Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Is Favre turning into a lockerroom cancer?

Well, the 8 people who read this site may jump on me for this, but frankly this is a legit question. I know it's heresy to say anything negative about Brett Favre in Packerland but hear me out.

Brett has done several big red flag items that one associates with players who are considered "cancers". From selfish comments and actions to outright disagreements with management, it's all there.

First there was the usual waffling on if he was going to retire. After 3 seasons of this, it can offically be classified as severely selfish and distracting behavior. It casts a huge shadow over the team and Brett is putting himself before the Packers with this need for a media circus. Brett knows this and it's obvious that he loves the attention, even if it's not as blatant as how other players show it.

Second there was the story of Favre essentially asking for a trade after TT failed to land Moss from Oakland. When a teams most famous (and arguably best) player and leader starts questioning managments direction of the team it does several things: One it causes the other players to start wondering if the right moves are being made themselves and they may lose faith in the system that put in place. They say confidence is contagious, but so is lack of confidence. And two, what message is the trade demand saying about the guys on the team? You know, the guys Brett has to work with every day? It says "these guys aren't good enough to win". This is a huge slap in the face to the rest of the team. McKenzie and Walker wanted out for more money and they were spat on by fans as they left, what Favre is saying and doing is far worse.

Third, now we are hearing that he wants to miss a manditory mini-camp. He states that he is hurt and won't practice anyway plus there are family things he wants to do. The camp is to get the vets to meet the rookies, get them familiar with each other and build up some team chemistry. It's friggin' MANDITORY! Yes, everyone else would rather spend more time with their families than go to work, but that's not how it goes with a job, deal with it. But Brett's already said through his actions that this team is not worthy of him anyway. This is simply another slap in the face of the coaches and teammates.


How can Brett effectively lead this team when his actions are saying that he doesn't believe in them?

If one would put virtually any other name instead of Favre in the above scenarios, many of the Packer fans would agree that this person could very well be considered a "cancer". We need to take off the green and gold glasses and set down the Kool-Aid for a minute and look at this objectively. When a player puts himself up as more important than any of the other players and the management and coaches and starts vocalizing it, especially if that player is in a position of great influence like Favre is, that bears serious consideration of being a "cancer".

These are thoughts for discussion. Feel free to comment.

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