Sports Then and Now

Brett Favre could have his own reality series based around his regular retirements and flip-flops.

Given that I have previously written two stories about Brett Favre retiring from the NFL, please pardon me if I am not totally convinced by the rumors today that the future Hall of Fame quarterback is again announcing his retirement.

As many have written in other stories today, I will begin believing that Favre has played his last game if he is not in uniform on September 9th when the Minnesota Vikings face the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints. However, I won’t really be convinced until I see Favre mugging with his bust at the Hall of Fame ceremony in Canton.

Though in the last four years Favre’s indecision has become the butt of many jokes and he has made some of the worst PR decisions this side of LeBron James, he is still a ferocious competitor and very proud individual.

For that reason, if he has indeed decided not to play again it seems highly likely that the reason is that his 40-year-old body has finally betrayed him after 19 years in the NFL.

Though he would never officially commit for 2010, up until the last couple weeks it seemed that even Favre was preparing for him to play this season. At the time he underwent ankle surgery in May it was generally believed that action pretty much guaranteed that he was readying himself for another season.

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Considering that he had one of the best seasons of his career in 2009 and his team came within an overtime of reaching the Super Bowl, everything appeared aligned for Favre to give it one more shot.

So, if Favre is indeed turning in his helmet it stands to reason that he must not be physically capable of performing at his typical superstar level.

But, as many have said over the last day, that is how he is feeling right now. There is still another month until the first game of the 2010 season and that is more than enough time for Favre to have a change of heart.

If his ankle suddenly starts feeling a little bit better, will Favre suddenly show up right before the first preseason game as he did a year ago?

Because Brad Childress and the Vikings have allowed it, Favre has made the Vikings his personal yo-yo over the last 16 months.

Will the ankle injury Favre suffered against the New Orleans Saints really be the end of his career?

If you will recall, it was just the last week of July a year ago that Favre assured everyone that he was not going to play for the Vikings in 2009. Yet, just two weeks later he was at practice and taking snaps in the preseason.

For that reason, many across the NFL are hesitant to start writing the final NFL biography for Favre. Is this simply another Favre tactic to keep his name in the limelight or is this genuinely the end of the line for a football legend?

One thing is for sure, even though it is a behavior that he has enabled, Favre’s constant flip-flops have got to be growing old to Vikings coach Brad Childress.

If Favre doesn’t come back, announcing his retirement now is actually a very big favor for the Vikings. There is still plenty of time before the start of the season for Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels to win the starting quarterback position and establish himself as the team leader.

However, if this is simply another false alarm, even if Favre is back under center it might be very hard for the Vikings to recover from the constant flip-flopping.

There is no question that the Vikings have a talented team that is capable of a deep playoff run. Regardless of who is playing quarterback, the other components are solid. However, at some point the team has to put their faith in a leader and be prepared to follow him all the way to the end.

The Vikings showed last year that they could follow Favre even without months of preparation. Will they be capable of doing that again if he does eventually return or are the Vikings ready to move on?

With Favre there always seems to be a lot of “what ifs”. It is a somewhat strange outcome of one of the greatest careers in NFL history. If this is indeed the end for Favre, there will be a lot of “what if” questions coming out of Minnesota this season.