SPEAKING THE UNSPEAKABLE

OK, I’ll say it: this Wisconsinite (who admittedly is not a Packer fan) is sick to death of Brett Favre. Not of the man personally; I’m sure he’s a decent, upstanding citizen whom anyone would love to have as a next-door neighbor. But, as I watched a four-minute orgy of self-congratulation on the FOX 6 news tonight, with a bunch of Packer fans positively giddy that Favre will be returning for another season, I officially decided I’m done with the guy. He’s a sure-shot, first-ballot Hall of Fame player, and I’m glad I got to see him play. But I can’t stand the personality cult that surrounds him anymore.

Again, I don’t fault Favre himself for this. I’ve learned enough about him to know that he would be perfectly happy if nobody talked about him at all, ever. And I’m sure you non-Wisconsinites don’t know what the big deal is. For a solid three and a half months now, we’ve had to endure a steady stream of “will he or won’t he?” talk from every imaginable source. Not just sports talk radio–I’m talking about the political talk shows as well. And every other possible avenue of discourse. It seems that, for the last couple months, nobody in this state has really had any interest in talking about anything else.

It’s been a hard couple of years for the guy, I know. I also know that nobody would’ve faulted him for deciding to hang it up, since his wife is sick, he’s had a flotilla of personal tragedies to deal with, and (WARNING! THE FOLLOWING PHRASE MAY BE OFFENSIVE TO PACKER FANS! PARENTAL GUIDANCE IS SUGGESTEDREQUIRED! NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR SPILLED BEVERAGES!) he’s just not quite the dominating quarterback he once was. He benefits from playing in the second-weakest division in the NFL (only the NFC West is worse, and only because the Cardinals and 49ers are marginally worse than the Bears and Lions), and without Ahman Green, he’d get sacked more often than a 40-oz of Mickey’s. He’s still respected, mind you. But who’s afraid of him anymore?

Anyway, he’s coming back for one more season, and bully for him; I truly wish him luck. Can we talk about something else now? Anything else?