Rest in peace Brett Favre story

First appeared on August 13th, 2008
in The Lebanon Reporter

We are gathered here to say, “Rest in peace annoying Brett Favre story that seemed as if it would never go away. May you find greener pastures and plenty of open receivers in the Meadowlands. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, the Packers owners surely hope Aaron Rogers won’t be a bust.” The story that captivated the sports world has finally ended with the legendary quarterback’s trade from Green Bay to New York.
The Packers powers that be have seemingly put all their eggs in the basket of a young, yet to be proven back up quarterback named Aaron Rogers. The man who has thrown the most touchdown passes in NFL history will, fittingly, be replaced by a man who has tossed only one.
Although the media from Kenosha to Kathmandu have already talked the story to death this is the greatest train wreck in professional sports history and, try as we may, we can’t resist the temptation to pile on. Our frustration can be summarized in five words: What was Green Bay thinking? Why would they not want one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history and the man who resurrected their franchise back?
ESPN reported recently that during the height of the standoff, Packers GM Ted Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy were greeted with a standing ovation during a Packers shareholders meeting. Now far be it from me to question the intelligence of a fan base who wear wheels of cheese on their heads and hunter orange sweatshirts to cheer their team on, but-what were Green Bay fans thinking?
Brett Favre had you one play away from the Super Bowl and finished second in league MVP voting; how could you not demand management bring him back? At the very least, how do you not let him come back to compete for the starting job? If he isn’t good enough he’ll get the message when you hand him a clipboard and ask him to keep stats for Aaron Rogers.
When it became painfully clear to everyone but Brett Favre and his agent that the Packers didn’t want him back, we found ourselves imagining how an interview with a prospective coach might go when the gun slinging hall of famer suddenly found himself tossed to the curb as if he were a nothing but an assistant equipment manager who had died all the road jerseys pink.
Prospective head coach: “So Mr. Favvv-ree…do you have any experience playing quarterback?”
Favre: “Well I have completed over 5,000 passes for 61,000 yards and 442 touchdowns, all of which are NFL records. I’m also the only 3 time MVP in NFL history too- so yeah, I’d like to think I know what I’m doing.”
So now as Favre rides gingerly into the fading sunset of consequentiality that is the Meadowlands and the Jets organization, we are all left to ponder if there isn’t another story to be found somewhere in all this. Surely there is something we don’t know buried underneath this fiasco. There must be a reason it was bungled so badly by the Packers talking heads. Someday the real story will come out, until then- we wish Aaron Rogers the best, whether he is celebrating his teams Super Bowl championship this time next year or bagging groceries at the Pick N’ Save in Sheboygan. Still we just can’t help but wonder- what was Green Bay thinking?