I really hate to have to say this – hate that it’s come to this – but I am totally done with Brett Favre. Why couldn’t he have just retired gracefully? Everyone has to sooner or later. Of course, if he can still play and still wants to play there’s no reason why he should retire but I just really hate all the false drama and his wanting to play for the Vikings is absolutely the last straw.
Rooting for Green Bay is sort of a family tradition and I first got interested in football during the Packers good years. At the time they had several really great players. They were a great deal of fun to watch. I still want to like the Packers without Favre but they’re not as much fun to watch as they used to be. Honestly, they haven’t been as fun to watch for the past several years. I watched a couple of Jets games last season but I’ve never had much interest in that team and even with my former favorite quarterback I couldn’t manage to work up any enthusiasm. I’m in football limbo. A fan without a team.
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If there’s one thing that makes me want to stick my head in the sand it’s the accusation against Ben Roethlisberger. Naturally my first thought is that he seems like such a nice, decent guy and I don’t want to believe it but I know you never can tell. People can surprise and disappoint you. On the other hand, why did the woman wait a year and then not file criminal charges but instead a lawsuit. That seems to support Roethlisberger’s innocence and suggests that the woman is just after money but I’m thinking there at least had to have been some kind of circumstances that she could twist in order to make the charges seem like they might be true. Anyway…. la la la la la la…. don’t want to hear anymore.
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Should Michael Vick play again? Last year I was saying, “No! Never!” but now I’m thinking, “Yes. Maybe.” The proper message to send is that if a person who has committed a crime cleans up his act he can put his past behind him and live a normal, respectable life. So the question is, “Is Michael Vick truly reformed or is he just going through the motions so he can play football again?”
July 23rd, 2009 - 8:49 am
I agree with you on Farve. (I don’t know enough about the Roethlisberger situation. And I guess I agree with you on Vick, with the caveat that if he screws up again, he should probably be out permanently.)
It’s better for someone to leave on a high note, and not alienate the fan-base. But some players/entertainers don’t seem to recognize that.
July 24th, 2009 - 6:27 am
Vick will most assuredly relapse into some act(s) of abhorrent criminality or deviance. It\’s how he\’s wired. If you\’re capable or torturing and killing animals you\’re capable of far worse. Numerous studies exploring the background of serial killers, rapists, arsonists and the otherwise criminally deranged reveal the youthful torture and abuse of animals. Vick is a bad egg, and as bad egss will do the stench evidences the rot within.
July 24th, 2009 - 6:53 am
I think you’re probably right, Steve. I want to believe that anyone can be reformed but if there is a way giving the “bad egg” money and fame isn’t it. I believe that almost everyone deserves a second chance but the problem in professional sports is that they keep giving players third chances and fourth chances and so on.
July 27th, 2009 - 9:43 pm
You may be sure Steve is right, except that there is nothing to relapse. That is who he is.
Brutality and cleverness, which Vick has, are often substitutes for intelligence, but Vick is just not intelligent enough to QB in the NFL near the level of his talent. Strange though it may seem, Favre was, so it’s not something you want to try to judge by appearances. I’d be surprised if, with all the things NFL teams wish to know before drafting a player in the first round, they didn’t by this time insist on IQ tests for QB’s.
Earl Weaver was the first manager to institute that test for all his players back in the day while he was at AAA level. He found things about his players he needed to know. One extremely talented but unsuccessful pitcher had, it seemed, an IQ of 60. Weaver changed his approach to this fellows game to help him.
July 27th, 2009 - 11:57 pm
I’m a long time Packers fan, and it would eat me up to see Favre play for the Vikings, but a tiny part of me wouldn’t mind seeing him have that elusive “beat all 32 teams” line on his brag sheet.