Brett Favre, putting the 'me' in team
By Sally Jenkins
WashPost
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
This is not what Brett Favre expected. He could really use a hug. Give, give, give, all he does is give, and what does he get in return? Not what he expected. Oh, the suffering, the repeated blows to his dignity, to be paid $16 million for one more season of perpetual, unending, exasperating boyhood.
"I would never have expected to be in this situation," Favre said after the Minnesota Vikings fell to 3-7 on Sunday. He didn't expect what? To age? To be exposed as a juvenile Peter Pan narcissist, on and off the field? He didn't expect his offseason lassitude to result in losses, quarrels and a league-leading number of interceptions? He didn't expect to be investigated for seedy stalking, allegedly sending inappropriate messages and images to Jenn Sterger as an attempt at seduction? Mainly, it seems Favre didn't expect to be denied the abject hero worship and Super Bowl he believes is his perennial due.
Here's Favre, throwing his 17th interception Sunday, and yet he has the nerve to argue with and wave off offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell on the sideline. Here's Favre, dragging a whole franchise into his retirement psychodrama for the past two summers, and helping to cost Brad Childress his job as coach. Yet he has the effrontery to suggest it's a personal sacrifice for him to play out this losing season, as if 20 years in the league should have entitled him to some sort of get-out-of-adversity-free card.
If there is a theme in the NFL this week, it's the heavy, heavy toll a team pays when a quarterback's ego runs amok. By the time last Sunday was over, after watching the histrionics of Favre and Vince Young, I half-enjoyed seeing Richard Seymour drop Ben Roethlisberger with one punch.
(More here.)
WashPost
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
This is not what Brett Favre expected. He could really use a hug. Give, give, give, all he does is give, and what does he get in return? Not what he expected. Oh, the suffering, the repeated blows to his dignity, to be paid $16 million for one more season of perpetual, unending, exasperating boyhood.
"I would never have expected to be in this situation," Favre said after the Minnesota Vikings fell to 3-7 on Sunday. He didn't expect what? To age? To be exposed as a juvenile Peter Pan narcissist, on and off the field? He didn't expect his offseason lassitude to result in losses, quarrels and a league-leading number of interceptions? He didn't expect to be investigated for seedy stalking, allegedly sending inappropriate messages and images to Jenn Sterger as an attempt at seduction? Mainly, it seems Favre didn't expect to be denied the abject hero worship and Super Bowl he believes is his perennial due.
Here's Favre, throwing his 17th interception Sunday, and yet he has the nerve to argue with and wave off offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell on the sideline. Here's Favre, dragging a whole franchise into his retirement psychodrama for the past two summers, and helping to cost Brad Childress his job as coach. Yet he has the effrontery to suggest it's a personal sacrifice for him to play out this losing season, as if 20 years in the league should have entitled him to some sort of get-out-of-adversity-free card.
If there is a theme in the NFL this week, it's the heavy, heavy toll a team pays when a quarterback's ego runs amok. By the time last Sunday was over, after watching the histrionics of Favre and Vince Young, I half-enjoyed seeing Richard Seymour drop Ben Roethlisberger with one punch.
(More here.)
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