The unfortunate comeback of Brett Favre just settled it.
I root for a particular colored jersey, not necessarily the people wearing it.
I grew up 40 miles west of Chicago rooting for the Cubs, Bulls, Blackhawks — and Green Bay Packers. (There is a pocket of us Chicago-area sports fans who found greater appeal in Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr and Ray Scott on national television than George Halas, Jack Concannon and Irv Kupcinet on radio.)
Although by law of the press box I was forced 24 years ago to stop cheering and start impartially observing, long-buried green-and-gold-tinged nerves became agitated last week with the revelation Favre’s retirement announcement in March was a hoax.
It has put Green Bay, a magical place dubbed Titletown well before Favre arrived, in a no-win predicament.
“It sure does,” said Jerry Kramer, the former Packers guard. “If Aaron Rodgers gets dinged up and goes down early and Brett does his thing for the Bears, there’s going to be a lot of unhappy Packer fans.”
A lot, but not all. First, there’s no way the Packers allow Favre to play for the Bears. And even if Rodgers doesn’t work out, at least the Packers will be moving forward. Favre was a great player in the first half of his career and wonderful despite his imperfections in recent years. Everyone except maybe Bears fans admired the joy he exuded during competition.
But just because Favre is the greatest player in modern team history (era to era, there was never a more dominant player than Don Hutson) doesn’t mean he’s bigger than the team.
“I don’t think that’s it with Brett,” Kramer said. “This is about an old war horse wanting to go back into battle.”
However unintentional, Favre’s return pits one star player against a small-town team. No player will ever be bigger than the Packers, who have won 12 NFL titles, six since 1961. I’m not even sure apple pie, hot dogs and Chevrolet are bigger than the Packers. Lombardi, maybe.
It’s not the Packers’ fault Favre first talked seriously about retiring during the 2004 season, causing the team to select Rodgers with its first-round draft pick in 2005. The Packers didn’t ask Favre to retire in March, causing the team to not only finally seek return on its long-ago investment, but reinforce Rodgers by using two draft picks on quarterbacks Brian Brohm and Matt Flynn.
And the Packers shouldn’t have to reverse course because Favre changed his mind.
What is it about sports superstars treating retirement like high school sweethearts deal with their on-again, off-again romances? Reneging on retirement used to be an art form reserved for boxers like Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, George Foreman and Evander Holyfield.
But starting in the 1980s, retirement-revoking became chic in all athletic arenas, with Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Ryne Sandberg and even announcer Keith Jackson duping the sports world.
“The endorphins, the testosterone starts regenerating and it almost becomes addicting,” Kramer said. “What am I saying? It is addicting. You add in a stadium filled with fans and the glamour and the media — all those things that have been a part of Brett’s life for 25 years. I’m sure he got out there on his 400 acres, went around it 400 times, and decided that wasn’t going to replace what he had.”
I was at Roger Clemens’ goodbye news conference in Florida following his “farewell” appearance in Game 4 of the 2003 World Series. I tried to compose a fitting tribute for the then-certain Hall of Famer. My bad. Clemens came back for another four seasons, 101 starts and 44 wins.
Look at Clemens’ legacy now. There is something about indecision that eventually turns into a bad decision. In part because Favre will turn 39 in early October, there’s a chance this will not end well for him.
More important is what becomes of the Packers.
As someone who once preferred an aging Boyd Dowler to a young Dick Gordon, the best solution, it seems, is to let Favre play for another team, preferably in the AFC — and let Packers fans dust off their souvenir cheeseheads for another season.
