There’s a game called word association. You hear a word and say the first thing that comes to your mind. I’ve been toiling with this concept in my own mind and it’s created quite the conflict. Here’s what I mean;

Competitor….Brett Favre

Gunslinger….Brett Favre

Diva….Brett Favre

Liar….Brett Favre

Team player….Brett Favre

Winner….Brett Favre

Loser….Brett Favre

Spectacular….Brett Favre

Selfish….Brett Favre

Gutsy….Brett Favre

Cowardly….Brett Favre

See what I mean? There are so many adjectives that now describe one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time that it creates an emotional inner conflict. A lot of you fans have been going through the same rollercoaster of emotions. To cheer for, to cheer against…that’s the question.

“I don’t want to be a distraction”, Favre proclaimed last week. Yesterday, Favre landed at Austin Straubel Airport and, instead of heading to his condo to settle in with his wife Deanna, he promptly drove to Lambeau Field, headed straight up to his suite where he was standing in front of the window and waving to the crowd as if he were Shaq and was just traded to Phoenix for the playoff run. Not bad for a guy that didn’t want to be a distraction. Oh yeah, this was on the same night his supposed friend Aaron Rodgers was to take over the reigns of the organization. Talk about overshadowing a teammate. The ultimate team player, I think not.

Brett told FOX’s Greta Van Susteren that he just wanted to play football. It wasn’t about another team and it specifically wasn’t about the Vikings, it was about playing only for the Green Bay Packers. The NFL Commissioner, Rodger Goodell, had to go to Favre and ask him why he wouldn’t talk to the Jets or the Buccaneers, when both teams were given permission to talk with him. Brett told Goodell that he was only interested in talking to the Vikings….or the Bears….if the Packers weren’t going to have him back (the Bears were just a “throw in” to remove tampering suspicion). Brett went on to say that if he couldn’t play for the Packers, then he wanted to beat them twice a year.

Brett Favre once admitted to me, in an interview in 2004, that he played for so many straight games, even when he was injured; because he was deathly afraid of losing his job the way Majkowski lost his.

Brett retired. Why did he retire? He wasn’t asked enough or in the right way or begged on bended knee to come back so he took his ball and went home. When Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy said, “OK, we’re moving on”, Brett came running back, stomping his feet saying, “No, wait a minute, I’ve got the itch and I wanna play and you have to let me”. Why did he come running back? Because Brett was faced with the reality that he’s going to lose his job, the only job that he’s known since he was big enough to climb down off of Irv’s knee.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m in the camp of most, Brett, on paper, gives the Packers the best proven opportunity to win, no doubt about that. But, on the other hand, Brett’s true personality has come out and has revealed the ugliness that seems to accompany most superstars. He’s no better. He’s tarnished. He’s nothing more than a “me first” superstar who believes that he’s bigger than the organization and maybe even the game itself. The unfortunate thing about this whole situation is that there’s now a precedent that’s been set in the NFL, if you’re a superstar, you can pretty much do whatever you want and the commissioner will endorse it.

I want to see the Packers win but not like this.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, if you see Brett, ask him if, other than the ESPY’s, did he ever call and explain his side of this whole mess to (using Brett’s words) his good friend Aaron Rodgers? Last I checked, Brett cared so much that he didn’t bother to even pick up the phone and call (or text more likely) Aaron to tell him his side of the story.

I completely respect Brett’s play. I’ve admired his competitiveness. He’s brought tears to my eyes in dramatic situations. But, I no longer respect him. He’s a soon to be 39 year old quarterback who can’t really make up his mind yet wants his team to beholden only to him at any cost. That’s my image of Brett the person. You may be able to win with Brett but really have you won?