Favre, Childress Pull Proverial Wool Over Duped Media's Eyes

As a Packer fan, the instinct is to extend a middle finger into the air when discussing Brett Favre. Really, it is. This isn't Ryan Longwell, who was awful in a contract year and decided he couldn't stand being outside anymore. This isn't Darren Sharper, who blew more coverages and missed more tackles than anyone with his salary should ever be allowed to, and then moved on.

Instead, it's the Packer icon. The face of the franchise for more than 15 years. A guy who will someday work again with or for the Packers, in some capacity, just like seemingly all the other former Packer greats have.

And the Minnesota Vikings are their biggest rival.

This isn't to knock the Chicago Bears, who have the history. That rivalry just isn't the same, because our generation didn't grow up with it being competitive. It was dominated for many of our childhood years by the Bears, and then the Packers won what felt like 30 matchups in a row.

The Vikings are farther away from Green Bay, but many Packer fans live closer to the Twin Cities than they do Chicago. For them, there's only one NFL team to truly despise, and now Brett Favre plays for them.

Yuck.

It becomes more difficult to accept when you hear Favre and "Chilly" (Vikings head coach Brad "Deer Camp Time" Childress, who has evidently forgotten how to groom himself) talking about the timeline of events that brought us to this moment.

You're supposed to just accept that Favre informed the Vikings of his decision to remain retired on July 28, then proceeded to keep working out and actually spoke to noted surgeon Dr. James Andrews about his shoulder issues. On Monday, Childress then called Favre and asked him if he wanted to play.

Seriously. That's all there is to it.

As noted by PackersNews.com, this is far-fetched at best.

It's just too convenient. The idea that Childress sprung this on his owner Monday, or that he didn't bother to tell his players until Tuesday, well that's also hard to believe.

Instead of Favre being a man, and admitting he just didn't want to take part in training camp (like virtually every other estabished NFL player), he threw his daughter and new coach under the bus. He acted like he never would have signed if Childress hadn't called him Monday, and he wouldn't have made the move if his daughter hadn't asked him to go win another Super Bowl.

(Of course, she wasn't born when he won his first one, and she's probably confused by all these people who talk about what a winner he is in the NFL.)

Then again, if you watch the video from Tuesday's practices and subsequent media availability, you'd think someone shot Sage Rosenfels' dog before he got in front of the cameras. Maybe he really didn't know.

As for the fans, it's suggested that they take on the same attitude the Packers have had. When Mike McCarthy says "If Brett wants to play, he should play," it sounds a helluva lot like "Bring it on, old man."

So, yeah...

Bring it on, old man.