Just Favre-olous

... This Brett Favre thing is getting sadder and sadder each day ...

I just read the latest tonight that the Packers are saying the Vikings tampered with Favre.

Aye yay yay.

I've loved watching Brett Favre play football for the Packers -- Oh, Frank Caliendo, where is your John Madden impression now? -- and I would love to see him play another year or two with the Packers. But the guy cried his eyes out in March and told us he couldn't give his all to the game anymore. He said he was tired and couldn't take the grind of the NFL anymore.

And we all cheered him for his decision to go out at the top of his game and to do it with class, leaving behind a legacy as wide as Lambeau Field itself.

Now what?

Now Favre's playing hardball with the Packers, infering the team pushed him into retirement and he's demanding his release ...

Even as the rumors swirled this off season, myself and a lot of my cohorts shrugged them off. There's no way, we thought, his retirement announcement was way too convincing ...

Then, lo and behold, the news breaks last week that Favre wants to come out of retirement and he asks for the Packers to release him. At first we tried to dismiss it as ESPN and the local media just spreading rumors again; then we started rolling our eyes even more when it turned out the reports were true ...

Now here's where I stand: With the Packers ... Again, I loved watching Brett Favre play, and I'd be more than happy to see him play some more. But I don't blame the Packers for taking a stand and not releasing Favre to protect their organization. It's a business decision, plain and simple. The Packers have Favre under contract, and they can't risk releasing him only to watch the Bears or Vikings pick him up ...

On top of that Aaron Rodgers, presumably, has been preparing for the upcoming season for months, while Favre's been, presumably, waffling somewhere in Mississippi. If Favre wants to play again, I don't blame the Packers for suggesting he come to training camp and earn back his starting job ... And I think if Favre really wants to play, he should prove it. He should show up at training camp and reclaim his starting job. Do that and this whole thing would be over ...

In everything I've read and seen, the stories coming from Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy have been detailed and consistent. Favre's stories, on the other hand, seem to have a lot of holes, and his only motive appears to be some desire to have his way with the Packers ...

The icing on the cake, of course, is the interview with family friend turned Favre PR woman Greta Van Susteren -- on Fox news to make it no less suspect.

It's a sad, sad mess. And I'm so sick of the drama.

Here's some of the good reads I've found throughout the ordeal...

a Favre set to formally ask in, sounds off on Packers brass
a History lesson: Favre could learn from final years of Namath, Unitas
a Favre comeback rumors hurting his legacy
a Favre should come back immediately ... I caught this one a couple days before the Favre rumors really got hot, and even then I was sick of the drama.
a Boxed-in Brett Favre, Packers face 'very difficult situation'
a Favre to Pack: 'Don't worry about my legacy'