This could do it...

As many of my friends know, I am a life long fan of the Green Bay Packers. I remember watching them when Lynn Dickey was throwing to Phillip Epps & James Lofton. I remember the year we all put our hope in Eddie Lee Ivory. I'm still (to this day) ticked off that they took Tony Mandarich in the draft while Barry Sanders was still available!

Of course, I don't live in Wisconsin any more. I live closer to the Carolina Panthers, who I have adopted as my 2nd team. Still, I never considered that I would ever give any other team the number one spot other than the Packers. Until now.

Brett Favre wants to come back from retirement. The Packers have not taken a stand on the issue and Brett has officially requested that the Packers release him. I am going just batty contemplating the possibilities of such a release. There are 3 other teams in the NFC North that don't have much of a QB. And Minnesota would LOVE to have him. And I suspect that he'd love to play for his former QB coach (Darrel Bevel - ex-QB for the Wisconsin Badgers) who is now the offensive coordinator of the Vikings.

I'd never really thought that anything could cause me to not be a Packer fan. But I think that this could do it. If Brett wants to play, the Packers should *BEG* him to come play for them. I understand that the Packers are in a tough situation. They want Aaron Rodgers to take over the team. But good grief! How do you push out Brett Favre for Aaron Rodgers, who has potential, but not much else. On the other hand, #4 has 3 MVPs, a SuperBowl and pretty much single handedly put the Green Bay back on the NFL map after more than 2 decades of horrible play. Not to mention that he had a fantastic season last year.

If they trade him, or worse, they release him, I'm not sure I could stand to root against the guy. I'm not sure I could stand the dissonance of rooting for a purple-clad Brett Favre, while hoping that the rest of that awful team fell to the ground sucking their thumbs in the fetal position. Much less having to contemplate rooting for the Packers and for the Viqueens QB.

If, on the other hand, Brett Favre came to the Panthers, as some have suggested as a possibility, it would almost certainly make them my favorite team.

But of course, what I really hope happens is that the Packers' brass stops being so stupid and announce Brett Favre as a Green Bay Packer for the 2008 season.