Favre Season

I wrote the following article with the express purpose of submitting it to the site, Pardon My Bias. I have just submitted it and now I wait to see if they find it worthy of publishing.

John Schaenzer

July 25, 2010

There have always been two major seasons each year in the Twin Cities, winter and road construction. Last summer a new season was interjected as the Vikings fans were introduced to Favre season with the swirling drama of will he or won’t he play or retire. In an area where newscasts are regularly driven by weather and traffic, the Favre watch interjected itself to overwhelming levels. There was even a helicopter with video coverage of Coach Brad Childress picking up his new quarterback from the airport akin to the O.J. low speed pursuit.

This Favre Season is rather low key by comparison. The mystery of will he or won’t he seems almost non-existent. Oh, the question is still asked in some quarters such as a news anchor setting up the sportscaster or non-fans or the most casual of fans making small talk with an obvious sports fan. The local sports radio station hypes it a little bit as a matter of standard fare and to keep those phones ringing as the Twins stumble through the middle of their season. Popular consensus appears to be that there is really little to no question that the future Hall of Famer will return for a twentieth season.

What has changed from last year to this? First, Favre is actually under contract this year which has eliminated all the drama of which teams he was wooing and who was courting him. Then there is the legitimate ankle injury of which photos were on regular display and for which he had surgery. Some say that he wouldn’t have had the surgery had he not planned on returning this season. Whether that is true or not, only he really knows why he had the operation performed. But, he is reportedly running the stadium steps with a weighted vest which is a little more aggressive than the normal rehab exercises. Throw in the lack of pursuit by Minnesota of Donovan McNabb or any other signal caller and the opinion is formed that the team had some kind of assurance that there was enough gas in the tank for year two of the contract to be fulfilled.

Coach Childress recently made his pilgrimage to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to visit his prize QB. Word has it that no deadline was set for Bret to report and that Chili wanted him to do what was “right for him”. Whether it is pop psychology or sincere or more media gamesmanship is immaterial. The stage is set for the grandpa to skip most of training camp and report to the team after leaving their training facilities in Mankato and migrating northward to Winter Park in Eden Prairie, a southwestern suburb of Minneapolis. There is little to no question that Favre will be here when he tires of throwing to the high school kids and when the tractor is ready to be parked. The ongoing debate has shifted to whether or not he should be allowed the special treatment of being dismissed from most of training camp. If the performance last year is any indication, who cares?

The fact of the matter is that Bret Favre has been around a long time and he isn’t in the mix of six to ten year veterans. He is an old man that has earned the right to save a little wear and tear on the body and more importantly, the arm. He has no problem with camaraderie on this team unlike reports that came from the Jets season. He knows the offense that is used in Minnesota. He is rehabbing the ankle and keeping the distraction around the team to a minimum. And one benefit is that the number two and three guys are getting those valuable repetitions by not losing snaps to the starter. Those are the guys that need the training part of training camp. So we’ll see you after week two Mr. Favre when you arrive with little fanfare in mid-August.

Variety - Sports Page