have spent more time the last couple of weeks previewing college football. NFL training camps have already started and here, I have no NFL preview. So it’s fitting my very first NFL preview post covers the top story today and that’s Bret Favre. Which is a shame, because the NFL Hall Of Fame inductions were this weekend (two sports Hall Of Fame inductions in one calendar week…WOW!!)
It’s been truly amazing how much legs this story still has. If you’re the NY Giants, its great for them because not many people are paying attention to them. This whole thing stinks and I think everyone is to blame. I think Favre certainly has every right to play if he thinks he can. If he was that ambivilant about retiring in the first place, he should have kept his trap shut. And I think in the last three or four years, there was just too much debate, and that kept Green Bay hanging. Who can blame Green Bay from moving on when Favre actually did make a decision. Makes me wonder if anybody talked this out in spring and perhaps plan B’s should have been discussed in the event Favre changed his mind.
I think this situation makes everyone look bad and that’s bad for the NFL. The NFL isn’t helping matters by delaying Favre’s reinstatement decision-they don’t want to overshadow the HOF induction. But it is overshadowing everything because we all want to know what will happen. Will Favre be reinstated? Will he stay in Green Bay? Will he be released? Will he take $20 million??
What do I think? I think he should come back, foolish as it is. Sure, he could probably play and make another team’s season interesting. And Green Bay won’t have the distraction of having in camp. But the damage is already done. Once Aaron Rodgers falls flat on his ass (and he will….), all the naysayers will wonder why Green Bay didn’t let Favre comeback in the first place. And I think Favre’s legacy is tarnished like Joe Montana was when he played for Kansas City. Or when Michael Jordan played for the Washington Blizzards. Then why do I think he should come back? Because he has to right to; far be it for me to question that. Even if I think he can come back, doesn’t mean that I entirely agree with it…
Quickly…on to happier notes.
I’m not as big on the NFL HOF as I am into baseball. Although I do have to say, I like that in some years you see six or seven players inducted. I won’t go into every player, but living here in DC, the spotlight is obvious. Everyone knows I’m a Redskin hater, but it’s hard this weekend to hate players like Art Monk and Darrell Green. It took freaking forever for Monk to get in, but thankfully he is. He was very steady and very dependable (and very quiet!!). For Green, I still have nightmares of his punt (punt, right??) return in a playoff game against the Bears in the 1980’s. It is for that reason that I hated the Redskins. Green continued to be one of the fastest players in the NFL into his early 40’s. Not too many come classier than Green. Congrats to both (and to the others inducted)!
Down the road a little, I will begin to predict and preview, just like I’m doing for college football. The NFL previews will be a little different, since there’s more going on. It might be a short while before I do this, so look out for these!
