Favre to finally retire?

[DTro]

Amidst the allegations and poor record. News media seem to be playing close attention to todays press conference with #4. Almost as if something important is on the way...

Is an announcement coming?

[Outfitter17]

what time is the press conf.?

[tsande00]

Favre holds a press conference every Wednesday around noon. This is nothing new.

[nonteepical]

the media is now licking it's chops to hound and possibly ruin someones personal life to something unrelated to football, because they get their jollies out of it.

[TruthWalleyes]

Lets let the viks leave Minnesota a year and a 1/2 season early i say! Forget em!

I can find something else on the radio while i'm fishing and not watching them play.

[DTro]

One of the incontrovertible truths of life in the N.F.L. is that you have to know when to leave the party. Timing is everything.

The party is over for Brett Favre. He just doesn’t know it. Or maybe he does and can’t bring himself to leave.

Make no mistake: Favre continues to be a master of the big moment in the dramatic spot.

On Monday night, Favre shook off a lethargic first half and led Minnesota to three second-half touchdowns — one to Randy Moss and two to Percy Harvin.

At 41, Favre is at the point of his career when he sets a record just about every time he climbs out of bed. He started his N.F.L.-record 289th game. With a completion to Harvin in the third quarter, Favre became the first to throw for 70,000 yards. His touchdown pass to Moss was the 500th of his career, also a record.

Favre had one final chance to pull the game out in the fourth quarter, but he threw an interception to Dwight Lowery with 1 minute 30 seconds left. Lowery ran it back 26 yards for a touchdown.

Favre sets records. Vikings lose. The party is over.

Favre has announced at least three times that “this” season would be his last, only to return.

This time he may have no choice.

The N.F.L. is investigating allegations first reported by the Web site Deadspin that Favre sent suggestive voice mail messages and lewd photographs to a former Jets game hostess, Jenn Sterger, when they were both employed by the Jets in 2008. The Web site also reported that Favre had pursued two female massage therapists who worked for the Jets, citing comments by one of the women.

N.F.L. Security has been looking into the allegations against Favre since last Thursday, and the investigation is said to be on a fast track, with the league hoping for a resolution as soon as possible. The league is aware of the perception that it might drag its feet to help a superstar quarterback, but as of Monday afternoon, Sterger had not agreed to speak to the N.F.L. about the matter.

Commissioner Roger Goodell said that the league was looking to “find out all the facts” and that once the league completed its investigation, “then we’ll determine what the next step is from there, if any.”

Sterger may succeed where defenses have failed: she’ll knock him out of the league, sooner than expected. Should Favre be found to have violated the N.F.L.’s conduct policy, he could be fined or suspended.

Why do we care about this?

Perhaps because of our fascination with how celebrities live in their protective bubbles and by what happens when the bubbles burst. In the case of great athletes, there is a public fascination with how they deal with the loss of seemingly magical powers.

Do they walk away gracefully?

Do they find other ways to perform magic?

Do they dare the game to crush them if it can?

Favre could have walked away two seasons ago, with his good name and football legacy intact.

He was never more popular — and will never be more popular — than he was in Green Bay, where he was the heart, soul and savior of the franchise.

Green Bay was Favre’s cocoon, the place where his eccentricities were indulged, nurtured and enabled. Green Bay is where he became addicted to and where he withdrew from painkillers. The Packers wanted Favre to retire gracefully; they wanted him to be a good Packer, mentor a young Aaron Rodgers and fade away.

But Favre had more fade routes to throw. He had more to prove. So, after a tearful goodbye and an angry parting of the ways, he leapt to the Jets out of anger and pride, determined then, and now, that he can still play.

Favre barreled onto Broadway and played lights out through 11 games, then collapsed down the stretch. He said he was finished, then signed with Minnesota, which was all too happy to have one of the N.F.L.’s great drawing cards. Fueled by revenge and pride, Favre led Minnesota on a great run to the N.F.C. championship game.

But then the gunslinger’s recklessness that has haunted Favre’s career — that limited him to one championship ring instead of two or three — kicked in. His fourth-quarter interception against New Orleans in that conference title game brought on the end of the Vikings’ season. The game should have been the end of a brilliant career as well.

Favre took a hellacious beating in New Orleans, and the photograph of him walking off the field reminded me of the classic 1964 photograph of Y. A. Tittle, kneeling, bleeding, groggy after being sacked in the end zone by the Pittsburgh Steelers’ John Baker as he threw a pass. The pass was intercepted for a touchdown.

The difference between Favre and Tittle is that Y. A. knew the end had come. He retired after the season. Favre is still out there slinging, but now his reputation is imperiled. Favre has cultivated an image of being a good ol’ boy and a dedicated family man. Of course, if we learned anything from the Tiger Woods episode, it is that this whole public persona of superstar athletes is largely little more than a news-media-enabled masquerade designed to attract volume and hits. They’ll be whoever we want them to be.

Favre should have left at last call. The party is over. He’s the only one who doesn’t know

[Getanet]

the media is now licking it's chops to hound and possibly ruin someones personal life to something unrelated to football, because they get their jollies out of it.

I can't agree with this statement. If she was just some woman he knew in his personal life I would agree with it. But that fact that they were both employees of the Jets at the time this allegedly occurred makes it a much bigger deal.

[flipper]

Maybe he will retire (drama with tears of course) then after the Vikes lose a couple more games Childress will send a few guys to talk him in to coming back which he agrees to do only because it is "for the good of the team".

[mrklean]

no matter how bad he plays he wont retire mid season

[ZapBranigan]

Dtro - Really! That's quite an opinionated piece. My first reaction is "We don't know anything yet". There will always be a group of Blamers who without any facts are ready to ride Brett out of town the sooner the better. But here is some facts. Last year was fantastic for Vikings fans. Yeah we din't beat N.O. in a close match. (Opinion coming - which I still to this day say Childress had far more to do with that loss than Favre) 12 men in the huddle which forced us to... well we all know the story. Anyway Fact we do not have anyone better than a 41 y.o. who should have retired QB right now. Favre's fault? Hmmm how about Ziggy and Chili they hung there hat's on this. Also when they brought him back they threw out Sage for T-Jack. The guy who did score durring pre season for a QB who produced silch. This leaves us no where to turn to. Notta!!! I think this may become moot at this point because from the look of Bretts arm by the end of the last game he may be physically done. So yes the party is probably over and that may in fact be the annoucement. But to blame Favre for being what he has always been is silly.

[Dylan33]

no matter how bad he plays he wont retire mid season

i wouldn't bet on that

[Antero]

Flipper that's assuming Childress wants him back.

[nonteepical]

I can't agree with this statement. If she was just some woman he knew in his personal life I would agree with it. But that fact that they were both employees of the Jets at the time this allegedly occurred makes it a much bigger deal.

[flipper]

IF I worked for 7-eleven and IF I had a unit that did not require a wide-angle lens to get it all in the picture, and IF I sent that picture to a good looking gal barely half my age and IF someone else found out about it and reported it with proof I think I would be in deep doo doo at work at home at church and in the community I live in.

[Getanet]

I'm not a lawyer and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn, but I believe in this situation it doesn't matter if the woman wants to press charges. The state can pursue charges. There are plenty of scenarios where the individual doesn't want to file charges, but it doesn't matter.

And, it's not like Favre was the water boy here. As the starting QB and face of the franchise, he was definitely in a position of power. Your scenario would be better explained as the CEO/CFO/VP sent naughty pictures to the female manager of a 7/11 store.

Finally, don't get this twisted that it's the media's fault. If the allegations are true, Favre is at fault.

[DTro]

I could go for a slurpie right now.

I hear ya bro on the wide angle lens.

[harvey lee]

I might take a guess that this will not take Brett down. I do not believe that the NFL wants to see one of the all time stars to go down this way.

Money and good lawyers can get one out of alot of trouble with little to no penalty.

Just my guess. We will see soon.

I remember when the Williams were going to be suspended for a long time and in the end, nothing really happened.

[SledNeck]

That article is a joke. Favre has never been known as a family man. Hes been running wild since he came into the NFL.

[harvey lee]

Facts Sled?

[Rippinlip]

Just think this was mostly a media drama thing, might be some truth to it, but 2 years after the fact? Monday night football vs. the alleged team the crime happened with?

[Coach1310]

I can't agree with this statement. If she was just some woman he knew in his personal life I would agree with it. But that fact that they were both employees of the Jets at the time this allegedly occurred makes it a much bigger deal.

I would show much more credence and respect to the allegation if she went to the police and filed a complaint instead of hearing about this when someone sold info to Deadspin...

No matter what, it doesn't make it right, but last I checked she has no comment and really wants no part of this.... sure sounds like a dead end, non story to me.

Most of the outlets and people running with this only do so because anything relating to Favre drives ratings and numbers...

[zepman]

That article is a joke. Favre has never been known as a family man. Hes been running wild since he came into the NFL.

+1. This whole story is made for the enquirer...why does anyone even care about this?

[WyoChris]

Two things to consider about this story:

- This happened two years ago. Nobody mentioned this for two years, then when the story comes out, it isn't Jenn filing a complaint with her workplace or going to law enforcement... Instead, it is this story being sold (for a lot of money im sure!!) to a shady blog site a week before the monday night jets-vikings games. Hmm......

- Have you seen the video on deadspin.com(stop it about 10 seconds from the end... no need to see the last few seconds)? The story is completly done by a third party, there are no facts, no quotes from Jenn Steger, and no evidence that the pictures are actually that of Favre.

This is a shady story... there is a lot of missing information and no solid supporting evidence. As Favre said, this will work itself out. It will be interesting to see what comes out after a full investigation has been conducted. I'm not defending Favre, but i'm not saying he is guilty either.

The regular media is bad enough, but sports media is even worse.

Chris

[Shack]

I'm not a lawyer and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn, but I believe in this situation it doesn't matter if the woman wants to press charges. The state can pursue charges. There are plenty of scenarios where the individual doesn't want to file charges, but it doesn't matter.

And, it's not like Favre was the water boy here. As the starting QB and face of the franchise, he was definitely in a position of power. Your scenario would be better explained as the CEO/CFO/VP sent naughty pictures to the female manager of a 7/11 store.

Finally, don't get this twisted that it's the media's fault. If the allegations are true, Favre is at fault.

There is going to be no charges. There would have to be admittance of guilt or at a bare minimum a face in the images. Phone records only lead to a cell phone with a Miss. prefix and nothing has come up (you know it has been checked out thoroughly by third party media) linking those Myspace messages . The only thing that could happen is a lawsuit and it would not be against Favre. If anything would happen, it would be Jenn Sterger suing the NFL. Why not Favre? Because the NFL has more money. If anything as the why Brett ain't saying nothing in regards to denying to it or admitting to it is because of this, plus a little public image mixed in. I also feel he really could care less to address it even if it where not true or true. Why should he? If Brett violated anything, it was the code of conduct rules by the NFL to let this prank go this far. My feelings are it was a prank and it is not him, but someone else and he had knowledge of it. Maybe he did, but maybe he did not know before hand and did nothing about? Possible breach of the code of conduct he has with the NFL and again cause for a law suit against the NFL. I feel Jenn Sterger is telling the truth as she knows it, but has since found out the real truth. Just the fact he mentions practice in each voice mail is subject to bogus. I remember hearing back in August other women affiliated with the Jets org. received these Favre texts.

IMO just a bad joke that went south. Until then all the worry worsts can point fingers and call for justice (what else is their to do in America to make one's self feel righteous? ), but I am a firm believer in innocent until proven guilty. Jealousy runs deep which forms a fictitious hatred base on what is presented, while those who take in what is being spoon fed meander in the "I want" because reality has dictated they ain't getting it. Fame, fortune and a blogging on Deadskin that is. Deadskin is proof of this and they have some new advertisement since August because of it. Not knocking them. A buck is a buck and 15 minutes of National publicity is 15 minutes of National publicity.

Maybe Favre did do it and those are his pictures? I assume the hush hush then on his part would be the same as to why a musky angler catching a large musky refuses to post the images of it on-line. The haters come out and the dogging on size begins.

[DTro]

I just don't think an innocent person blubbers and appologizes to his teammates before Mondays game, instead he gets angry and lets everyone know that the allegations are 100% false. If not to the media, at least to his teammates.

Unless of course this isn't the only incident and he doesn't want to to all Tiger Woods on the thing.

Its sad though that such a big deal has to be made about it. It is after all entertainment, and that is exactly what we are getting.

[DTro]

Before Deanna Favre got married, she was NOT one of those women who suffered silently and looked the other way while her man engaged in dalliances with other women.

That's absolutely clear in the pages of her New York Times bestselling autobiography, "Don't Bet Against Me!" It's a tell-all -- she'll hate those words -- in which she openly talks about her battle with breast cancer, diagnosed in 2004, and her life with Brett Favre, whom she most likely met in catechism class when she was 7. I picked up the last copy of the book published in 2007 at the Barnes & Noble on Nicollet Mall Tuesday, after stumbling on the New York Post's Saturday story with the headline, "Brett Favre's wife nearly sacked him over babes."

The NFL is investigating what's been reported in Deadspin stories that claim during the year Favre QB'd the Jets, he sent inappropriate "sext" messages to a female employee of the team. While the alleged behavior of Favre, now QB of the Vikings, in sending photos of his lower brain to Jenn Sterger would represent a childish new low, Deanna Favre has seen bad behavior before from Brett, her high school sweetheart and the man who "always will be the love of my life."

From Page 34, during the Green Bay years of drugs and alcohol: "One night, I walked into the room and heard Brett talking on the phone to a woman I had discovered he'd been calling. 'That's it,' I told him. 'I don't deserve to be treated like this. You asked me to move up here to Green Bay and now you're calling these girls -- well, you're on your own now. I'm not living this way. All this stuff is over for me.'"

But Deanna was encouraged to stay by Gayle Mariucci, who believed Brett would end up killing himself by abusing Vicodin. Gayle's husband, coach Steve Mariucci, had recently confronted Brett about Deanna's suspicions he was abusing Vicodin, and Brett had vehemently denied it. Then in February 1996, while recovering from surgery to remove bone spurs from his ankle, Favre had a seizure. Blood work disclosed "a toxic liver." That's when he entered drug rehab.

Favre checked himself into Kansas' Menninger Clinic to deal with his addiction to "Vikes," as he called the drug. Soon after rehab, Brett wanted to marry Deanna, but she was not so sure until she started to see a change in him. She sent a letter declining her hard-won spot in a dietetics program at a Mississippi college: "I wanted it so badly, but I believed in Brett more, and I wanted to be with him," she wrote. So back to Green Bay she went, and they were married on July 14, 1996.

Although the QB had licked his pain pill problem, he thought he could still drink, and he did, Deanna said.

By the spring of 1999, Deanna was pregnant with their second daughter, and "Mr. Wild Man, a real party animal," as she called him, was fully on the loose, fueled by "liquid courage."

Her breaking point came after the wedding reception for Brett's brother in Mississippi that year. Brett rolled into his parents' home at 8 the following morning. "Is this how you want to live?" she asked.

She left Brett at his parents and went home with their child. "He didn't call me, and he didn't come home. Instead, he went out with his friends. When he finally came home on Monday morning, I had all his belongings packed and waiting in the courtyard of the house." [Page 74]

She told him, "I'm done. I've already spoken to an attorney."

Brett began begging and promising, "I'll never do it again," and then the phone rang. It was Deanna's divorce lawyer. "Brett heard me tell her I was ready to file."

Brett checked himself into rehab again, but "my feelings numbed," Deanna wrote. "At that point I honestly wanted nothing more to do with Brett Favre."

Many assume that women who marry pro athletes understand these are the terms of the contract: In exchange for the wife living a lavish lifestyle, the husband gets to cheat whenever he wants.

In the past, Deanna has been the type who goes ballistic with the conflict-averse Brett. She shares her fears and concerns with an inner circle that includes folks to whose homes she went to pray during her bout with breast cancer.

I'm looking for something in Deanna's chapters about cancer that might indicate this current pickle of Brett's making falls into the category of small stuff not worth sweating.

She is a very religious woman. "I'll be honest, sometimes it's hard to live like a Christian in a world of wealth and privilege. That's why I'm always grateful for our Mississippi roots," she wrote on Page 194.

After checking out the photos on Deadspin, Deanna may be the only person other than Brett to know for certain the answers to the questions the NFL is investigating.

She could be forgiven for concluding that this tale is starting to sound like "The Same Old Song" -- or some other s-word.

[harvey lee]

I could care less what any sports star does on his own time. That is their business.

I have no idea what is true and what is not about this subject and could really care less.

A good way for a bunch of people to try and make a few bucks. So many times these stories are false or blown way out of proportion.

I wonder who the next star is that they will need to go after?

Why people put these players on such a high pedestal is beyond me.

They are human and this stuff does happen right or wrong. No one is perfect.

Maybe the press should check out the people that bring these things up and see just how clean and perfect they are.

[DTro]

via David Letterman. Top 10 Favre excuses:

10. Part of my audition for ‘Jackass 3D’

9. Uhhh, I was dehydrated

8. An Autograph seemed so impersonal

7. Too many concussions

6. Meant to send it to Commissioner Goodell

5. No habla ingles

4. Offensive line let me down

3. Don’t blame me, I voted for Kucinich

2. If I can’t text inappropriate photos then the terrorists have won

1. Thought the cell phone was gum.

[Musky Buck]

I like how it took a few years to break and I like how everyone is technology is great, but boy is it burning people time after time and even years down the road.

[toughguy]

Don't hate the player. Hate the game, err his game. If this would have came out last year when the Vikings were riding high this wouldn't have been a story. We just love to kick them on the way down don't we. I have seen comparisons to the Rothlesburger allegations and that makes me sick. The two stories aren't even in the same ballpark IMO. The guy allegedly asked a woman to his hotel room and sent a nasty picture to her. Was the picture sent after something happened between the two? Did she send him pictures of herself back or even FIRST? Was she offended? Did she file a complaint? From what I heard she bragged about it during a photo shoot and deadspin pressed the story and she refused to give up any additional info. Deaspin moved forward finally buying the photo and message for $80,000 from a 3rd party. I'll give you a photo and voicemail of #4 doing something 100 times worse for $80,000. That's good enough motivation for me to "create" it. I'm sure something happened between the two and it's having a huge impact on his marriage as it should. That would make any guy emotional. Let's just take a breath, step back for 5 minutes wait for the real story to come out. Not that it's really any of my business. I'm with you Harvey, I personally don't care. I'm not Jen Sterger or Dianna Favre.