throw his hands up to the situation and stay retired after all.
According to a report by the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Brett Favre is scheduled to meet with Dr. James Andrews to discuss having a procedure done to repair his torn right biceps tendon.
Surgery to release the tendon is considered routine and is expected to be performed by Andrews later this week. Rehabilitation for Favre would be six to eight weeks.
If it goes well, Farve, who will turn 40 in October, is expected to sign with the Minnesota Vikings.
Favre missed a scheduled appointment with Andrews last week.
The torn biceps tendon is one of several sources of pain in Favre’s shoulder, but could be the most correctable. If cutting the biceps tendon doesn’t eliminate the pain, Favre would have to consider whether other more complex surgical procedures are worth undergoing. That could hinder chances of him signing with the Vikings.
The St. Pioneer Press has been hit and miss with its Favre coverage so far, but ESPN.com cited the same story so there might be some truth to this.
What’ll be interesting to see is if Favre does have the surgery, will the Vikings sign him before they see him throw? That would be a ridiculous notion, but maybe they already have an agreement in place that if he has successful surgery, they’ll sign him no matter what. I would have to imagine that the Vikings would want their doctors to check him out before they sign him, but who knows. Favre seems hell bent on playing and if the Vikings are hell bent on signing him, then there might be nothing stopping him from donning purple and white next season.
According to a report by ESPN.com, Brett Favre consulted Dr. James Andrews, a highly respected doctor among athletes, on what kind of exercises would help strengthen his biceps injury so he wouldn’t have to go under the knife.
The development further indicates Favre’s willingness to consider coming out of retirement to sign with the Minnesota Vikings, particularly if there is a non-surgical solution to his damaged shoulder.
The source said Andrews and Favre experimented with one of several exercises that could accelerate the process of the tendon releasing on its own. During an interview with ESPN in February, Favre mentioned that he had a partially torn biceps tendon in his left shoulder during his Green Bay Packers career and that the pain subsided once it completely tore naturally.
If that fails to produce the desired results, it remains uncertain whether Favre would endure even arthroscopic surgery to prolong his career to a 19th season. A source close to Favre described that as an option but a projected 3-6 week rehabilitation is unappealing to the quarterback, who will apparently require no therapy if the tendon can be forced to tear through the exercise regimen.
This report doesn’t necessarily mean that Favre intends on playing again next season, but it sure as hell looks like he’s trying to do everything in his power in order to come back. (And I do mean everything seeing as how he has been working out with a high school team to stay in shape.)
“Certainly a player of Brett Favre’s (credentials), a Hall of Fame quarterback, with the competitive he has, that is a player that we would have interest as we would have other players,” Wilf said. “But, again, its process of evaluation and a variety of factors that go into it and that has to play itself out and I defer to our coach and our personnel people to really evaluate those issues.”
Wilf said he and the ownership group entrusted such decisions to head coach Brad Childress and player personnel vice president Rick Spielman and their respective staffs.
Asked directly if anyone from the organization has met with Favre in the last week, Wilf said, “I’m not aware of any meeting.
“But, the fact is, like I say, any football personnel matters, medical matters ,those types of issues, are really issues that we don’t typically discuss publicly,” Wilf said. “. And I hope the fans and the media can appreciate that. Because that’s the right way, we feel, to get the best product on the field and get our ultimate goal of a Super Bowl championship.”
Since ESPN reported last Tuesday that Childress was planning to meet with Favre, the Vikings have been mum on the matter, which has become the central NFL story in a usually quiet period of the offseason.
The Vikings don’t need to rush into any decision regarding Favre because they seem to be the only team competing for his services. By all accounts, Favre only wants to play for the Vikings, which means the team can take its time analyzing his health and whether or not pursuing him is the right move for the 2009 season. (Any consideration past 2009 wouldn’t be worth discussing since Favre changes his mind more than a 16-year old girl in possession of her father’s credit card while at the mall.)
