Rate it!

0 votes

If the opening day of the baseball season marks the start of the American spring, you know it is summertime in the US when Brett Favre starts talking about whether to play another year in the NFL.

It has become an annual soap-opera for sports fans -- will he or won't he? Will Favre, one of the game's greatest quarterbacks and breaker of so many records, change his mind about his already announced retirement?

Asked on a Monday night television talk show whether he was going to play for the Minnesota Vikings next season, Favre launched the latest round of speculation with a "maybe".

Last year when Favre announced, not for the first time, that he was calling it quits after his 16th year with the Green Bay Packers, many commentators thought he had made the right choice.

But the rugged future Hall of Famer changed his mind and told Green Bay to wait a minute. He was too late, however, because they had found a replacement.

It was an unhappy ending to a long and successful relationship and Favre further disappointed Packers fans by heading off to the New York Jets.

The Mississippi native's sole season in the Big Apple ended in disappointment with fitness problems and the Jets failing to make the playoffs.

It was no surprise when the 39-year-old, who had faded badly through the latter stages of the campaign, decided to call it quits again. This time, there was a real feeling that, given the deterioration in his throwing arm, Favre really was hanging up his boots for good.

There were rumours of course, suggestions that after an operation on his arm he was ready to try and add to his record career touchdown passes (464) and all those other records, including most career pass completions (5,720) and most career victories as starting quarterback (169).

There was a little more than a "maybe" in Favre's comments on HBO's Joe Buck Live show on Monday.

"I am rehabbing, doing what I need to get it into shape, I have talked with the Vikings, nothing other than are you interested and vice-versa.

"I've had the procedure (operation) which they know, it's more or less about how my arm feels and then we will go from there," he said.

Favre says the only team he has talked to are the Vikings and that the Minnesota side makes a perfect fit for him given their offensive approach is so similar to that used by Green Bay.

But it all depends on his fitness.

"You can't go past the arm - if that is not up to par when the time comes then I can't play. I went through it last year and it affected me and the team. I won't do that again. That's why I did the surgery," Favre said.

"If it ever gets the point where it did before it started hurting then the biggest question mark is out of the way," he added.

The big question mark is how Favre's old fans at Green Bay will react to seeing him in the purple uniform of their most bitter rivals.

At least with the Jets Favre avoided a return to Green Bay but with the Vikings in the same NFC North he could face his old club twice in the regular season.

Favre's legacy at Green Bay has already been slightly tarnished by his year at the Jets but a move to the Vikings could leave a very bitter taste for Packers supporters.

Favre, however, said he did not see the problem, citing the precedent of Green Bay's most famous coach Vince Lombardi.

"I don't know what to tell them. Vince Lombardi went to the Washington Redskins and his name is on the NFL trophy. I don't hear too many people say, 'that damn traitor he went to Washington'."

"Time heals a lot of things. I have nothing but the highest regard for Green Bay. I mean that sincerely..the 16 years I spent there, you can't take away. I wouldn't change it for anything in the world.

"They chose to go in a different direction and that's OK. I chose to play again and that's OK...It's football. It's not life or death".

Reuters