The Sporting Word

I believe the divide that exists between Packers fans after the Brett Favre fallout mainly exists because NOBODY can say what really happened back in the spring and summer of 2008.  Favre said he felt like he wasn’t welcomed back.  Ted Thompson said conversations about letting him back out of retirement lasted almost until the start of training camp.  Some fans believe Thompson had an agenda of wanting to play the quarterback that he himself drafted with his first ever pick.  Other fans think the team had to move on with Favre almost taking the franchise hostage by him not being able to make up his mind about playing offseason after offseason.

Someday a book will come out detailing all the events, but until then we are stuck sifting through the bits and pieces that get leaked out.

For those who watched this past Sunday’s Packers/Vikings game on television, an interesting tidbit was mentioned by color commentator Troy Aikman.  Aikman came out and said that perhaps Favre never wanted to play for the Green Bay Packers again after his tear jerking retirement press conference back in March of 2008.  To say something like that had to come with some merit.  Favre has been known to sit down with broadcast teams the night before games and have conversations lasting up to 4-hours long.  Did Favre open up a bit to Aikman Saturday night about how he really felt?  This article by former Packers financial wiz Andrew Brandt gives some excellent insight to the whole situation.

The real schism that existed involving Favre may have been with his disagreement of Thompson’s philosophy of building an NFL team.  And with that, Favre forced his way out of Titletown and into a Vikings jersey.

I came across this video, made by a former Wisconsin resident who is going to school for A/V in Los Angeles.

It is 9 minutes long, but very well put together and certainly sets the stage for Brett Favre’s return to Lambeau on Sunday. Funny to note that Favre’s Jets days were not touched at all in the build up for this, and I anticipate that season will be forgotten when looking back on his career.

Let’s hear your thoughts after watching the video, and about the game Sunday!

Just a reminder….

Tune in to News Channel 8 Saturday night for one of the busiest Highlight Zone’s of the year!

Many of our area football teams have advanced to the second level of the WIAA Playoffs. Unfortunately for fans and us alike, many of these match-ups will be putting quite a few ticks on the ole’ odometer.

Central, BRF, G-E-T, Arcadia, Bangor, De Soto, Blair-Taylor, Prairie du Chien. Houston, La Crescent, and Caledonia are all alive. Which teams do you see moving on past this weekend?

We will know a lot more about the Volleyball playoffs after tonight. We have a lot of great local stories heading into the State Cross Country Meets in Wisconsin Rapids, including Blair-Taylor making their first ever trip, and Aquinas sending the Boys and Girls for the third consecutive season.

Sparta makes its first ever trip to State in Boys Soccer, but to make it to Saturday they have to beat Fox Valley Lutheran Friday. In case you are wondering it is FVL’s first trip to State as well, and they beat the two-time defending State Champs in Div. 2 to get there.

On top of all that Viterbo’s Womens Soccer team is in action in the first round of the MCC Tournament. The Wisconson Badgers football team hosts Purdue at Camp Randall. And Larry Terry’s UW-L football team is looking to rebound after two straight losses in conference play.

In short, if you can be around a TV Saturday, don’t miss News Channel 8 at 6 & 10, for one of the biggest sports days of the year!

Oh, and I heard Brett Favre returns to Lambeau Field Sunday. I’m suprised that one hasn’t been hyped at all…

What a day to be a Packers fan on Sunday.  Green Bay defeats Cleveland 31-3, now having outscored their past two opponents by a combined score of 57-3.  When the final second ticked off the clock in Cleveland, TV network coverage switched right over to Pittsburgh as Brett Favre was in the midst of yet another comeback drive for his Vikings.  However a deflected screen pass was intercepted and returned back for a touchdown as Minnesota lost 27-17 (and even the Bears ended up losing for the perfect Packers fan trifecta).

These turn of events sets the stage for Favre vs. The Packers Part II.  This time though, Lambeau Field will play host to what I already heard billed as “the regular season game of the year” - oh the media hype sometimes.  Now I don’t think this will be the game of the year but it would be tough to find a game that means more in Week 8 of the NFL season.

A Packers win next week does many things.  First, it would force a tie atop the division in the loss column right at the midway mark of the season, a position any head coach in the league would love to be in.  For Packers fans it would mean going 1-1 against Brett Favre, something that is a lot more tolerable than getting swept by good-old #4 after all he put fans through these past two years.  And yes big wins against Detroit and Cleveland are nice, but a win against Minnesota could set the tone for the rest of the season, defeating one of the elite teams currently in the NFC.

However if Green Bay loses to Minnesota.  The Packers would fall back to what amounts to 3 games since the Vikings would hold the head-to-head tiebreaker.  And the “Favre Debate” would linger for the foreseeable future with much more of the second-guessing of how the Green Bay franchise handled the series of events through the spring and summer of 2008.

Throw in what I’m sure will be an almost playoff like atmosphere with the Favre homecoming and on second thought, we may be a witness to what could be the regular season game of the year.

We knew it was coming.

On Monday Night Countdown ESPN analyst Tom Jackson referred to the after-effect this game would have, right or wrong.  He said if the Packers won the response would be that Green Bay brass (Thompson, McCarthy) made the right choice in choosing to move on and see what the franchise had in their QB of the future.

But if the Vikings won, which they did 30-23 Monday night in fabulous Favre big-game fashion, then the Packers decision 3 years ago would be proven the wrong one.

Maybe everyone doesn’t feel this way, but the casual fan and the unflappable Favre followers will draw this conclusion based on the result of the game.

But I ask this.  What happens when you switch the two quarterbacks Monday night?  Do you really think a soon-to-be 40 year-old Favre would have fared any better against that same Minnesota team?  It would have been the same unblockable Jared Allen rushing against a rookie third-string left tackle all night causing havok.  The interior lineman, Kevin and Pat Williams, will still stuff up the middle and force more dropping back because running the ball is largely ineffective.  If anything I think the youth and mobility of Rodgers kept the Packers in a one score football game, despite never feeling that close to winning the game in the second half.

By the way Favre was not sacked once in Monday’s game.  I bet Rodgers (Sacked 8 times, pressured endless times) would have liked to have those same conditions..

Just as I have said in previous posts, I agree with the choice Ted Thompson and the Packers made in giving the ball to Aaron Rodgers.  As Mike Tirico noted on MNF, “the Packers had to make a decision to take control of their franchise back.”

All that being said I have also supported Brett Favre doing whatever he wants since Green Bay told him he would no longer be their signal-caller.  Favre saw a team with as much talent on both sides of the football as there is in the NFL.  He fits right into their offense and maybe he will ride the overwhelming percentages that say 4-0 teams almost always go on to make the playoffs.

I will not take away from the great game #4 played against his former team.  He was fantastic, and so was Minnesota’s game plan. He has now beaten every NFL team in his 19 year career.  But this game is bigger than two players no matter how sexy that storyline may be.

This is not about Brett Favre is better than Aaron Rodgers.  It’s about the Minnesota Vikings are better than the Green Bay Packers.  And even when Green Bay, the youngest team in the NFL, made a number game-changing mistakes, the final deficit was still only 7 points.

Can’t wait until November 1st at Lambeau!

As always, feel free to share your thoughts below.  Let the debate begin!!