It's official: Brett's now a Jet. The New York press will have a field day this year, with a legend quarterbacking the Jets while the Giants and Eli Manning try to defend their Super Bowl title.
And the Packers? After the trade the best management could do was go into Ari Fleischer bamboozle mode. From the GB Press Gazette:
“Brett has had a long and storied career in Green Bay, and the Packers owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude for everything he accomplished on the field and for the impact he made in the state. It is with some sadness that we make this announcement, but also with the desire for certainty that will allow us to move the team and organization forward in the most positive way possible.
“We respect Brett’s decision that he could no longer remain here as a Packer. But there were certain things we were not willing to do because they were not in the best interest of the team. We were not going to release him nor trade him to a team within the division. When Brett ultimately decided that he still wanted to play football, but not in Green Bay, we told him that we would work to find the best solution for all parties involved. We wish Brett and his family well.
“We appreciate the tremendous passion shown by our fans. We, like them, always will see Brett Favre as a Green Bay Packer and our respect for him never will change. Moving forward, we are dedicated to delivering a successful 2008 season for all Packers fans.”
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ms-favrerodgers080508&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
Eh, I think this link says it better.
I think the Yahoo guy is right on only if we accept the same assumptions about pro-sports that he apparently accepts uncritically: Pro football is a business, Thompson makes management decisions for the business, that business owns the "rights" to players like Favre, etc.
I believe that at some level all pro athletes, even though they make good money, understand that the dehumanizing and demeaning quality of those assumptions. So here we get a guy like Brett Favre--all time TD pass king, super bowl champ, brought all kinds of great attention to Wisconsin, made tons of money for lots of people--I'm sure at some level he says to himself, "after all of that, I STILL can't decide who I want to play for? The management STILL has the rights to me?"
I kind of wish the Pack had simply released Brett and let him go to the Vikings. That would have guaranteed at least two extremely exciting games this year, and it would have allowed the Pack to take a genuinely high road; i.e. "Brett, after all you have done for this franchise and this league, you have earned the right to decide how you want to close out your career."
What happened in the last few days was not a victory for Favre, the Packers, or the fans. Rather, it was a victory for the vulgar side of the business of sports, the idea that an athlete's longevity with or loyalty to an organization ALWAYS comes in a far second place to management's "right" to do whatever it pleases with him.
Post a Comment