COMMENTARY
Favre deserves another shot
Published: May 14, 2009, 12:30 am
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Reports that X-rays of his ailing shoulder have made their way to Minnesota indicate that Brett Favre is contemplating unretiring yet again. Excellent. Here’s hoping he plays until he’s 50.
Favre’s good for football. He’s good for the game because his passion is off the charts, because his enthusiasm is unrivaled, because there are so few accomplished quarterbacks taking snaps in the NFL. J. P. Losman’s still a free agent. So is Rex Grossman. But it’s the 39-year-old future Hall of Famer who has Minnesota wondering if there’s still some untapped greatness deep within.
As for the idea that Favre is washed up based on last year’s 22 touchdown-22 interception campaign with the New York Jets, everybody was saying the same thing when he went 18-18 in 2006 with Green Bay. All he did the following year was throw for 28 TDs against just 15 interceptions and lead the Pack to the NFC Championship Game. Granted, the older a player gets, the harder it becomes to summon yesterday’s magic. But who ever really knows when the point of no return is at hand?
Only Favre has a handle on whether he’s still itching to play, and he’s been silent since the Vikings recently made it known they’d love to have him. But if the Vikes have the X-rays, well, the math becomes pretty simple. They wouldn’t have been forwarded if Favre was dead set on retirement, as he insisted he was two months ago.
Chances are Favre is keeping an atypically low profile in order to avoid a media circus like last offseason, when he retired, unretired and ultimately forced his way out of Green Bay when the Pack refused to guarantee him his starting job back. It was during that time that Favre learned that openness and honesty can blow up in your face, never mind that those traits long had been two of his distinguishing qualities.
There’s a line of thought that Favre risks his legacy every time he decides to stretch his career. The popular refrain goes that if he falls flat, he’ll be remembered as the quarterback who tried to put one over on Father Time instead of as the dynamic swashbuckler of his prime. That’s nonsense. Willie Mays pushed his career past the limit yet does anyone regard him as anything less than one of baseball’s all-time greats? Muhammad Ali took a few too many punches during the twilight of his career and did that taint what he accomplished in the earlier years?
The other knock on Favre concerns the special treatment he’s apparently seeking. There are reports that he wants nothing to do with organized team activities or minicamps and questions whether he needs a full training camp. And how does this make him different from Roger Clemens, who had a sweetheart deal late in his career? His presence at the ballpark was mandated only on days he was scheduled to pitch. How does it make him any different from Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer, who sat out big chunks of the NHL season two years ago contemplating retirement before rejoining Anaheim?
Like it or not, we’re entering the mercenary era of professional sports. Star players will, with greater frequency, be dictating the terms of their employment. They’ll be picking their spots, as do Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson on the PGA Tour. Favre wouldn’t be the first seeking concessions to his age or status, and he surely won’t be the last.
But if he wants to play, if he can’t get the game out of his system, what’s the big deal?
“He loves to play the game, loves to be around the game,” Tennessee quarterback Kerry Collins told The Tennessean. “It’s hard for us all not to have it, not to be a part of it. I certainly understand his desire to play as long as he wants. And I think he’s earned the right.”
bdicesare@buffnews.com
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