Don't dump too much on Brett Favre without knowing history of Lambeau, Lombardi
The booing will thunder through Lambeau Field on Sunday night at about the same decibel level as the pregame flyover.
And there will be those in the media who just fell off the turnip truck dispensing screeds about Brett Favre committing the most egregious betrayal in the history of the Green Bay Packers.
Theres nothing wrong with fans voicing their displeasure or treating Favre as a public enemy for signing with the Minnesota Vikings. And theres nothing unusual about pundits writing or babbling about subjects on which they have little or no historical perspective.
But in truth, the messy divorce between Favre and the Packers is just history recycling itself. And unless human behavior has changed as the result of web rants, around-the-clock sports talk and instant communication, all will be forgiven and forgotten in due time.
Want evidence of that? It can be seen in those two imposing statues that greet visitors to the Lambeau Field Atrium.
If youre going to talk about bitter breakups or someone putting the screws to the Packers organization, the conversation probably should start with Curly Lambeau and Vince Lombardi.
Lambeau, co-founder of the Packers and torchbearer of the franchise for 31 years in his various roles as captain, coach, vice president and general manager, resigned without warning Feb. 1, 1950, to take charge of the Chicago Cardinals.
Two months earlier, a divided Packers board of directors voted to extend Lambeaus expiring contract for two years during a rancorous meeting at the Brown County Courthouse. The four-hour session was so highly charged that observers standing outside the door could hear directors shouting at one other.
The battle between Lambeau and his antagonists didnt end there. Before the meeting, Lambeau demanded that his enemies be removed from the board, that he be given total control over the corporation and that he be allowed to live in California for half the year. Former team President Dr. W.W. Kelly resigned from the board after being on the losing side, but the two other leaders of the anti-Lambeau faction, team attorney Jerry Clifford and the franchises other founder, George Whitney Calhoun, did not.
At some point, Lambeau also sought to take ownership of the team with the backing of other investors, according to the book, The Packer Legend: An Inside Look, written by the late John Torinus, a former member of the teams executive committee. That plan would have abolished the publicly owned, nonprofit corporation that has served the Packers so well in the years since.
As the infighting continued, Lambeaus contract expired before a new one was presented to him; and for whatever reason, the latter never got signed. Thats why he was able to abruptly jump ship when he did.
Lombardi asked to be released from his contract as general manager of the Packers on Feb. 3, 1969, so he could become coach, general manager and part owner of the Washington Redskins. A year earlier, he had stepped down as coach of the Packers after winning a third straight NFL championship.
By the start of training camp in 1968, Lombardi regretted that decision and in late November when the Packers traveled to Washington to play the Redskins, he met with their owner, Edward Bennett Williams, and, based on several accounts, paved the way for his return to coaching.
Lombardi had five years remaining on his contract with the Packers plus, his deal apparently included a clause that prevented him from coaching anywhere else, based on a Press-Gazette story at the time but he never bothered to inform them he was engaged in talks with Williams. Lombardi later said the Redskins asked him for permission and that was good enough to satisfy the leagues tampering rule. Yes, Vince Lombardi asked General Manager Vince Lombardi, he said.
On Jan. 28, 1969, four days before turning in his letter of resignation, Lombardi declined to participate in the NFL draft. He sat in his office at Lambeau Field and allowed coach Phil Bengtson to call the shots in the Packers draft room.
The result was one of the most disastrous drafts in team history. Bengtson chose defensive tackle and colossal bust Rich Moore in the first round over the protests of his scouting staff, then whiffed two more times in the second and third rounds on Dave Bradley and John Spilis.
Once Lombardi asked to be released from his contract, the Packers balked at first. But after two days of agonizing and a two-hour emergency meeting of the board, they granted his wish.
Lambeau and Lombardi emerged from those events largely unscathed in terms of media criticism. The Packers took the high road in both cases and expressed little or no ill will. And back then, fans had nowhere to vent other than in their inner circles.
The brouhaha was over within days, if not hours. Whats more, it should have been.
Even if Lambeau and Lombardi harmed or at least endangered the Packers franchise more than Favre on their way out of town, they did nothing that was terribly wrong. They acted in their self interests with little regard for the Packers, their fans or anyone else.
But so what?
Thats how the National Football League works. Thats business as usual. Thats life.