Holy Moly! It’s hot as a pot of sassy witch-water out here today, Dear Readers, and I find myself talking to the shrubbery about tampering charges and the virtues of lemonade. Me and my rocking chair spent the afternoon sitting in the shade on the porch saying things like ‘geesh’ and ‘holy moly’ and ‘chrimeny!’ Better than roasting indoors, listening to the goof-balls on the radio-box. This hellish summer-time haze just drives folks to fits of gonzoitis.
If it’s this oppressive in Wisconsin, you can imagine how bonkers those folks in Mississippi must get. Just look at our old friend, Brett. He’s turned coo-coo.
In an attempt to win public opinion and earn an outright release so he can become yet another defect for the Minnesota Vikings, Brett has turned to burning bridges. Ol’ Brett thinks the world owes him ever-lasting appeasement, but he just doesn’t understand how things really work. And now he’s sweating more than usual as he mows the grasses, realizing he might be the one to blame for the situation.
His Chief Dufus Bus Cook admitted as much this week: “We’re going to let Green Bay decide what they want to do. It’s their move.”
Such is the sound of someone who has backed them-self into a corner. Bus knows the Packers have already made their move. They won’t risk the future for one more run with the man who puts himself above the team, and they won’t release Favre so he can fulfill his secret fantasy of playing in purple.
Turns out the catalyst for all of this summer-time madness might be an under-the-table lure from the Vikings and former Packers coach Darrell Bevell. Reports have surfaced claiming Bevell might have been whispering promises in Brett’s egomaniac ear. “Join the dark side,” Bevell the Devil may have promised. “Just show up on Sunday and take the rest of the season off. We won’t make you practice or prepare. Heck, Brett, you’re so wonderful and special, you can even take over as General Manager so you can hire your own coaches and bust our salary cap on over-priced linemen.”
Apparently that’s what Brett wants: His own world where everything revolves around him. Apparently he believed he could somehow create that world by simply asking, and when that didn’t work, by vilifying the good people who brought about a renaissance in his career.
There are many angry fans out there who blame Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy for driving Favre out of town, but the only reason Favre was any good last season was because of the team those two men built him.
Under Holmgren, Favre faced discipline and it paid off in a big way. Holmgren brought out the best in Favre, and Ron Wolf gave him the weapons to do great things.
Then along came Mike Sherman, who as a coach and general manager sent the organization into a down-ward spiral. Mike Sherman gave Favre an extra long leash and a roster of mis-fits and just look what happened, Dear Readers. Turns out Favre can’t do it all by himself. Favre, like so many of his blind supporters, have quickly forgotten those wasted years under Mike Sherman.
Now I don’t want to harp on a fellow senior citizen, but folks are deluding themselves if they think Favre was the reason we got oh so close to the Super Bowl last year. Against the Giants Favre was the second-best quarterback on the field. On his own team, he played a distant second-fiddle to the defensive unit while he shivered in the cold.
What a contrast between that horrible day and today’s horrible heat.
Who knows how this will all unravel as the sun cooks our brains? I used to see greatness in Brett but now I just see a deranged boy throwing a fit, saying “Me first!” Saying anything he can to try and get his way. I see and hear lots of children throwing fits along with him, believing they can do whatever they want now that school’s out for the summer. And then there are the adults who understand that this is the real world and that there are still rules and responsible ways to go about things.
It’s sad seeing our old friend Brett digging his hole deeper and deeper. I wish he’d realize there ain’t nothing down there but more dirt on his legacy.
