Friday, October 02, 2009

Anything goin' on this week...hmm???

It must be an uneventful week. Haven't made a post. Not much goin' on, I guess.

What's that? The Packers are playing the ViQueens on Monday? And their quarterback is...who? Nah...he retired two years ago! Wait, he unretired. But then he retired again, right? But now you say he's playing again. And for the ViQueens? Get outta town! What? Oh, that's what Brett did.

Yes, Packer fans, we are -- each and every one of us -- now part of Ol' #4's Felliniesque life story. No, change that. As surreal as Fellini's films may be, I think Kafkaesque would be a more suitable definition of our joy ride with Mr. Favre over the last few years. While I'm reluctant to use Wikipedia as a reliable reference source for, say, financial advice and medical diagnosis, for definitions of terms such as Kafkaesque, it's good enough (especially when it references other sources): "marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity" and "marked by surreal distortion and often a sense of impending danger". But if you still prefer the tried and true Merriam-Webster, here's that definition: "having a nightmarishly complex, bizarre, or illogical quality." Yep...seems to describe what has been. And, what we will see Monday night.

But perhaps one of the more bizarre moments came during Brett's conference call yesterday with many Wisconsin-based reporters. They were asking some tough questions about which Brett apparently didn't think much about beforehand. And so some of his answers were a bit...oh...waffling. Shocking, isn't it?

For example, the revenge factor in all this. Brett said, "Never was motivated for that reason. No. That has nothing to do with it." Then one of the reporters reminded him of his comments to Sports Illustrated (si.com) last February where he said that at least part of the reason he played last season was for the purpose of "sticking it" to Packers GM Ted Thompson. That's when Brett made one of many backpedals on the day, saying, "It's human nature to feel, I didn't use the word revenge, but to prove that you still could play. To prove someone wrong, or prove a group wrong. So you can call it what you want." Okaaaaay.

But, Brett, a reporter asked, if revenge wasn't part of it and all you wanted to do was play, why didn't you just stay with the Jets? Brett then said at the end of last season he knew he had a torn right biceps tendon and he wasn't willing to have surgery to continue playing. "I knew I had an injury that would require surgery if I chose to play," he said. "And as disappointed as I was, I chose to go home and not have it and they chose to go in a different direction. That's how it evolved." OK, a reporter asked, then why did you ask to be released from your Jets contract when you retired? More to the point, why did you decide to have the surgery when it became apparent you could play for the ViQueens (remember, which he just said he didn't want to have in order to continue playing with the Jets)? An interesting response ensued (this would be at least backpedal #2 if you're counting): "None of that matters now anyway. What matters is this game Monday night, and that's all that matters. This team has welcomed me here. It's been a lot of fun, it's been a lot of work, but I'm having a good time. And that's all that matters."

As was mentioned on one of the sports talk shows afterward, that last point was probably the most critical: "...but I'm having a good time. And that's all that matters."

Yep. It's all about you, Brett, all about you.

And as much as you say it's not about revenge, you yourself admitted in February and again yesterday, it is. You want to make it just another game. But here's hoping you have one of your Brett moments...you know...where you are so jacked up and so compelled to make the big play that you overthrow your receivers and try to force passes you should have no business throwing. Let's have one of your bonehead games Monday night.

Please, Brett, you owe it to both Fellini and Kafka.

You can read more about yesterday's conference all here. You'll find the complete transcript here. And if you want to listen to the song and dance, you can hear the audio here at the Packers.com audio site (just click on the Oct. Brett Favre conference call).