Ego trip to absurd circus
Posted: Jun. 13, 2009
Mark Hoffman
Whenever someone philosophizes about "things happening for a reason," it's a good bet they're not talking about something as incidental as the entertainment biz. No one, for example, mentions that it was destined for Paul to leave the Beatles so that the world might be enriched by his solo work.
Even though pro sports fall under the same diversionary big top, maybe there is something meaningful that will come from the ongoing Brett Favre circus after all.
If one more person could be steered away from hero worship because of this farcical theater, then all the divisiveness and minor annoyances of the last year were worthwhile.
First, let it be reiterated that Favre should be free to work for as long as anyone will pay him and for whatever organization that will have him, the Minnesota Vikings included. Let the Vikings dispatch their expeditionary force to south Mississippi this week to poke, prod and otherwise determine if an aging quarterback is still fit to play a brutally relentless young man's game.
But also remember how Favre has revealed his character throughout this mildly amusing episode.
Remember how he flew into Green Bay last summer in one of the most egocentric stunts ever pulled by a professional athlete. Remember how it was his intention all along to play for the Vikings after his first retirement. And remember how he began to distance himself from his teammates by dressing in a private chamber, away from the locker room.
This isn't to say that Favre suddenly became evil incarnate. He is the same person he's always been, neither saint nor sinner, just a guy looking out, as most of us would, for his own best interests while trying to hang on in a ruthless industry. Not the interests of a team that did the right thing by accepting his word at his retirement and moving on. And he certainly did not have your interests at heart.
But as a paying customer, your only obligation was to buy the ticket and take the three-hour ride. While Favre was overly mythologized - and the media bears responsibility here - at the end of the day he was not a whole lot more than Will Ferrell throwing footballs. Any further emotional investment, such as placing a highly paid entertainer on a Mother Teresa-type pedestal, ran the risk of inviting pointless feelings, such as the rage that now exists toward a football player who apparently wants to be identified with a brand marketed as the archenemy.
And that's all the sermonizing that needs to be done on that topic, other than this:
If Favre wants to play for the Vikings because they have a scary good defense and a freak-of-nature running back, and if he truly believes he can somehow stay within himself to become that final piece to get them to the Super Bowl, then more power to him.
But if his driving motivation is to stick it to Ted Thompson, such an impulse would be misplaced and pathetic beyond reason, sort of like the way Warren Spahn ended his Hall of Fame career in New York and San Francisco.
Either way, should Favre decide to further risk his dignity and legacy by dragging himself back on the field with Minnesota, he would do so without the heroic illusions that accompanied his 16 seasons in Green Bay. And there would be the good in crossing over, because if anyone didn't know it by now, these are just guys, most of whom don't play for altruistic reasons.