Published May 19, 2007 at 5:39 a.m.
Attention readers, OnMilwaukee.com interrupts coverage of the first-place Milwaukee Brewers to bring you state-mandated coverage of Green Bay Packers mini-camp, and the latest developments regarding Brett Favre.
There was a time when the Green Bay Packers represented everything that was wonderful about professional sports. There was a time when Brett Favre represented all that was good about the Green Bay Packers. Both of those eras have come to a screeching halt.
The latest saga in the Packer quarterback's career is his demand of a trade following the team's failure to obtain wide receiver Randy Moss in a draft day trade. Favre, like a whiny child that didn't get its way, essentially defined his legacy in Green Bay. He, of two-and-a-half Most Valuable Player awards, a championship in Super Bowl XXXI, and numerous team and NFL records, will be remembered now as the selfish has-been who didn't know when to walk away.
Packer fans, diehard almost to a fault, will not dare speak against the 17-year veteran; choosing to ignore his recent futility in favor of his salad days. And surely, they will give him a flier on this latest development. Instead, the blame will be placed on the shoulders of General Manager Ted Thompson, who is choosing to build the next generation of Packer teams, for better or for worse, through the draft. His moves haven't made the most sense, but Favre knew when he decided to come back for another season that his GM preferred to build via the draft as opposed to dumping large sums of money into free agency.
Long story short, it's time for Favre to stick to his trade demand or just walk away. Enough is enough, and his time has come. It's been 10 years since he was named MVP. It's been just as long since the Packers advanced to the Super Bowl..........
.............Favre has been given carte blanche freedom to miss numerous offseason mini-camps and workouts over the past few off-seasons, and almost missed one which wraps up today.
His excuse this time was that his daughter was graduating High School, but he quickly had a change of heart in light of the recent rumors. While that seems like a plausible excuse, the ceremony isn't for almost a week after training camp would conclude. That right there is dedication to a winning team. If there are so many new faces that Favre needs to get accustomed to working with, why isn't this future Hall of Fame inductee there to iron out the bugs?
In the past few seasons, Favre has posted numbers similar to his first few years in Green Bay. Remember that era? The memory is fuzzy, but cries of benching Favre in favor of Mark Burnell or Ty Detmer come to mind................
.............It's easy to point blame for Favre, who seems to avoid quite a bit of it. Obviously he's upset – and rightfully so – that the Packers have not geared up for a Super Bowl run; but if he really wants management to show dedication to winning, he must do the same. In the long run of course, that won't happen. When you're a guy like Brett Favre, you can pretty much do whatever you want and get away with it.
, along with 3-4 helpings of 
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, along with 3-4 helpings of 
?Granted, I'm not a fan of the Pack and don't spend an hour or two facing Lambeau and chanting prayers every day, but I find it hard to believe that someone would contend that any franchise would purposefully sabotage their own title chances out of spite. 
