You were doing well until you wrote that “Favre apparently only wants to play in Green Bay.”

The truth is the exact opposite. Favre wants to play ANYWHERE BUT Green Bay. Favre does not like Teddy (and has not for some time), which is at least part of the reason he retired in the first place, and does not want to play for him (I don’t balme Favre). After being denied a release from his contract, Favre is now posturing to return to the Packers to FORCE TEDDY to either release him or trade him. It’s a smart move on Favre’s part. He’s got Teddy backed up against the wall right now. Indeed, Favre has outsmarted Teddy on this one. So if Favre isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, then Teddy is the butter knife.

There could be another issue. As I understand it BF would get roughly 25m if he played through ’10. If he’s on the roster at the start of camp he counts 12m this year. If he stays “retired” he gets nothing. How about guaranteeing that they’ll pay him the 20 over 10 yrs (like I heard it). Maybe thats why the NFL honcho is involved to make sure everything is OK with cap regs and Player Agreement. Heck, we must have had the 25 in the budget anyway and the 2mil a yr could help, albeit a 2mil hit for several yrs. 2mil a yr in 5-10 yrs won’t be much of a hit at all.

Favre, Favre, Favre, Favre, thats all you ever talk about Jon. This is a team sport, can one expect you to then be a fan of whatever team Favre, Favre, Favre goes to? What ever will you do on Sundays when Favre retires?

Admin writes: “Anything other than Favre starting in Green Bay means Favre loses.”

Wrong as usual. You don’t get it.

At the end of last season Favre decided he would never play for Teddy again; that’s why he retired; you may have read (though I doubt it) the many reports of friction between Favre and Thompson in the media at the time.

When Favre decided to continue playing, it was to play for another team. So when Favre gets that, he wins and Teddy and the Teddyphiles (you) lose!

NB. Your comment about vaseline, followed by your recent comment about Favre laying women in Green Bay, just goes to show that what you are made of. When getting hammered in a debate, as you are now, you reach for the bottom of the barrel.

It’s hard for me to believe that BF could even consider QB’ing MN! But if this is deemed to be true, they should hold him in training camp until the last day and then release him.

BigDeek

Al, I loved your post, it actually appears that you have settled down a bit and are looking at the whole picture. I completly agree that Favre WANTS to play for Green Bay, because I don’t think that he wants to picture himself in another uniform. I hope that he stays retired now, but the only scenario where I feel that both sides win is if he plays for Green Bay. He gives the Packers the best shot at winning, granted I think that Rodgers will be fine.
I am glad that this will all be over soon, and we can all put all of these posts behind us and cheer on the Pack in 08!
Go Pack Go!!

Jon,

No one has to answer any of your wackadoo black helicopter bullshit questions. You are so far on the fringe that you can’t be taken seriously. But you have been highly entertaining.

Michael,

You, too, eh? You too lack the integrity to answer my legitimate question?

That’s too bad, because sports journalists all over the Internet are asking the same thing I am: who really believes the Packers’ $20 million offer to Favre is a “personal services contract” and “marketing and licensing agreement” and NOT a bribe not to play?

And you know what? EVERYONE thinks it’s a bribe not to play; except here, of course, the Land of Oz, er, Al, er Ted.

You’re still on Moss? Favre “might” have won a Super Bowl without Moss last year. Remember that NFC Championship game that went into overtime last year? You know, the one that Randy Moss wasn’t playing in. Plus, if signing Moss wasn’t enough for the 18-0 Patriots to win the Super Bowl… wait, why am I even debating with you?

Can’t wait to hear your next crackpot theory.

“An NFL source that has been in contact with Favre over the last few days told the State Journal Favre still very much wants to play for the Packers’ division rival, the Minnesota Vikings.”

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports//298859

There you have it. Favre wants to be a Viqueen. And he’s using the emotions of Packer fans to force the Packers into making it happen. Real classy, Brett. Real classy.

But, Zach, Ted Thompson threw the NFC Championship, used Jedi mind tricks to make Favre retire, and shot John F. Kennedy on the grassy knoll. Favre is blameless (and doesn’t ever throw costly OT playoff interceptions, I may add.)

jessica????

Michael, your right. I should have known.

We all know that number 4 should be the GM. An employee throwing a temper tantrum because the boss didn’t listen to him. Do you tell your boss what to do Jon?

I understand your point of view, Oconomowockid, but I think it’s rather easy to oversimplify the decision making process at work here. There has been no class or brilliance to what Thompson has done, but it is a no win situation. As people whose interests in the Packers are limited to message boards and three hours on Sundays, we can speculate how this should have been handled differently, but we aren’t in charge of managing an entire football teams operations. Simply welcoming Favre back would have much larger short, mid-, and long-term ramifications that extend beyond some sort of mythical Super Bowl guarantee that his renewed presence will suddenly bring. If he hadn’t retired, I’d be salivating at the prospect of him playing this year, but many, many steps have been taken to move to the next chapter for the Packers organization.

I am embarrassed as to how this ordeal makes the Packers look, but let’s face it. This is an unprecedented situation, and if you think that there would have been some textbook way to resolve this, then you’re ignoring some of the unavoidable realities of running major corporations.

http://www.madison.com/wsj/media/favre_timeline/index.html

Blame who you want but this fiasco is getting tired and old – lets just get over ourselves no matter which side of the fence you reside… They are both to blame period – their egos are far bigger then any of ours and as good as everyone’s ideas seem to be, I think the business side of this whole thing is happening behind closed doors – we’ll never really know EXACTLY what’s going on. We can only speculate and throw in our own little conspiracy theories… So lets all go on the facts as they exist in the above link – looks to me like someone couldn’t make up their mind and then decided to become egotistical and push the hand of the whole organization, but then again, that’s all a conspiracy theory drummed up by our favorite fact finding entities – namely the media… I say Go PACK!! At this point, I’m happy that Mr. Murphy is running the show – you can’t hold TT accountable if he’s not making the major business deals. LOL… For all I care, at this point, it doesn’t matter who the GM is, someone, somewhere wouldn’t be happy – so to you I say, quit your crying – be fan and quit worrying about the business end of something you have no control over and back your team… that’s what I’m doing – screw BF, TT, MM, oh and the other MM too… if they get the job done great, if they don’t then we’ll hope for a better tomorrow. Doesn’t matter who runs the show – you bashers of the business side of football will never be happy anyway…

A “Teddy-homer”? “ADD second grader”? The first sign that you’ve lost a debate is when you start in with the name calling.

Your argument makes no sense whatsoever. How does Thompson “win” if the Packers don’t win? He doesn’t. He loses his job if the Packers don’t win. He knows that as well as anyone. Your argument seems to be that it is only for purely personal reasons that Favre isn’t the starting QB for the Packers. That’s ridiculous. Favre retired. A couple of times. The Packers HAD to move on. Why you can’t understand that is beyond me. Thompson and the rest of the organization moved on because they took Favre at his word. More than once. It’s Favre who keeps moving the goal posts here, not Thompson.

Favre wants to play for the Vikes. He’s using the media and overly emotional Packer fans (such as yourself) to put pressure on the Packers to release him so he can with a division opponent. Surely someone with your vast knowledge of pro football management can see the sheer stupidity in allowing something like that to happen.

I think Big Jon does not care what your opinion is. He just reads what you have to say and argues the opposite. You could say that the sky is pretty when it’s blue, and he would say no, it’s better cloudy and grey.

Jon=Ultimate Troll

The packers are playing this off just like they should. Okay, so there is some bad PR for them, but who cares. I would not lose sleep over this if I was Thompson or Murphy. They have a team to run. The media, and Brett Favre, are making this bigger than it is. Favre made his bed, and now he’s not man enough to lie in it.

And this debate over winning now or in the future…..what????? Thompson is trying to win now, but with careless play and reckless overtime interceptions, you won’t win. The time for us to win is now, with this team. Saying that one individuals ego is bigger than the teams need for success is ridiculous. There is a reason he is the GM of a professional football team. How many of us can say that we hold that position?

Thanks to Al for keeping this site running. And to those that don’t like it here, feel free to setup your own blog….but good luck getting this much traffic.

Lets recap a bit. Last yr TT brought back a “semi-retired” 37 yr old QB and MM made him the starter. Then TT picked up a trash heap RB and MM changed the OL blocking to give the run a little oomph. TT drafted a pretty good pass blocking line w/ a little help from Sherman and MM put them around the 37 yr old guy to protect him. TT also drafted some WRs for the QBs tartgets and MM drew up some pretty good plays to spring ‘em after the catch. We then went on ww/ this combo and won Division and a bye. OOPS; the damned int poped up again. Oh well, still was pretty good GMing and Coaching I think. Favre or no Favre lets get back to what we really love———Packer Football!

Lets ACTUALLY recap abit. How was the guy “semi-retired”? Oh and I am quite certain TT did not “bring him back”. Yes, and wasn’t that MAGICAL coaching to start the guy who has never missed a start and had 1 losing season over an entire 16 year career. Thats some pretty deep thinking on MM’s part. I also wouldn’t call Clifton, Tauscher, and Wells a little help! Those were the only three that could play!! If his picks were so good then why did he shuffle them in and out for 2 years? Lets also recap that he drafted Jones, essentially instead of paying Moss, who is now our 4th WR, which undoubtedly cost that team a visit to the Super Bowl. He drafted a 1st round d-lineman, and traded a pro bowl caliber one to make room for him (for a QB who he hopes never plays mind you) and now that sloppy piece of shit still can’t play!! He has seldom addressed a position thru free agency. Now please try to understand the commentary. I did not say he has done an awful job. I did not say MM has done an awful job. I have praised their accomplishments to this point. I have said, and I do reserve the right to this OPINION that I think he is overconfident in his abilities to restock without spending money. They are way under the cap every year…..why? Its not like the money is going to use somewhere else. The stockholders aren’t get a dividend. I also don’t recall any rings to TT’s credit. Yes he has established a level of success everywhere, which is great don’t get me wrong, but for cryin out loud, how would Faneca look right now? The Packers last year could have had Mcgahee for What turned out to be Brandon Jackson…Again I like Jackson, but Mcgahee is a stud. Too much money…too much money….at some point, spend some somewhere. There is no point in being this far under the cap if there are positions to address.

I just read that Grant wants a six year, $40 million contract?? That’s insane…

Pete, thank you for providing thoughtful, rational analysis with your criticism of the organization and support of Favre. I still contend that it’s too easy to second guess mistakes made in the past with perfect hindsight. Plus for every mistake in hindsight there’s one of these:

Outrage: Why did we not do more to sign Randy Moss? He’s a difference maker.
Result: 2nd best passing offense in the NFL last year, only behind the Patriots, the Randy Moss team that also lost to the Giants and didn’t get a ring last year.

Outrage: Why didn’t we keep Rivera and Wahle? Favre will get killed out there.
Result: 3rd fewest sacks allowed in the NFL.

Outrage: Where is the running game? It’s running back by committee and there’s no clear starter in the whole group.
Result: Ryan Grant emerges in week 8, henceforth averages 93 yards per game.

Thompson has done a an uncanny job of replacing the irreplaceable, and his biggest test is on deck. I suppose it’s possible that Thompson is just some sort of football version of Forrest Gump or Chauncey the Gardener, or he may know what he’s doing. This year will be slightly rocky regardless, but can still be successful. I sure hope at least.

ML, I agree with you. He has replaced the irreplaceable well, and this team is in good shape…with Brett ..without…Moss whoever. My point is that there could be a ring on the finger with no real harm done to the team’s future. Yes there wouldn’t be the same development out of Jennings, but then again he didn’t really develop last year..he just blew up. I propose that the same would be said this year had we gotten Moss. Yes Grant did a fine job, but neither he, nor Jackson, is Mcgahee in my opinion. We’ll see though. I know that it is all hindsight, but thats my right as a fan….and part of the fun as well. In my defense, I was critical at the time these moves were made, or weren’t made, and not just after the fact. I could still well be proven to be quite wrong, but I do strongly believe that with just a move or two, while creating no cap issues, or future issues, this team could already have a ring. Larry, obviously when I am issuing a counter-argument I am not going to go pointing out his good moves, besides it had already been done. I was simply pointing out the moves that weren’t mentioned.

By the way, Jon, we find the term “Teddy-homers” offensive. We prefer “Ted-heads” or “Ted-anistas”.

Ditto…

Hey Dallas, Iget up there at least twice a week from College Station. Go Pack from everywhere in the Nation.