NFL’s All-time Interception Leader Retires
Update: This makes me happy.
Update 2: Peter King talks about air force officers wanting to cry, and in a good example of the Favre media hype, puts words to a facial expression Favre made. An air force officer says “dude, I’m shaking.”
Update 3: A Packers fan says that this is one of the most important stories of the year (is Favre running for President?) and then whines that major news outlets aren’t making it their lead story.
(Note: As a sports-related blog post, I tried to title this post with a cheesy pun in the fashion of every sports writer in America, but I like this one)
Ding, dong, the witch is dead!
Brett Favre is retiring, although with him you’re never sure about any news story. Here are my thoughts.
One-half of Sundays during football season for real Bears fans isn’t just watching the Bears to make sure they’ve won, but to watch the Packers to make sure they’ve lost.
For a lot of years, this hasn’t always been fun - although the Lovie Smith era in Chicago has seen a good head-to-head record against the Packers. Since Mike Ditka retired, though, and the Packers traded for Favre, it’s mainly been this on any given Sunday:
-Random Bears QB gets first chance to start; like the 16 preceding QBs, he stinks.
-Turn on the Packers and watch Brett Favre throw an 8-yard slant to Donald Driver/Bill Schroeder/Javon Walker/Robert Ferguson/Greg Jennings, watch the cornerback trip over his own incompetence and see the receiver take it all the way.
-Switch back to the Bears to see another QB being benched in favor of another QB who is also doomed to be benched
Needless to say, Packer fans have been spoiled by about 15 years of quarterback stability. Aaron Rodgers will step in for Favre, having been the heir apparent for three years now, and I can only tell you that if he has a breakout season in 2008, we will all be watching in horror.
Why True Bears Fans Hate and Don’t Respect Favre
We hope it’s not like that. Bears fans have had to put up with poor quarterback play for most of the entire franchise’s existence.
Because of this, I have refused to admire, appreciate, or even respect Favre, just as all true Bears fans should refuse to do.
You see, the Green Bay Packers are the archenemy. Their future Hall of Fame quarterback just retired - I really should be jumping up and down and screaming in excitement.
But we just got through 15 years of watching the archenemy spoiled by a faux-hick quarterback that won 2.5 MVPs (not three), a guy who was put on such a high pedestal by the media that every good game he had unfolded like a pygmalion of inevitability.
“Respect” is something I owe to nobody who hasn’t earned it from me. I certainly don’t owe it to someone just because of his selfish indulgence in long off-season retirement rumors (fanned by his own late-season tears and off-season press conferences), camera-aware arguments with Warren Sapp, or playing this late in his career just to beat the great Dan Marino’s passing records.
A Media-Manipulating, Phoney, Selfish Player
Brett Favre’s career has longs nice been a broken-record cacophony of hysterical praise from the media. The predictability of this madness became so certain that me and my brothers became like Favre prophets.
Off the top of my head, here is how Favre played the media and the media got played:
- Retirement rumors for the past three years. Favre called press conferences just to say he hadn’t made a decision yet; the media ate it up. Even Jerry Rice, the best receiver of all time, didn’t do this.
- A double-handled sword: either Favre had the guts to make certain tough throws, or, if a wild throw was a mistake, he was a “gunslinger.” This is like the global warming crowd using both heating and cooling as evidence of global warming.
- Favre’s game against Oakland after his father died. Never mind that his receivers inexplicably made near-miraculous catches, Favre was going to get all of the attention should Green Bay win. The hysteria elevated the game to one of Favre’s supposed best. Other players play after close family deaths and don’t receive the same credit.
- It seemed like every time Brett Favre threw a block, announcers would use it as overwhelming evidence of Favre’s toughness. Nevermind that it’s a common practice for NFL QBs to throw the occasional block.
- Crying at the end of the 2006 season in Chicago, despite deciding to play one more year.
- Playing for the passing records in 2007. Don’t believe me? His explanation was that he believed his young, 8-8 team was somehow talented. They did end up competing and going 13-3, and Favre got his records. Now that the records are complete, and the team seems even better? Favre retires.
- Talking about Brett Favre’s “Superbowls,” despite that he only won one. If you count the one Favre lost, then even Rex Grossman “has a Superbowl.”
- Winning his one Superbowl with the Number 1 rated defense and a first ballot Hall of Fame defensive end. The MVP of the game was a SPECIAL TEAMER!
- The faux-hick image that probably endeared him to blue-collar Wisconsinites, despite Brett Favre’s obvious wealth.
That’s off the top of my head. On a weekly basis during the season, my brother and I talk about writing a book about all of the reasons Favre is completely overhyped and freely manipulates that same hype.
Even with this retirement story, it’s happening. Favre’s agent apparently told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel today that he thinks Favre wants to play for another year and doesn’t think the Packers want him back that much. The Packers don’t want the player who represents their franchise to return and sell more jerseys? Yeah, right. Keep playing that media like a fiddle.
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