Crisis Averted? » Brats & Beer

May 17, 2007
posted under: Brett Favre, Packers

Well it looks like Brett Favre will be attending this weekend’s mini camp after all. According to an article at Packersnews.com, Favre’s agent Bus Cook told ESPN that the three-time MVP “got to thinking about it and, again, he felt that getting to minicamp was just the right thing to do.” So there’ll be no standoff between the Packers front office and its franchise quarterback, no $24,000 fine, no $200,000 penalty. I guess that means crisis averted, right? Maybe.

Looking out at Packer Nation, at least the blogging segment of the population, I see some disconcerting signs of fracture and dissent. The Oracle of Cheese, normally a hardcore Green & Gold Kool-Aid drinker, posed the question yesterday of whether or not No. 4 has become a locker room cancer. He makes some salient observations about Favre’s double standard of demanding team mentality from everyone else but now displaying the same kind of selfishness that we expect from people like Terrell Owens and Randy Moss. It’s good food for thought and it makes me worried.

I’m not so much worried about the team or the locker room dynamic. I’m pretty sure that Favre still has respect from everyone on the roster and a good speech or two, maybe a mea culpa to the media and the team, will be enough to keep the chemistry alive. What worries me though are the fans: Will they sour on Favre here in the waning moments of his career? I hope not; Favre has been too special a player for Green Bay to let this ruin what has otherwise been a great legacy.

Of course, it doesn’t help that Favre and the Packers are taking pot shots from second rate hacks like Jemele Hill on ESPN.com. Who are you and how did you earn the right to try and knock down a first ballot Hall of Fame player? If Page 2 wanted to do a hatchet job on Favre there are a hundred bloggers out there who could have done a better job than you.

But if you’ve had enough of this teeth gnashing and hand wringing, check out The Onion for a hilarious piece on Brett Favre demanding a trade — to the 1996 Packers.