OT: Favre is a real Prima Donna

[Garbanza]

In my opinion, Brett Favre is an over-rated, self-centered d-bag who has had the media perpetuate his image forward, when he's really a "me first" kind of guy - I hope the Packers bring him back, release the schmuck and he gets traded to the Jets for at least a first rounder. Why the Jets? I LOVE seeing their fans all in a delusional tizzy only to come crashing down hard.

 

[spacecrime]

It happenned after Holmgren left. The Packers had weak management and coaching and they let Favre become bigger than the franchise. Thompson's crime is he is the one who finally said enough is enough and relegated Lord Favre to being a member of the team.

Favre's head is bigger that Wisconsin. Funny, too, because without Desmond Howard, he'd just be another Donovan McNabb, good QB that couldn't get the job done.

If I were him, I'd take note that despite a state-wide call for a rally, only 200 fans showed up. More than 200 Pats fans showed up for a TJ Turner car dealership opening promo.

 

[Deus Irae]

There is no jealousy when it comes to Favre. As TO pointed out after the Pats/Eagles Super Bowl (he said that if Favre did what he did by coming back from a broken ankle that it would be touted as the greatest comeback ever), the media are all Favre rump swabs. You listen to guys like John Madden and Peter King talk about Favre and you would think you are listening to a schoolgirl going on about the captain of the football team that they have a crush on. The media loves Favre and have been far lighter on him than virtually any other player would in the same position.

Favre has:

fought addiction
dealt with his father's death
dealt with his wife's illness
almost always been friendly to the media
been on of the all-time great quarterbacks

It should come as no surprise that the media like Favre and look to him for good stories. This doesn't mean Favre was, in any way, wrong.

If you are talking about me specifically, I would look at the mirror.

I played until injury forced me to 'retire', before I even really got started. While not being on a level with Favre, I can understand the feelings that happen when you realize that you will no longer be playing your sport of choice. I don't need to look in the mirror. Between my personal history and talking to a lot of professional athletes about retirement, I know better than to berate the individual who makes his decision.

The Packers have one of the best WR corps in the league. Probably the second best behind the Patriots. The fact of the matter is that at this time last year, no one knew if Moss would rebound to the proportions he did and it was a risk to take him on. It was a risk that no one other than the Patriots were willing to make. You cannot blame Thompson for not trading for Moss especially when they already had a stellar receiving corp.

They didn't already have an established "one of the best WR corps in the league", and of course I can blame Thompson. Again, the likelihood is that a content Moss makes that passing offense much better. Jennings was just 24 and coming off a rookie season that showed promise but certainly didn't establish him as an All-Pro or anything of that nature, and Donald Lee had caught a whopping 10 passes the year before in 15 games.

Of course there is no right or wrong about deciding to retire. There is A LOT wrong deciding to retire and unretire and then retire and then unretire and keep your team hanging year after year keeping the team from making proper offseason moves. I would have no problem with Favre taking his time to decide to retire, but the Packers have been more than patient with the guy and the guy has abused that patience.

It's not Favre's fault that the team pressured him to decide. Furthermore, this notion that offseason moves couldn't be made because of Favre's indecision is simply contrary to the facts. They already had their future starting quarterback. There was no need to draft Brohm at all. At worst, the team might have been caught short looking for a veteran backup. Unless you want to claim that Favre's indecision led to the team losing some 3rd string veteran, your argument on this point makes no sense.

 

[Kontradiction]

The bottom line is if Favre had "the itch to still play" then he should not have "retired" in the first place. That is what he is guilty of. Can't blame the organization for moving on with Rodgers when Favre had already said his tearful goodbye.

 

[Rob0729]

Favre has:

fought addiction
dealt with his father's death
dealt with his wife's illness
almost always been friendly to the media
been on of the all-time great quarterbacks

It should come as no surprise that the media like Favre and look to him for good stories. This doesn't mean Favre was, in any way, wrong.

Doesn't mean he didn't do anything wrong either.

You obviously are biased towards the guy. I was a fan of the guy and respected him until all the BS this offseason. I am still a fan of the guy, but has lost a lot of respect for him.

I played until injury forced me to 'retire', before I even really got started. While not being on a level with Favre, I can understand the feelings that happen when you realize that you will no longer be playing your sport of choice. I don't need to look in the mirror. Between my personal history and talking to a lot of professional athletes about retirement, I know better than to berate the individual who makes his decision.

Again, this isn't about Favre's decision on to retire or not, it is how he is handling these decisions. You could have played for a decade and talked to a million professional athletes and have no more insight in this situation because no player has handled their retirement and unretirement like this. I have heard several former players blast Favre in the last few days.

They didn't already have an established "one of the best WR corps in the league", and of course I can blame Thompson. Again, the likelihood is that a content Moss makes that passing offense much better. Jennings was just 24 and coming off a rookie season that showed promise but certainly didn't establish him as an All-Pro or anything of that nature, and Donald Lee had caught a whopping 10 passes the year before in 15 games.

You blast others for trying to think about what was going on in Favre head and now are doing the same thing for Thompson. You have no idea what Thompson's plan is for the Packers. Maybe he was thinking longer term and didn't see Moss fitting into his plans and he was growing a team. The Pats were looking for the missing pieces in the passing game to contend for a title last year. The Packers may have been more concerned about 2-3 years down the road more than winning immediately. No one thought the Packers were legitimate Super Bowl contenders going into the season and Moss wouldn't have changed that perception. Hindsight is 20/20.

It's not Favre's fault that the team pressured him to decide. Furthermore, this notion that offseason moves couldn't be made because of Favre's indecision is simply contrary to the facts. They already had their future starting quarterback. There was no need to draft Brohm at all. At worst, the team might have been caught short looking for a veteran backup. Unless you want to claim that Favre's indecision led to the team losing some 3rd string veteran, your argument on this point makes no sense.

It is totally 100% Favre's fault. The Packers didn't pressure him to decide. Favre pressured himself because he promised not to drag it out like last year. By most accounts, when he changed his mind in March the Packers were ready to welcome him back with open arms.

Ok, I am done. It clear that you are letting your obvious bias for Favre cloud your judgement and relieve him of all responsibility of his actions. I think both sides have their own blame in this situation, but Favre is clearly acting like a Prima Donna right now.

 

[Deus Irae]

You obviously are biased towards the guy. I was a fan of the guy and respected him until all the BS this offseason. I am still a fan of the guy, but has lost a lot of respect for him.

I have no bias towards Favre. I've always felt that he was a great quarterback who wasn't quite as great as his billing. However, I use facts (and 'known' facts) to form an opinion rather than forming an opinion and then trying to bolster it with facts. The facts in this instance don't show Favre doing anything wrong.

Again, this isn't about Favre's decision on to retire or not, it is how he is handling these decisions. You could have played for a decade and talked to a million professional athletes and have no more insight in this situation because no player has handled their retirement and unretirement like this. I have heard several former players blast Favre in the last few days.

Let me give you one quick example: Karl Malone. How about another from that same team: John Stockton.

Marino
Strahan

I could go on, but there's really no point in doing so. You have your mind made up despite the facts.

You blast others for trying to think about what was going on in Favre head and now are doing the same thing for Thompson. You have no idea what Thompson's plan is for the Packers. Maybe he was thinking longer term and didn't see Moss fitting into his plans and he was growing a team. The Pats were looking for the missing pieces in the passing game to contend for a title last year. The Packers may have been more concerned about 2-3 years down the road more than winning immediately. No one thought the Packers were legitimate Super Bowl contenders going into the season and Moss wouldn't have changed that perception. Hindsight is 20/20.

I don't need to know what Thompson's plan for the Packers was. In context, he was wrong.

It is totally 100% Favre's fault. The Packers didn't pressure him to decide. Favre pressured himself because he promised not to drag it out like last year. By most accounts, when he changed his mind in March the Packers were ready to welcome him back with open arms.

This may be the most silly post you've ever made. Just saying that the Packers didn't pressure him to decide pretty much says it all about your position. Particularly when you follow it up with:

Ok, I am done. It clear that you are letting your obvious bias for Favre cloud your judgement and relieve him of all responsibility of his actions. I think both sides have their own blame in this situation, but Favre is clearly acting like a Prima Donna right now.

How the hell can both sides have their own blame if Favre is 100% at fault?

 

[DESERTPAT]

Sorry, didn't see the other thread. I have no problems with the moderators combining this thread with the other one.

Why are you poligizin? Kontra whatever doesn't run this board.

 

[Kontradiction]

Why are you poligizin? Kontra whatever doesn't run this board.

Oh but I do...

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Green Bay has been going public with their comments, and Favre was in a position where he felt he had to respond. Green Bay, including Thompson, has been flat-out lying. Favre just cleared up the record. If you think Brady wouldn't do that if he were in the same position, you haven't been following Tom Brady's career.

As for the "Favre good enough", you should go back and read about what happened with the Moss situation. You seem to have either forgotten how Green Bay reportedly dealt with Moss or never read about it in the first place.

I haven't heard GB do anything but respond to Brett's demands and accusations and versions of the story. Frankly, McCarthy and Thompson's time line makes more sense. In fact I even remember the rumors of a trip to Mississippi to possibly announce an unretirement.

Brett's camp are the one's who started leaking the return rumors - which he rather cavalierly denied just a week ago. The GB FO was on vacation, as were most of the league's in the pre TC lull. Teams's can't let QB's take 4 months to decide whether or not they still want to play - particularly not when the QB in question is 39 years old and due to make $12M in salary and cap this season and has been playing the retirement card on and off for the last 3-4 seasons to the point they felt compelled to draft 3 prospective QB's over the last 3 seasons. All Green Bay did was take him at his word and opt not to beg him to reconsider in perpetuity. When he signed his extension in 2001 he knew the drill - the first 6 years it would be nearly impossible for them to part with him because of dead cap, 2007 was a wash depending on his play and that of the replacement he refused to mentor, and after that it was all phony backend salary and fair game for either side to call it a wrap.

I listened to his entire BS retirement press conference - a mistake I will not make ever again. This was not a guy with a gun held to his head, this was a guy being honest with himself and everyone else FOR ONCE. He made it a point to underscore that he was not being pressured, that they told him they wanted him back, but rather he was facing the reality that playing a demanding cerebral game was never his forte and at 38 he could not envision doing it even for a little while longer. One year of that level of demand and he was toast.

The GB FO had heard the same thing from him. Shame on them for believing it was true (which is it) and moving on. BTW this is one of the reasons they were less interested in Moss than we were. Tom Brady vs. Mr. Semi retirement. Brady was desperate for this FO to keep Branch, but all you heard from him in that aftermath was how he respected the discipline of this FO to do things unemotionally in the teams best interest long term. And how hard his rag tag receiving corps worked in 2006. Tom has both his teamates and his FO's backs at all times. He tends to shoulder too much of the blame and he never points a finger in public or one that conveniently gets leaked to the public to salve his ego.

If GB had signed Randy it would absoutely have been a one year deal because last March he'd have been saying Brett's retirement was overdue... Randy was willing to take a prove it deal here. In GB he wanted his money guaranteed. Brett is just blaming his FO for the fact that Brady made NE a far more attractive organization in Randy's mind because his chances of 1 year success were far greater as were his chances of finishing his career in style.

Brett would now like everyone to believe that they lost out on a SB appearance because he didn't have Moss. Well, we did and the same NYG team stonewalled us. The only difference is GB had more opportunities in the 4th quarter and in OT to win without Moss. Only as if by fate Brett did what he will always do, what Drew would do in the same situation. Mindnumbingly threw that chance away.

 

[Rob0729]

I have no bias towards Favre. I've always felt that he was a great quarterback who wasn't quite as great as his billing. However, I use facts (and 'known' facts) to form an opinion rather than forming an opinion and then trying to bolster it with facts. The facts in this instance don't show Favre doing anything wrong.

Sure if you ignore the actual facts, I agree with you that there is no facts to support my opinion. It was my opinion that Favre announced his retirement in February. It is my opinion that Jay Glazier last week reported that Favre told the Packers in March that he was unretiring, that the Packers flew a private jet down to meet with Favre, and then Favre retired again. It is also my opinion that Favre went on record to Greta Van Susteren saying Thompson is not trustworth. Apparently, it is my opinion that the sky is blue and the earth is round too.


Now that we have gotten it straight that facts are actually my opinions, we can end the argument now can't we. Besides, maybe it is only an opinion that Moss didn't play for the Packers last year, maybe the facts are that Moss did in fact play for them.

 

[Kontradiction]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned the fact that Favre, a month ago, called speculation that he was coming out of retirement just "rumors". Well, those rumors turned out to be pretty true haven't they, Brett? And now you've created quite the circus for yourself.

 

[Rob0729]

I haven't heard GB do anything but respond to Brett's demands and accusations and versions of the story. Frankly, McCarthy and Thompson's time line makes more sense. In fact I even remember the rumors of a trip to Mississippi to possibly announce an unretirement.

Brett's camp are the one's who started leaking the return rumors - which he rather cavalierly denied just a week ago. The GB FO was on vacation, as were most of the league's in the pre TC lull. Teams's can't let QB's take 4 months to decide whether or not they still want to play - particularly not when the QB in question is 39 years old and due to make $12M in salary and cap this season and has been playing the retirement card on and off for the last 3-4 seasons to the point they felt compelled to draft 3 prospective QB's over the last 3 seasons. All Green Bay did was take him at his word and opt not to beg him to reconsider in perpetuity. When he signed his extension in 2001 he knew the drill - the first 6 years it would be nearly impossible for them to part with him because of dead cap, 2007 was a wash depending on his play and that of the replacement he refused to mentor, and after that it was all phony backend salary and fair game for either side to call it a wrap.

I listened to his entire BS retirement press conference - a mistake I will not make ever again. This was not a guy with a gun held to his head, this was a guy being honest with himself and everyone else FOR ONCE. He made it a point to underscore that he was not being pressured, that they told him they wanted him back, but rather he was facing the reality that playing a demanding cerebral game was never his forte and at 38 he could not envision doing it even for a little while longer. One year of that level of demand and he was toast.

The GB FO had heard the same thing from him. Shame on them for believing it was true (which is it) and moving on. BTW this is one of the reasons they were less interested in Moss than we were. Tom Brady vs. Mr. Semi retirement. Brady was desperate for this FO to keep Branch, but all you heard from him in that aftermath was how he respected the discipline of this FO to do things unemotionally in the teams best interest long term. And how hard his rag tag receiving corps worked in 2006. Tom has both his teamates and his FO's backs at all times. He tends to shoulder too much of the blame and he never points a finger in public or one that conveniently gets leaked to the public to salve his ego.

If GB had signed Randy it would absoutely have been a one year deal because last March he'd have been saying Brett's retirement was overdue... Randy was willing to take a prove it deal here. In GB he wanted his money guaranteed. Brett is just blaming his FO for the fact that Brady made NE a far more attractive organization in Randy's mind because his chances of 1 year success were far greater as were his chances of finishing his career in style.

Brett would now like everyone to believe that they lost out on a SB appearance because he didn't have Moss. Well, we did and the same NYG team stonewalled us. The only difference is GB had more opportunities in the 4th quarter and in OT to win without Moss. Only as if by fate Brett did what he will always do, what Drew would do in the same situation. Mindnumbingly threw that chance away.

It clearly wasn't the loss of Moss that caused the Packers not to go to the Super Bowl. Driver was pretty open on that last interception and Favre's throw was just way off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47Hf_m65tCA&feature=related

I do agree that it seems Favre's side has been a little shady in this. Favre denied the rumors just two weeks ago that he was coming back and was going to ask to be released. Now he is coming back and he wants to be released. He said he was retiring and not coming back and he has changed his mind twice.

I gave him the benefit of the doubt last year and didn't come down too hard on him, but the evidence is mounting to a mountain scale that this guy is a prima donna.

 

[363839]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned the fact that Favre, a month ago, called speculation that he was coming out of retirement just "rumors". Well, those rumors turned out to be pretty true haven't they, Brett? And now you've created quite the circus for yourself.

He's back in the lime light where he wants to be for the rest of his life.

 

[Rookie]

Absolutely YES

 

[Deus Irae]

Sure if you ignore the actual facts, I agree with you that there is no facts to support my opinion. It was my opinion that Favre announced his retirement in February. It is my opinion that Jay Glazier last week reported that Favre told the Packers in March that he was unretiring, that the Packers flew a private jet down to meet with Favre, and then Favre retired again. It is also my opinion that Favre went on record to Greta Van Susteren saying Thompson is not trustworth. Apparently, it is my opinion that the sky is blue and the earth is round too.


Now that we have gotten it straight that facts are actually my opinions, we can end the argument now can't we. Besides, maybe it is only an opinion that Moss didn't play for the Packers last year, maybe the facts are that Moss did in fact play for them.

The facts you cite to here don't show Favre doing anything wrong. There is a difference between wrong and inconvenient.

 

[RhodyPatriot]

Loved reading where Goober says he doesn't want to play in Tampa because it's too hot.
Did I mention Goober lives in Mississippi??

 

[Rob0729]

The facts you cite to here don't show Favre doing anything wrong. There is a difference between wrong and inconvenient.

No it is wrong. He is holding the franchise hostage because his own selfishness, ego, and indecision. That is wrong.

Calling your GM untrustworthy and saying he is a liar is wrong. Remember how Ty Law was slammed by Patriots fans for calling Belichick a liar. Favre did the same thing to Thompson. In both cases, they were wrong and actually satisfies your hypothetical of "if Brady did this..." that Pats fans would react the same way. Law was nearly as popular as Brady is and he was a pariah for the offseason prior to 2004 season.

Everything Favre did this offseason was wrong. Spin it any way you want because the only inconvenience is to you because you got no where else to argue. Just turn on Greta Van Sutran tonight watch Law call Belichick a liar....err.... Favre call Thompson a liar and untrustworthy.

 

[Frezo]

Players have been forgiven for a lot worse than what Favre has done. I'm willing to cut him some slack on this. I love my job and will go down fighting 10 or 12 years from now when somebody suggests I should retire. Favre has always entertained on gameday, has become an NFL icon and is a sure HoFer. I hope the old dog plays this year and does well.

 

[nashvillepatsfan]

rather than start another favre thread, i'll add this here. accuscore predictions for teams that favre could join. i wouldve never thought about baltimore.


http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ys-accuscoreifbrettreturns071408&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

 

[dhamz]

Favre picks a family friend to do a softball interview and STILL can't get his story straight which tells you all you need to know about how truthful he is being.

Are the Packers trying to force him to stay retired as he says or did they tell him he is welcome back on the team but Rodgers is the starter which he also says or did they tell him they will trade him and ask him for a list of teams he would be willing to be traded to which he said as well? How are all 3 of those things true when the last 2 are in direct conflict with the first?