The Bailey Blog

Photo by Chrissy Wainwright

Former-but-I-Now-Want-To-Be-Current-Green-Bay-Packers Quarterback and resident legend, Brett Favre has decided not to call it quits after all.

Remember the crying man at the press conference this year? Talking about how much he loved playing for Green Bay; His dream job, great organization, great city, legacy, didn’t have it in him anymore and just wanted to do the right thing for the team: Can’t give 300 percent, gotta go. The whole…nine yards.

Well…He changed his mind. He wants his job back…and it was the top job.

So, this leaves team officials and the NFL in a quandary. Not to mention the City of Green Bay, who treat ol’ Brett like a Lohan walking into to brew pub - a cash cow and they are jazzed to see him!

Now what?

Well, it’s a communications challenge the equivalent of walking on already half cracked eggs.

The team wants to look like it’s not passing up (pun intended I guess) on its legendary leader and/or stuffing him into the closet;

The NFL loves the idea of Brett playing anywhere because of the good vibes and potential great TV revenue of people watching to see whether he "still has it".

And, then you have a town that is steeped in football tradition who is clingy to its past with a quarterback that - quite frankly - didn’t look last year like a guy ready to call it quits when they got to the play-offs of all places this past season. That looks pretty good when you have a back-up that is untested and could make for dreaded phrases like "it’s a rebuilding year."

To move forward, the team has two choices:
Release Brett from his deal which is required now that he essentially asked the NFL for another chance. That would send him to another team — blasphemy that the dear boy would wear anything but Packer green and yellow to the home crowd…and, for Bart Starr’s sake, could actually still play somewhere else to be a threat.

Or, keep him as a Packer…but not as a starter as that gig is set for the next guy. However, Brett could be quite the teacher and coach, which would do - as BF supposedly wanted, what IS maybe best for the future of the team.

In a story in our Detroit News from wire service reports, this is how it went down - complete with "positioning" from the team on Saturday:

"In an interview with The Associated Press Saturday, Packers general manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy said they don’t plan to grant Favre the release he is seeking from his contract and are committed to Aaron Rodgers [THE BACK-UP DUDE] as their starter. "We’ve communicated that to Brett, that we have since moved forward," Thompson said Saturday, in his first public comments since Favre requested to be released this week. "At the same time, we’ve never said that there couldn’t be some role that he might play here. But I would understand his point that he would want to play." And if Favre wanted to play for the Packers, he had the chance when he told them a few weeks after his tearful goodbye news conference that he was having second thoughts. With Thompson and McCarthy preparing to board a private plane to fly to Mississippi and seal the deal on a comeback, all Favre had to do was say yes. He didn’t."

Now, no real comments from the Favre camp…which leaves all the positioning and speculating to come from one side of the ball so far: The Team.

I’ve always respected Favre and of course the guy is going to go down - whatever happens - as one of the best to ever play the game; great competitor; great symbol of the game AND positive image for Green Bay. But, let’s look at this logically despite the media hype and slow news days, here:

An employee walks into your office this p.m. and says they love the job but, aren’t up for it anymore.

They have had enough and decide to quit. Now, you will probably miss them and you will tell them that at the good-bye lunch. But, to stay in business, you will divvy up their work and show up tomorrow to do it no matter what. If they say "woops" a few months down the line, that they goofed and want to come back, you may be able to find a role for them…based on many factors. They DO have knowledge of the company and clients. But, you’ve adjusted, you’ve had to move on…you have a slew of other employees and clients counting on you to do so.

I wish my dad was still alive to work for the Packers for just one meeting with Mr. Favre;

He’d likely tell him what he told me for years when I got too big for my britches:

"You’re funny kid, but one clown don’t stop the circus."