As a future Pastor, I know that there are much more important things to spend my time pondering and wrestling with than this Brett Favre stuff. I know that following a professional sports team is considered a recreational activity and really has no bearing on my life existence other than giving me an occasional high and frequent low emotional feeling - and that, as much as I love being a fan, I have no real significance when it comes to how my team performs on a daily, weekly or yearly basis. So, with all that said, I really need to vent my frustration and angst over this Favre crisis that has emerged over the last couple months here in Minnesota.
Many of you know that I consider myself a Minnesota Vikings fan and a Green Bay Packers hater. This rivalry goes back as far as I can remember and has just always been a given come football season: cheer for the boys in purple and white and jeer at the boys in green and yellow. Competition between these two teams is always fierce and over the course of a particular 16 year span, much the Vikings fans' anger, smack talk and general disdain was toward a certain quarterback by the name of Brett Favre. It took me years of inner reflection and courage in order to acknowledge my respect for #4 as a football player, as my intense loyalty towards the Vikes kept those feelings at bay. However, with time I grew to appreciate Favre's enthusiasm and grit for the game of football, even though he played for the dreaded Packer Nation of Green Bay, Wisconsin. It was this respect that made beating the Packers that much more special.
And now? Ugh. In a word, I am conflicted. Conflicted beyond all belief. This fiasco has brought many ill feelings about the National Football League to the surface as I struggle to come to grips with what this means for me as a Vikings and NFL fan. I simply cannot shake it off for the sake of achieving a long-awaited championship title. Brett Favre signing with the Vikings has been much more vexing on my conscience than I care to admit and I refuse to join the bandwagon. Whereas many supporters of his courtship and eventual landing seem to have forgotten or disconnected from those 16 years of rivalry against #4, I have not. I don't know if this is just a case of unhealthy loyalty, stubborn refusal of acceptance or inability to forget those many games where he flat out broke my purple and white heart - but I am one Minnesota Vikings fan who is not on board with Favre Fevre.
It does not help the cause whatsoever that this has been such a drawn all drama capturing the headlines during the offseason for the past three years - the tearful goodbye, return #1 and the constant will he or won't he over and over and over again. I was jubilant when he said he was staying retired at the end of July. I was downright disgusted when he was suddenly signed and at practice a few weeks later. I have avoided the sports page for the last couple weeks, not wanting to even glimpse him on the cover being gushed over by the same writers and so-called Vikings fans who detested the man only a few years ago. I remember a few years ago when Randy Moss was a free agent and Favre made it known he wanted the Packers to sign him. I thought that if that had happened I would've felt betrayed as a Vikings fan and he was a Viking for only 7 years and was at the time an Oakland Raider! Now, compare that to Favre's 16 year career with a division rival. It's not right. Despite the falling out that occured with his retirement and the obvious failures between both parties over his un-retirement and release - all Favre has done over the last few years is tarnish his integrity and feed his ego - which has led me to sink to a new low...feeling sorry for the Packers fans! Ugh - this is simply a lose-lose situation every which way.
I keep hearing Vikings country say: "Seeing him as a Viking just doesn't feel right....but it'll feel right when we win a Superbowl." I couldn't disagree more. In fact, if it doesn't feel right now, it'll only feel worse if they won a Superbowl. A Packer being the missing piece to a Viking championship?! Blasphemy! I don't know - to me, I just feel like the sports purist in me can't overlook or separate someone like Favre as just an athlete. The selfish, entitled and egotistical human being that has come to light over the last few years overshadows anything special he'll do on the football field this year. I realize that the NFL and just about any professional sports league is a business and all about the $$ - but this just pushes me over the edge. I want to follow and cheer for the Vikings - it's been an integral part of my life for so long - but I don't know how I will be able to do that with #4 under center given all the greed, desperation and disloyalty (on his part and the Vikings organization) he represents. I know watching them this year would provide a higher likelihood of entertainment & enjoyment given last year's QB debacle between T-Jack and Old Man Ferrotte, and Lord knows I love seeing Adrian Peterson tear through the opposing defenders and Jared Allen's QB Sack total rise each week...but actually cheering for Favre when all that within me feels betrayed by such an act? I don't think I'm able. I'm an underdog at heart so I think I was slightly better off hoping Rosenfels, T-Jack or Booty would get a shot at leading the purple and white to glory - letting them earn their stripes and relying on the team to pull each other along. Putting all my Superbowl aspirations in the hands of a retired Green Bay Packer with a banged up arm is not the answer and confidence I need for this Minnesotan fan. Instead, I think I'll just see what the Golden Gopher football team is up to this year.
Go Twins!
