We Need To Talk...

…about some football! Happy Independence Day everybody, and what better way for me to celebrate a day the Canadians don't give me off by talking about real football. Anything to break the monotony and whining of Vancouver "sports" talk radio whose only cares are the Canucks and BC Lions metric football. Good gosh kill me now! Thankfully college football is right around the corner, and NFL training camps start in just a few weeks. We'll leave college foos for another day, so let's talk about the most indecisive hero of our generation, Mr. Brett “I can’t make up my freaking mind!!” Favre! Yes he's thinking about playing again, which, if you heard his interview on David Letterman right after he retired, shouldn't come as a surprise. I don't believe Favre is doing this for the publicity, i believe he made a rash decision to retire without thinking it through, and now that the season is almost here and it's time for training camp, he's having some serious second thoughts.

I, for one, can't blame him. I've never had a job I love as much as Favre loves football, so I can't even imagine what it's like to walk away from something that brought him so much joy. I just wonder why, if he was so unsure, he made the decision so soon. I mean really, every year for pretty much this whole decade there were two ways to tell football season was close: the Fourth of July, and the ridiculous speculation on whether Favrey was retiring or not. We had come to expect/loathe it, so what would have been so wrong with one more summer of it? I really do feel for the Cheeseheads, who probably just last week came off of their drunken bender to hide their sorrows from #4's retirement announcement. Now, after having finally come to grips with it, he says he's coming back? How much can the liver's of one fan base take?

ESPN.com does polls all the time about the topic of the day, taking a total of the nation’s votes while also showing a breakdown of how each State voted. While the polls' real purpose is to gauge site traffic, they do also serve an interesting purpose in getting the nation's feel for certain topics. Of the many college courses I've taken, stats was one of my favorites, and I'm always interested in polls and data and statistics and what they mean. I bring this up because the Worldwide Leader asked a simple question: should Brett Favre come back? As a nation, about 60% of people say Favre should stay retired, which to me was no surprise. What was surprising, is that in the state of Wisconsin, only 66% of the more than 2500 respondents said they wanted Favre to come back! Either Packer Nation was showing a rare moment of lucidity and sobriety, or they were so lubed on Old Mil they hit the wrong button when voting. Brett Favre is their alpha and omega, the greatest player in the history of the universe. When Chuck Norris goes to sleep, Packer fans believe he has nightmares about Brett Favre. So how can a third of the Heads O' Cheese not want their savior to return?

I believe, and as always daring to enter the mind of a Packer fan is a dangerous task, Pack fans are tired of the roller coaster. After five or so offseasons of "will he or won’t he?” they had finally realized he was gone and never coming back. They were preparing themselves for Year 1 of the Aaron Rodgers Era, and while #4 would always be #1 in their hearts, they were doing their best to move on. There’s really no way for them to win here. If he retires then they’re without their Favrey, if he comes back, they’re going to have to go through the whole mourning process again next year…or the year after…or the year after. And if the Packers tell Favre they don’t want him back, then Pack fans have to watch their Beloved playing for another team.

So what happens next? Anyone’s guess really. If I were a betting man, I’d say Favre unretires near the end of training camp and plays for the green and gold. But at this stage anything is possible, meaning Cheeseheads everywhere will continue to have their hearts, and their livers, pulled in every direction. Buckle up Packer fans, this season will be a long, bumpy ride.