Hello internet! As the dust has settled and the Super Bowl teams are set, I'd like to reflect upon just how vindicated I felt watching the Vikings lose on Sunday. For many people, Brett Favre getting one last shot at the Super Bowl was a great story; Shunned by his former team, he got revenge on the people who screwed him and said he wasn't good enough, and now he would take their most hated rivals to the Super Bowl and go out a legend. Finally, the poor, suffering fans of Minnesota would be champions and they would never let anyone call them loser again. There's just one problem. Brett Favre and the Vikings are not really the heroes in this scenario.
Let us go back two years; Brett had just cost the Packers another shot at the Super Bowl by throwing an interception on overtime that he didn't need to throw. Then he retired, Packer nation was very sad, but happy for all the good times. It seemed like a good time for him to go. He'd spent the last 3 seasons toying around with the idea, so it was also a relief for fans to know that Brett was definitely done. Now we could remember when and start working on a bronze statue of him to put outside Lambeau Field. At this point, Brett was still thought to be a stand up guy, honest and loyal. We ignored little warning signs like his addiction to pain pills because he was just doing it to be able to play on Sunday and help the team win. We understood that.
Then things got a little fishy. Since Brett had retired, the entire state and half the country engaged in trying to sum up the legacy of the great Brett Favre, the iron man with all the records. In a movie, the story ends here. But the problem with sports is that these wonderful storylines almost never play out. After the Packers drafted two quarterbacks and started making plans without Brett, he then decides he might want to come back and play again. This is where some people say,"after all he did for you wouldn't you let him back" Actually no. What we have is a Jay Leno / Conan O'Brien situation. Brett is Jay wanting to come back and take his replacements job because he misses the power and doesn't realize his time there is done. Aaron Rodgers is Conan, the guy waiting in the wings for his shot. The difference is, Green Bay decided, wisely, that the Packers are a multi-million dollar (if not billion dollar, I don't have my charts in front of me) business and it's not wise to give control to one employee. They said, "Sorry Brett, we can't turn the ship around, after all, YOU TOLD US ALL TO GO ON WITH OUT YOU, and idiots we are, we took you at your word. Now this is where the Vikings come into play, allegedly (but also, actually) calling Brett and telling him to come get traded to the Vikings. Like Iago to Othello, they convinced an already flawed man to commit a heinous act.
There are certain unspoken rules in football, and one of them is this, "if you are a hall of fame, face of your franchise legend, thou shalt not play for the rival team. Fran Tarkenton didn't play for the Packers, Bart Starr didn't play for the Bears, Mike Ditka doesn't believe in the color purple (the actual color, not the award winning movie and play). I'm convinced that Brett from the day he realized that his power as a player did not include a general manager position, he became bent on revenge for a slight that never happened. He openly asked for a trade to the Vikings, then he sort of played a year at the Jets, got their coach fired (which worked out ok for them in the end) and planned his revenge. Don't tell me Brad Childress had to beg Brett to play. He had to beg Brett to openly betray the team and state that loved him. bv appearing uncertain, he got to pretend this was a hard decision, and not something 18 months in the planning. But it was an out and out betrayal of the fans who supported him and believed in him. You may think the fans aren't important, that they don't get to be a part of the team, but a football game with no fans is just a scrimage. A football team with no fans doesn't get to buy a big ol' mansion and retire at 40. The fans are the most important, and Brett lost sight of that and turned his back on them to prove a point to a GM who dared to think beyond one player and look at the long term interests of the team.
Yes, Brett proved that he could still play, yes, he beat the Packers twice, convincingly. But he still didn't get the Vikings to the Super Bowl, and he still failed his team when they needed him most, and asked him to do the least. He only needed a few yards to let Ryan Longwell kick a field goal. As a team mate, his duty to the team was to take care of the ball and let the team win. As was so often the case, Brett tried to be a team unto himself, and win for himself. He pushed too far, forgot the meaning of a team, and failed. Like the Vikings so often do, they failed as a team because they fail to play as a team. So yes, I laughed, and laughed, and laughed some more when Brett lost the game. He had given me the greatest gift a Packer fan could hope for, he once again made the Vikings lose in a hilariously painful way. so for that Brett, I thank you. For everything else over the past 2.5 years, you lost the right to be a Packer in my eyes. And you know when a partially employed, amateur blogger looks down on you, that means . . . well probably nothing, but still, what kind of loser plays for the Vikings on purpose anyway?
All I can say is well said. I hope Brenadict Favrnold gets into the Hall of Fame, as a Viqueen!!!!!
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