Brett Favre Has Retired...At Least Until He Decides To Come Back

I have set up a Yahoo Fantasy Football League and those of you who have already expressed interest can feel free to join. Anyone else who wants to join can feel free to do so as well. I am planning on having a 12 team league and I have set up the league like last year's Yahoo league, but am open to any changes. The ID is 269298 and the password is "eckstein."

I was probably going to cover Peter King's mailbag today anyway, but when the man responsible for all things wrong in this world, Brett Favre, pretended to retire again it was a given I would cover Peter's reaction in his mailbag. Peter had written on Twitter that his mailbag was ready to go up at 2:30pm, he hopped a flight, and then re-wrote his mailbag introduction to cater to the Favre news...which is exactly what Favre would want him to do.

Actually, Favre hasn't even retired yet, but sent a cryptic text message to "key members" of the Vikings indicating he was done with playing football. So now the world (media) is freaking out that Brett Favre may retire and he is back in the spotlight, which is probably Favre's master plan all along. ESPN has ceased coverage of sports until they can interview every single NFL player to get their opinion on what Favre will do. So Favre has retired according to media reports, even though he hasn't retired officially yet. Still, Peter King is contractually obligated by the 1997 NFL rule that specifies anytime Brett Favre does anything, the media shall update the rest of the world on what Favre is doing/thinking/feeling and how his family feels about what he is doing/thinking/feeling.

Then today, Favre comes out and says he hasn't made a decision yet, which is what we all fucking knew anyway. He can never make a decision. I would have to write all day to keep up with how many times Brett Favre changes his mind in a day.

Do I believe it? Too early to tell -- with an asterisk. A big one.

That asterisk has something to do with October.

I don't believe it and won't believe it until this entire year is over. How is this even a story now? Favre has lied the past two summers about retiring, are we really supposed to believe because he is lying now to avoid training camp he is telling the truth? I'll never believe it until the NFL season is over.

There's no asterisk at all for me. He's not retiring. I just base my opinion on his track record. He hasn't even said he is retiring yet, and it is not like even if he said he was retiring we could believe him. He lies about this stuff every single summer.

In 2008, it took Brett Favre five months to change his mind and reverse his retirement. In 2009, it took Favre 20 days. This year? I haven't spoken to him, so I can't say for sure

You know the first thing Peter did after he got off his plane and heard the news was that he hit "1" on his speed dial and called Favre to get an interview or have him comment. I would bet Favre picked up the phone too when he saw it was Peter King. Peter may not have spoken to Favre, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

-- and even if I had, I've been fooled by him so many times that speaking to him wouldn't be the end of it.

That and Peter probably would cover for Favre and not tell us the truth anyway if he did know the truth. Yes, I am jaded enough to believe their relationship runs that deep.

Favre thought the ankle would come around. It hasn't. A friend told me today Favre still has significant pain when he runs.

Does the ankle hurt or does Favre say the ankle hurts? I know there is no way to tell the difference, but given Favre's habit of changing his mind and lying there is a huge difference. Favre isn't going to retire because of an ankle injury and not milk that injury for all it is worth. The world will KNOW that Brett Favre is a fucking warrior and his ankle is injured. In fact, he will show you pictures of just how injured his ankle is so you can know how tough he can be.

This "friend" who told Peter the ankle still hurts? Deanna Favre.

On July 28, 2009, he told Brad Childress he wouldn't be playing for the Vikings and would stay retired.

It is currently August 4, 2010. Why does anyone actually believe Favre means it this time? He thinks he wants to retire, but then he won't see his name in the press anymore, he will remember how good it felt to go to the NFC Championship game and once training camp is over...then he will unretire for the third time. I know I am right because everything Favre has ever done over the last two years says I am right.

This year, six days later but still at the dawn of Vikings training camp, he tells mates he won't be playing. As an acquaintance of Childress told me this afternoon: "The only strange thing about this is he's been talking to Brad all along, a lot. And now he tells other people but not Brad? I don't get that.''

Because Brad Childress already knows Favre is planning on coming back. Favre didn't want to have a retirement press conference or anything like that, but he let it leak out that he will retire and then he will say the reports were false or say something else when he unretires. He wants to miss training camp, that seems to be the bottom line, and if you are Brad Childress do you let Favre miss camp (and play along with this charade of believing Favre is retired) rather than start Sage Rosenfels or Tarvaris Jackson? Yes, you do.

Favre knows Childress will let him unretire anytime he wants to. Only Brett Favre would send a cryptic text message to his teammates that may lead to speculation he will retire. I am jaded about Favre, I think he did this intentionally so he could get back in the spotlight. You can't tell me he doesn't enjoy being discussed on SportsCenter and having his name lead off every sports news program. His ego is massive and if the sports media had any sense they would not massage that ego.

Favre returning to the Vikings after their very convenient Week 4 bye on the weekend of Oct. 3; riding in on his tractor and giving Minnesota the best chance to survive a hellish month that could determine whether the Vikings are contenders or pretenders.

At this point, I almost wish Favre would get run over by his tractor.

And no matter how well Tarvaris Jackson takes the helm over the next two months, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Childress doesn't say to Favre today or tomorrow: "Nothing is forever. Let's see how you feel four, five weeks down the road.''

For the record, I am guessing Sage Rosenfels may be the starter and not Jackson, but that's just a guess. Also, Peter King is right about this. Childress will give Favre the option of returning knowing full well he will return. Childress just has to sit back and let Favre see how much he misses his name being thrown around by football writers and then he will be back.

Just a few weeks ago Favre said he could play until he was 50, but now he is going to retire. This news yesterday is the only indication all spring and summer that Favre may retire. Favre has never said he would retire and has actually seemed to indicate he plans on continuing to play through his actions and vague comments he makes.

One other thing to remember about Favre. He in influenced by his family, and for the good. His wife, Deanna, loves him playing. His young daughter, Breleigh, cried last year when he told her he was done, and he was really bothered last July when he talked to me about retiring for good. He felt he was letting Breleigh down. If they continue to say, hey, keep an open mind, you never know.

Peter is right about Favre's family probably convincing him to play another year. I am so tired of hearing about Brett Favre's family. It is as if they are the only family in the history of the NFL that is any way affected by their father's decision on whether to retire or not from the NFL. Brett Favre and his family need to go away.

It's like the entire Favre family craves the spotlight or something. Otherwise, I would have no idea why they get constantly mentioned by NFL writers if they didn't want to be mentioned. I don't know the name of Peyton Manning's kids (he has some?) nor do I know if Donovan McNabb is married or not (is he married). It is because they keep this private. I prefer it that way.

There's no question the 2009 season took a tremendous physical toll on Favre as he turned 40. In the 26 seasons I've covered the NFL, I've never seen such a broken player as Favre was in the locker room after the Vikings lost the NFC Championship Game -- in large part because he threw a terrible interception that allowed the Saints to win it in overtime. On a high-low Saints hit that should have been flagged for roughing-the-quarterback by ref Peter Morelli in the third quarter,

It seems so small, but Peter just HAD to mention that the penalty which hurt Favre in the NFC Championship game wasn't called by the officials. Peter could have just mentioned the play where Favre got hurt, but he had to throw in there that it was also a bad call. I don't know why this bothers me, but it does.

But the logical thought that day was that he'd recover, he'd come back to give a team he'd grown to love one more year when his body got right. And clearly, that's a fact -- he'd have come back sometime this month if the ankle just felt OK. Which is why I say: It ain't over 'til it's over. Not until the Vikings play 16 games (or more) this season, and Favre hasn't quarterbacked one of them. Me, I'm waiting 'til the bye week in October.

October? I give Favre until the end of August to be fully back with the Vikings. He worked for two years to try and play for Minnesota, he isn't just going to quit after one year is he? I don't think so. He wants people to beg him to come back, he wants to hear the adulation of the fans, and he wants web sites to be set up urging him to come back. That's all Brett Favre cares about is others wanting him and fans recognizing just how great and valuable of a player he is.

That's the magic week for the Favre Watch to me.

There's no magic week or any magic at all involved with the Favre Watch. It's torture for 90% of the fans and the media eats it all up. I wish everyone had just ignored Favre's non-announcement today. He hasn't even actually retired, he just texted, "This is it" to some of his teammates. It could have been followed by what he was really referring to which could be a picture of his new car, tractor, or beach house. What the hell does that text even mean really?

"Did I miss your trip to Berea this year for the Browns? At least say something nice about Cleveland and the Browns. It makes us feel good, in light of all we have put up with in sports.''

-- Trips, Cleveland

"...in light of all we have put with in sports."

Cleveland has had a tough year, but why do fan bases want to be tortured? We have discussed this before, but is there something noble about being tortured and cheering for a loser I am not aware of? There have been some tough breaks this year, no doubt about that, and I don't want to be hard on Cleveland. I get a little bit of tired of cities that claim to be cursed or tortured.

PK: I think the Browns have reason to be a little optimistic -- but the only way that optimism can be ratcheted up is if they get good play at quarterback, and I haven't seen that out of Delhomme for a couple of years.

I think one bit of optimism is that Mike Holmgren is in Cleveland now and he has proven that he knows a little bit about football. Delhomme has played terribly, but I really think he may be a good mentor for Colt McCoy. Of course, he is also a terrible example on the field for McCoy too. So it sort of balances itself out.

And I did not go to Cleveland camp this year after being there three or four years in a row. Gotta try to see as many as I can each year, and this year was a catchup year for a few I haven't seen in a while (Houston, Miami, San Diego, San Francisco, Arizona).

These NFL teams Peter hasn't seen in a while during camp is also known as "most of the NFL teams that play on the West Coast of the United States."

"Hello Peter! Last week you mentioned a few things you were going to be looking for in each of the training camps you visited. On Miami's camp you said you were going to look at Koa Misi and whether he's the real deal or not. Well? And, do you have any other observations on Miami's defense? How are the second-year corners doing? What's the safety position battle looking like? Do you think Randy Starks can handle the NT position? Curious fan south of the border would like to know.''

-- Fernando Villarreal, Monterrey, Mexico

It sounds like someone needs to follow the Dolphins beat writers on Twitter or read the Miami newspaper online.

PK: A couple of observations: There's no doubt in my mind that Miami wants Cameron Wake and Koa Misi to be the bookend rushers on nickel downs -- and, eventually, on every down. They played there throughout practice in 11-on-11 situations when I was watching Sunday. They both have the kind of irrepressible mentality you need to rush the quarterback, and now we'll see if that translates.

There's much confidence in Starks' ability to play the nose. He knows this is his chance to be a big factor in a good defense for the first time in his career. The corners, I think, are works in progress. Miami will be looking for improvement there, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Dolphins were in the market to upgrade there -- though, of course, there's a long line of teams that want to be better at corner.

I pick on Peter King a lot, but Joe Morgan could learn a lot about how Peter King just answered this question. It wasn't a perfect answer, but he gave the questioner the answers he wanted and provided him with more information. Joe Morgan could learn a lot from this simple answer.

"Even though you aren't going to Packers training camp (again), I'd like to get your opinion on something. Last year, the Packers came out and smoked everyone in the preseason, only to get to the regular season and limp to a 4-4 record through Week 8. Do you see that happening again this year? Will the Packers look like the real deal early but falter when the games count? Or do you see them walking the walk this time around?"

-- Corey Livermore, Las Vegas

PK: This is a better team than last year's, and certainly better than the 2008 team.

Now that I have complimented Peter, let me pick on him again. If Peter hasn't seen the Packers in training camp, how does he know they are a better team than the 2008 and 2009 Packers teams? Peter seems pretty certain this is a better team than the Packers playoff team from last year, what does he base this on I wonder?

My biggest worries: 1) How do they adapt without the big body of Johnny Jolly clogging interior lanes. 2) Will they be good enough at corner? 3) Will the old tackles hold up?

So Peter's worries for the Packers is the offensive tackles, whether they can stop the run without Jolly, and whether the corners can stop the pass...but this is a better team than last year's Packers team that made the playoffs?

That's the end of the interesting questions in Peter's mailbag. As usual, he only chose to answer a few of them (five to be exact). Back to Favre...

IF Brett Favre retires, though he won't, I am still not letting him off the hook. Of course I will still be critical of him. IF Favre retires, though he won't, he has really led the Vikings on and pretty much screwed them over. It is not all Favre's fault because the Vikings could have been pro-active in finding another quarterback. If Favre does retire, he has been pretty selfish in waiting so long to let the Vikings know, and Minnesota will go down as just another team he has pissed off as rides off into the sunset/to another team. I really don't go looking for reasons to knock Favre, partially because I don't have to.

All summer the Vikings have pretty much thought Favre was coming back. He hasn't really ever given an indication he wouldn't come back, so the Vikings had no reason to upgrade their quarterback position. I understand if Favre's ankle is really hurting then it makes sense to retire, I will give him that. The Vikings passed up Colt McCoy and Jimmy Clausen in the draft and didn't go after another quarterback in free agency because they assumed (like everyone else did) that Favre was coming back. Favre had delayed this decision for quite a good bit of time. It would have been better to make this decision, if there is one made, a couple months ago.

The Vikings had four options this offseason and Favre screwed them over. Favre probably didn't mean to screw the Vikings over and he had no idea what he was doing. We have to understand that everything is about Brett Favre. He makes everything about him in some way, he's selfish in that way. So while his mind is working around what he has to do or wants to do, he doesn't think, "maybe I should come to a decision sooner rather than later because the Vikings may need to know." It's not that he doesn't care about this, it never crosses his mind at all because he has always been given the impression that he can do whatever he wants to do given the importance of him to the team he plays for. So while the Vikings probably thought through these four options, it never crossed Favre's mind once he probably needs to make a decision on retirement before early August.

1. Sign a free agent quarterback

There are a few problems with this option. Where could the Vikings have found a quarterback that is good enough to start but also wouldn't mind sitting on the bench if Favre came back? At this point Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels would have to be released or kept on the roster through training camp and then possibly cut. Dumping money into a quarterback position that may not be a position of need doesn't seem smart to me. Of course if the Vikings did this they would have a Favre-backup option, but did anyone really believe they needed a Favre-backup option?

2. Draft a quarterback

The problem with this option is the Vikings would need to draft a guy who could beat out Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels or else this guy would just sit on the bench and the team shouldn't have wasted the money on a quarterback anyway. So the Vikings would have had to take a quarterback in the first couple of rounds in the hopes he could start if necessary. Drafting a quarterback this high could hurt Lord Favre's feelings though and he may not decide to come back because he is having visions of the situation in Green Bay where Aaron Rodgers got the quarterback job while Favre was "retired." There's no way the Vikings would have drafted a quarterback if they thought Favre was coming back because they had two backups already in Jackson and Rosenfels. The advantage of drafting a quarterback would have resulted in the Vikings being prepared for life after Favre (or L.A.F. as historians will call it) and would have a life preserver if Favre called it quits.

3. Trade for a quarterback

Obviously the Vikings still have this option. Why would the Vikings have traded for a quarterback before they knew whether Favre would return or not? It just doesn't make sense. The Vikings could still do this of course, but trading for a guy who could become the starter while Favre was still waffling may also have upset Favre and would have inevitably resulted in giving up draft picks to acquire this quarterback. If the Vikings trade for a quarterback, and Favre stays retired, which I don't expect to happen, then they will have to rush this guy to be ready for the first game of the season.

4. Do nothing and hope Favre comes back

This is what the Vikings chose to do and I can't completely blame them. No one thought Favre would retire, and many people still don't think he will retire (including me). So the Vikings didn't do anything and waited for the announcement by Favre that he would play in the 2010 NFL season for the Vikings. Assuming Favre retires, which I don't believe he will, now the Vikings can pretty much kiss option #1 and #2 goodbye. They will have to accept starting either Rosenfels or Jackson this year for a team that very nearly made the Super Bowl last year. I don't really know what the Vikings could have done differently. All indications were that Favre was coming back and now the options the Vikings have are limited to trading for a quarterback or hoping Jackson or Rosenfels step up.

I know he didn't intend to do this because Favre isn't built to think about other people when it comes to decisions like this, but if Favre retires, which I don't think he will, he has put the Vikings in quite a bind. They were one bad throw from the Super Bowl last year and now it appears they will downgrade at quarterback for this upcoming season and will go back to the middle-upper part of the pack in the NFL. Again, Favre hasn't retired, he has just attempted to reclaim the spotlight with a vague text message and the media ran with the story after that. This could all be a move by Favre to get his name back in the forefront (which I believe he is vain enough to want) before the NFL season begins. A simple announcement either way about retirement isn't enough for Favre, he has to make it a soap opera of some sort and yesterday was the first act of this soap opera.

I still absolutely don't believe Favre will retire. Have I mentioned that yet?