Re: MY OPINION ON THIS FIASCO
Brett wanted to play football again, which he has a right to do. People unretire everyday. My Father did it, not because of financial reasons but because he loved his line of work. You really don't know until the finality of it all hits you. You do something for your whole life and then one day it's gone and the boatload free time isn't all that great. It's not up to you, or me, to degrade a guy because he wants to do what he loves.
There's nothing wrong with wanting to play football again. Just don't expect the team you told you had "nothing left to give" then told them you wanted to come back just a few weeks after that and then tell them you changed your mind AGAIN just before going public with it saying you wanted to stay retired and then 3 months after that come back and say you want to play AGAIN to just be all gung-ho and welcome you back! The Packers, a MINIMUM of two times in March, was willing to bring Brett back on board and both of those opportunities he essentially pissed on. I agree, it's tough to leave something you've essentially done your whole life. But also have enough respect for the organization who stuck with you through your alcoholism and pain-killer addiction to stick to a decision you made on your own terms and be willing to accept the consequences of reneging on that decision.
If Brett wanted to come back, he should have been welcomed with open arms and given the chance to at least COMPETE for the starting job, just like every member of this team has to do. It has nothing to do with his status or his legacy. It has everything to do with Brett giving this team the best chance to win. I can't imagine being a player for the Packers right now. The guy that led the troops within a FG's kick of the Super Bowl is not wanted back in place of the guy who's gets hurt everytime he falls down.
So in essence, we go ahead and tell the guy we've been grooming for the past three years to take over the job that the last 4 months it was all just a bunch of BS and you'll actually have to compete for the job now because the guy who said he was hanging them up on two different occasions decided to change his mind a third time and now wants his job back. GREAT logic right there. And what has Brett been doing the past 4 months other than working out a bit, throwing footballs to high school kids, and riding his tractor on his property while the guy who has been 100% committed to this football team has been working hard in every practice and meeting getting ready for the season ahead of him. If Brett was here from day one truly committed to this football team, he probably would've been in a better position than Rodgers to lead this team. Now the team will have to reinsert a semi-rusty Favre back into the starting line-up to compete with Rodgers when both are going to need as many snaps as possible in training camp to either get back into football shape and on the same page as the offense (in Favre's case) or the reps needed to insure as best a start as possible (in Rodgers case). In essence, throwing out all the adjustments from OTAs and mini-camps that were made to suit Rodgers when those first training camp practices are meant to hit the ground running with the new game plan implemented in the Spring.
And from the general gist of things you hear from all the players, they've pretty much been fully behind Rodgers 100% since Brett "retired" in early March.
Perhaps Harris and Barnett, Collins and Driver, Moll and Grant, and so on should just practice at about half-speed, play without care, miss meetings and just plain screw off until Ted commits to quit planning for 2012 or whatever year. If you aren't going to play the best cards you have in your deck, why even have any? These guys bust thier balls everyday to win games now, not plan for 5 years from now. If I'm a Packers player right now, I think I would demand a release to a team who doesn't play the favorites game. Because A-rod's TT's boy, and can hide behind the "preparing for the future" guise, we just went from a Super Bowl contender to a Wildcard maybe.
Yeah, I'm sure all the players you listed are going to really jeopardize their job security by half-assing their way through camp and the regular season. :roll: And of course their's something completely wrong getting behind the guy who might be able to lead this team for many years to come. You make it sound like every NFL player just signs a one year contract and doesn't care about the future direction of the team. I think most NFL players, including those TT has brought onto this football team, realize what it takes for a new QB to get going and are willing to do what it takes to help him be as successful as possible even if it takes a bit. I don't think most of them will be going home crying if things don't go great right off the bat considering they'll probably make more in one year then either you or I will the rest of our lives.
I just hope for your sake if Brett were somehow to become the starting QB of this team again and **** off Aaron to the point of not wanting to re-sign with the team that Brett will lead us to a championship. Because anything less than that makes a Favre comeback utterly pointless because the difference between whether this team fails to make the playoffs or loses in the Super Bowl is negligible in my mind because it's one more year of Rodgers rotting on the bench and questions about his abilities to lead the team, that by most peoples logic, wouldn't be able to lead this team to a Super Bowl in 2009 because he again got no playing time due to Brett playing ahead of him in 2008 instead of taking his developmental lumps this year and being a better QB in '09 because of it.
I can't stand Ted, he is an absolute scumbag. This is reeking worse than Art Modell taking the Browns to Baltimore. It's not because he did it to Brett Favre, it's because he is short changing the fans and his own team to feed his ego. The guy on Mike and Mike said it this morning. Ted owes it to the fans and players to do whatever it takes to put the most competetive team on the field at any time, and by doing this, he's not.
:lol: at you saying an entire city losing it's NFL franchise is WORSE than a football team losing one-player. I'm sure Browns fans who had their hearts ripped out by Art would completely agree with you. Ted also owes it to the fans to put a competitive product on the field for years to come, years Brett probably won't be here for. A near-sighted, mortgage our future, type of strategy is a Mike Sherman line of thinking, and is it a wonder he's no longer around because of it?
I don't know what to think. I'm sickened by a portion of fans that I used to be so proud to be a part of and the way they have handled this. They want Brett to not come back to GB but in the same breath never want to see him in another uniform. So GB says we don't want you back and he's a ****** because he wants to play elsewhere. Why don't you tell him what he is supposed to do for the rest of his life because god forbid he wants to toss the ol' pigskin again coming off a year with 4000+ passing yards and 28 TD's. Completely disgraceful. I guess I bought into the "GB fans are the best" line of crap.
I have nothing against Brett playing football again in 2008. If he wants to play for another team, I believe he has the right to do so under the circumstances beneficial to both him and the team he has a contract with. The Packers won't cut him, but a trade seems like the best mutual compromise Brett can hope for at this point and one the team would probably oblige him with. If other fans don't want him here or to play football again, it's because they're sick of him holding this team hostage for going on 3 seasons now and they don't want him to go elsewhere to tarnish his legacy if he were to play poorly. This latest waffling is just the final straw for most of them.
How do I logically be a fan of an organization that's led by a snake with an agenda? I feel sorry for A-Rod because now the pressure of following one of the greatest QB's ever has just became multiplied by 5. I feel sorry for Brett for being Backstabbed after giving everything he had to the fans and brass. I feel sorry for the players on this team who have to play for a power monger not interested at winning unless it's on his terms. I feel sorry for fans who have that sick feeling in thier stomach like I do over this whole mess.
I'd sure like to see where Ted has gone out of his way to make Brett want to quit. The Randy Moss situation is moot at this point because the receiving corp Ted built is one of the best Brett has ever had.
Does Ted have to go down to Mississippi every off-season to kiss Brett's feet to make him come back? You'd figure a head coach staying in relatively constant contact and represents the interest of the team, would be enough to make Favre know he was wanted, but nope, Lord Favre has to have everyone in the front office express their undying devotion to him and express their wanting of him to comeback. Give me a break if a grown man can't put two and two together and see the Packers did more than enough to show they wanted him back this season. If he can't, it's his own damn fault. Not the GMs or the head coaches.
I will still be cheering them on on Sundays but the losses won't hurt near as much and in Week 2 when A-Rod goes down with a broken leg I can't say I won't crack a little bit of a smile. When I see that grey-haired fool on TV with that look of frustration on his face after the Pack drop thier 5th in a row, I will flip him the bird and hold out hope for the future.
And if a young QB, in his first year of starting, is actually able to rise up out of the Shadow of the legend he replaced and lead this team to a playoff berth when finally given the chance to show what he can do, will you still be giving that grey-haired old fool the bird? Probably because Aaron didn't take the team to the Super Bowl in his first season if they lost. :lol:
Call me "Favre Firster", Tell me how I'm not a fan, Call me a ******, Call me Dumb, Call me whatever you want because I have absolutely zero respect left for that portion of fans who are still backing the actions of Ted Thompson at the expense of Brett Favre.
And you think we're going to give respect to someone who only seems to think the next 6 months are all that matter in the grand scheme of a football organization? Sorry, but if you can't see why the front office and every Packer fan aren't exactly running up to kiss Brett's tootsies because finally after the third time of changing his mind he's finally ready to play football, then we give up.