No winners in Favre-Packers divorce

BY JAY MARIOTTI
Chicago Sun-Times Columnist
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/index.html
August 7, 2008

So how does a country boy from Kiln, Miss., where the "n'' is silent and the Confederate flag hangs in the local bars, wind up in New York City with the secondary NFL franchise? That's easy. One absurdity begets another.

If the Packers were so maniacally insistent on mistreating and ultimately dumping Brett Favre, it stands to reason that his next team would be one drunkenly serenaded as the "J-E-T-S! Jets! Jets! Jets!'' This is one of sports's most non-descript organizations, a team that hasn't done boo since Joe Willie Namath guaranteed a Super Bowl upset 39 years ago and damn well pulled it off. What are the Jets best known for lately? Oh, some of their fans have a halftime ritual where they pack the spiral ramps of Gate D at Giants Stadium -- yes, they have to borrow the field of the bigger team in town -- and encourage women to lift their shirts.

Welcome to the afterworld, Brett. Maybe you should have stayed retired.

CLEVELAND, OH - AUGUST 7: Brett Favre holds up his New York Jets jersey alongside Chairman and CEO Woody Johnson (L) and Executive Vice President/General Manager Mike Tannenbaum (R) during a press conference on August 7, 2008 in Cleveland, Ohio. The press conference was held prior to a preseason game against the Cleveland Browns. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)


At least the debacle has ended, the ridiculous thought that a legend could wear a ballcap, hold a clipboard and have his 275-consecutive-starts streak snapped by raw Aaron Rodgers. At least we'll continue to watch him roll out, improvise, shake, jive and somehow find a receiver 40 yards downfield with an arm that still has zip. But for all the millions spent in the offseason by owner Woody Johnson, the Jets will have difficulty making the playoffs in the more difficult AFC, much less reach a Super Bowl as Favre could have done in Green Bay. And seeing him fall short with a mediocre team would be an even bigger shame, knowing what he has meant to football, knowing his folk-hero status in a nation that doesn't trust a lot of star athletes these days.

Sure, Favre's image took a hit during his diva-like final days in Wisconsin. Outperforming Rodgers and making the playoffs would melt the ice and give him a happier ending, but realistically, he stands to go out like many icons who finish careers in odd places. How did it work out for Michael Jordan in Washington? Wayne Gretzky during his multi-city U.S. tour? Willie Mays with the Mets? Joe Montana in Kansas City? The original-city experience never can be replicated, and in the end, the legend's legacy is smudged a bit.

Shame on the Packers for smearing him, not granting an olive branch and remaining stubborn when he briefly returned to camp the other day. If they can't realize Favre gives them a decidedly better shot to win than Rodgers, then they don't deserve him. "The players want resolution, they want what everybody wants,'' said coach Mike McCarthy, passing off he Favre saga as a locker-room issue when management prolonged the drama. "To come out here every day and talk about somebody that is not here and then shows up, it's gone on too long, and understandably so. They want to play football.
"The train has left the station, whatever analogy you want.''

Actually, the icon has left the Packers with a weaker football team. But then, the icon also has left for a weaker football team. There are no winners here, just a sad realization that even the great Favre -- who symbolized the Packers like few athletes have symbolized a franchise -- is vulnerable to front-office political games. In the end, the Packers won the staredown, but they did so without explaining why they led Favre to believe he'd be able to compete for the starting quarterback job. All they were doing Monday was setting him up for a boot out the door.

"They wanted to know if I'm committed, but I want to know if they're 100 percent committed,'' Favre told ESPN. "The problem is that there's been a lot of damage done and I can't forget it. Stuff has been said, stories planted, that just aren't true. Can I get over all that? I doubt it."

So one of football's most colorful figures and wonderful performers, a man coming off one of his better seasons and an NFC title game berth, is leaving the little town where he had become the perfect fit. Does he have any idea what awaits him in New York if he and the Jets stumble? If he plays at least 80 percent of the game snaps, the Jets will receive a first-round pick; if he plays 50 percent or less, the pick becomes a fourth-rounder. That challenge alone will make him a riveting focus in New York sports, a conversation piece to rival the Super Bowl champion Giants and their quarterback, Eli Manning.

Anyone in Green Bay -- and Chicago -- who is concerned Favre will be traded can relax. According to the NFL Network, a clause requires the Jets to send a whopping three No. 1 picks to the Packers if Favre were traded to the Minnesota Vikings. He's a Jet now, for better or worse. As for the pipedream that he might have ended up in Minnesota or Chicago, the Packers avoided those nightmare scenarios like the plague.

"Brett has had a long and storied career in Green Bay, and the Packers owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude for everything he accomplished on the field and for the impact he made in the state," the team annouced in a statement. "It is with some sadness that we make this announcement, but also with the desire for certainty that will allow us to move the team and organization forward in the most positive way possible."

To the last drop, they had to get in their digs by suggesting Favre wasn't a "positive.'' In contrast, the Jets are thrilled. "We just felt like this was an opportunity to get somebody of Brett's stature and what he's accomplished," general manager Mike Tannenbaum said. "We felt it was in the best interest of the team, and when the opportunity presented itself, we felt it was the right move for us to make and we went ahead and did it."
Not an hour after the trade became official late Wednesday night, the Jets were selling FAVRE jerseys on their web site. The number is the same, 4.
The color is the same, green.

Otherwise, this is as bizarre and surreal as it is stupid.