Is Brett Favre REALLY done?

[SicC]

Sources: Packers say Vikings tampered with Favre

As the days roll by, the Brett Favre saga seems to get stranger and stranger. Now the soap opera has shifted to a new level.

In the latest twist, the Packers have filed tampering charges with the league office against the Minnesota Vikings for alleged communication with Favre, still technically a member of Green Bay, FOXSports.com has learned. The league, according to a source, is currently in information-gathering mode, speaking to members of both teams.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told The Associated Press that the league had no public comment on the report. Packers general manager Ted Thompson declined to comment on tampering rumors in an interview with the AP on Saturday.

The Vikings were informed late last week that the allegation is that Favre has had inappropriate dialogue with Minnesota offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, a close Favre friend and former assistant coach with the Packers. Favre has sought his release from Green Bay and several rumors have swirled that Minnesota is his targeted landing place, largely due to his relationship with Bevell.

League sources say the Vikings vehemently denied any wrongdoing and are awaiting the league's next step in the process. The Packers, meanwhile, have supplied the league with their version of wrongdoing.

Should the league find the Vikings guilty of tampering, they could lose draft picks and/or face fines.

The entire affair escalated to an ugly level this week when Favre conducted an interview with FOX News' Greta Van Susteren in which the living legend took the Packers to task for refusing to release him. In fact, a leaked version of the transcript had Favre blasting GM Ted Thompson, but in another odd twist, that portion of the interview has not been shown on the air.

The Packers have refused to grant the league's all-time leading passer's request for a release due in part to their fear that he would sign with the Vikings. Despite the wave of speculation, Vikings head coach Brad Childress insists that Tarvaris Jackson is his guy.

The entire affair is unfortunate, as Favre is more synonymous with Green Bay than any other player is with a city. At the same time, however, fans are now forced to make judgments for or against their hometown hero/team.

Calls by FOXSports.com to head coaches of both teams have not yet been returned.

 

[Devious]

read about this in the paper today. so if this is true, it just makes Brett look even worse, since he was working on making a deal with another team while still being signed to the Packers. it may shed a little more light on the real reason Favre was asking for his release. i don't want to jump to conclusions since these allegations have yet to be proven, but if they are i will lose a whole lot of respect for Brett.

 

[SicC]

Dear Ted Thompson:

Hi, my name is Jason Whitlock. I'm sure you've heard of me. My reputation in football circles is well established.
I'm the guy who told Bill Belichick to stick with Tom Brady over Drew Bledsoe years ago. When Bill Polian was debating Peyton Manning vs. Ryan Leaf, I was the voice on the phone at 2 a.m. the morning of the draft assuring Polian that Manning was the right choice. I told Parcells to take a long look at an undrafted quarterback from Eastern Illinois.

I know quarterbacks, how they think, what motivates them and whether they're any good.

You're in a jam in Green Bay with Brett Favre. You need me. You need my guidance, my expertise. If you're not careful, you're going to continue to mismanage this situation and go down in history as the dumbest general manager in the history of professional sports.

Yeah, the stakes are that high.

This thing with Favre is bigger than football. He's a modern-day Babe Ruth, an American sports icon capable of no wrong, a symbol of American might. You realize when Boston foolishly unloaded The Bambino, it caused the Red Sox to go 486 years without a World Series title?

Do you want to be responsible for the curse of The Mississippi Hickey?

That's what I call Brett, "The Mississippi Hickey." John Madden's lips have been on Brett's ass so long there's a permanent hickey on Brett's right cheek. Greta Van Susteren put one on Brett's left cheek earlier this week with her lust-filled interview.

The point is the media love Brett Favre. You can't win this pissing match. No one is really going to be on your side. They might pretend to be on your side in July and August. But by the time we get to December, when playoff seeds are being decided, their support will be totally dictated by the NFL standings.

It's just not worth the risk.

It doesn't matter that Brett is a little goofy, a whole lot selfish and thinks he knows more about running a football team than you. Get your ego out of this equation. At all times you're supposed to do what's best for your football team in 2008.

You cannot possibly believe Aaron Rodgers gives the Packers a better chance at winning in 2008 than Brett Favre. If you do, you are the dumbest general manager in the history of professional sports. I don't believe you're that stupid.

Brett threw for 4,155 yards and 28 touchdowns last season. He completed a career-high 66.5 percent of his passes and averaged a career-high 7.8 yards per attempt. He led your team to the NFC Championship. He was as good as he's ever been in his career, and the continued maturation of Greg Jennings and the addition of rookie Jordy Nelson are only going to make The Mississippi Hickey even more effective.

You don't discard the Pro Bowl quarterback who came within three points of the Super Bowl just because he's a 38-year-old diva who doesn't want to play football in March.

Here's my solution. Call a press conference immediately — today, if not sooner. Announce that you're a huge Barack Obama supporter, you got swept up in the mania and wanted to do your part to show America how far we've come in terms of racial equality.

Say that you took a dump on Brett Favre to show Ray Lewis that NFL franchises will disrespect any and all of their employees regardless of color.

You remember when Rev. Ray Ray went on national TV and claimed that Brett Favre and Peyton Manning, two of the best quarterbacks in the history of the league, would never be treated as poorly as the Titans treated Steve McNair, a three-time Pro Bowler whose career is a shade below Rich Gannon's?

After a 4-12, 16-TD, 11-interception season, the Titans had the audacity to cut ties with and lock out their nine-year starting quarterback from the team's training facilities. Oh, the horror, indignity and racism of it all. A fired employee got escorted out of the building. That never happens.

 

[SicC]

You have him positioned perfectly now. All the pressure will be on Brett this season. He'll need to be disciplined and play at a very high level or he'll take all the heat for putting the Packers in an awful position during the offseason.

That's my advice. Take it or leave it. The last guy not to listen to me was former Kansas City Chiefs head coach John Mackovic when he passed on Dan Marino and took Todd Blackledge in the 1983 draft.

Sincerely,

Jason Whitlock