Favre thoroughfare to be Aaron Rodgers' Boulevard of Broken Dreams?
By Gregg Doyel | CBSSports.com National Columnist Follow GreggAfter Brett Favre retired last month from the Packers, the city of Green Bay announced plans to name a street after the great quarterback. Problem is, city officials still can't decide which street.
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| Aaron Rodgers is ready to step out from Brett Favre's shadow. (Getty Images) |
The whole thing is ridiculous, but it can be salvaged with some outside-the-box thinking. Green Bay officials and Favre are clearly too confused to do it themselves, but they're in luck. I've come up with some ideas that should help both parties.
Pick out a street that allows a U-turn ...
Drivers will experience what it feels like to be like Brett. Go this way. Turn around and go back. Repeat. It ought to be great for business on that street, with cars going back and forth all day.
We've already been here with Favre, remember. We were here last year, too. He announced after the 2006 season that he would decide shortly whether to retire or return in 2007. Shortly dragged on and on, getting in the way of the Packers' offseason plans. Finally Favre decided to return, but only after milking the process for every headline he could get.
It's sad, but it's predictable. He did it again after the 2007 season, saying a decision would come within days, and he was right on the money if by "days" he meant 46 of them. The Packers' season ended Jan. 20 in the NFC title game. He announced his retirement March 6. That means the entire month of February came and went without a decision from Favre -- and this was a leap year.
Favre's so predictable that on the day he retired, our very own Mike Freeman wrote a story based on his inevitable return to action. And Freeman's a knucklehead.
So are members of the Green Bay city council. So here's another idea for Brett Favre Boulevard.
Pick a one-way street ...
Because that's the way it is with Favre: a one-way street. It's his way or ... his way. Nobody else matters. Not the Packers' quarterback of the present future, Aaron Rodgers, who has been trying to gear up for his first year as the starter but now must prepare to gear down if Favre returns. Not the Packers' coaching staff, which must tailor one offense around Rodgers while being ready to tailor another around Favre. Not the Packers' front office, which had to rush through free agency after Favre's late decision to retire and now will enter the draft with Favre back on the fence.
This is a one-way street, all the way. The team isn't asking him to come back. Near as I can tell, he isn't asking the team, either. He's going to tell them, one way or the other. Because he's Brett Favre, dammit. And Brett Favre doesn't ask questions. He gives answers.
Which brings me back to the road, and my answer to the city council's conundrum.
An interstate on-ramp, something with a quick merge ...
Because Favre is coming. Or he's not. Either way, it's not going to be up to Favre to merge with the Packers. It will be up to the Packers to merge with Favre -- because if he's coming, he's coming. Ready or not.
This is why I don't think Favre is very smart. I never have, and this solidifies it. He must think that building a football team is as simple as looking onto the practice field in July and seeing who shows up. Never mind that the team has to build its offensive personnel, not to mention its entire payroll, around a roster that will, or won't, have a future Hall of Fame quarterback.
Draft day is coming fast, and now the Packers face a dilemma: Do they draft a certain kind of player -- say a lineman or a receiver -- around the possibility that Favre will be back? Or do they draft around the different skill set of Rodgers?
Favre's timing sucks. It always has. But his cluelessness has given me an idea on where to put that road in Green Bay.
Pick a street near a hospital ...
Because Favre doesn't care who gets hurt by his indecision. The Packers' prospects in 2008 are not his concern. But if it's good for Brett? Then it's all good -- even if that means an injury to Rodgers. I know that's a harsh way for me to look at this, but here's what I know:
1. Favre isn't convinced he should stay retired.
2. He says the ideal scenario for a return would be if Rodgers were to get injured. In that event, Favre told his publicist friend at the Gulfport, Miss., Sun Herald: "It would be hard to pass up ... If that opportunity presented itself and they did call, it would be tempting. And I very well could be enticed to do it."
If I'm Aaron Rodgers, the whole thing pisses me off. But I'm not. I'm just a guy trying to decipher the dilemma at hand: What to do with Brett Favre Boulevard.
Make it a traffic circle ...
Because this thing goes round and round. It never ends.
