According to FOXSports.com, there's a distinct feeling of déjà vu at Vikings camp. After a few days in Mankato, Minn., Jay Glazer says he's willing to bet the farm that Brett Favre will soon restart talks with the team and eventually return to the NFL and play for the Vikings.
You may remember that Favre officially told the Vikings that he wouldn't come out of retirement to play for them several weeks back, prompting one writer to suggest that the wall-to-wall coverage of the legendary Packers quarterback is getting a touch out of hand.
After tearfully calling it quits as a Packer following the 2007 season, he unretired to play for the Jets in 2008. Following a disappointing 9-7 season in which he threw for 3,472 yards, 22 touchdowns and 22 interceptions, he told the Jets he was retiring again.
The Favre story is kind of like Jason from the Friday the 13th movies. At the end of every episode, you think it's dead, but it just … keeps … coming … back.
So why would Glazer remark that "nearly everyone I talked to within the team talked about Favre joining not as an 'if' but rather a 'when'"?
What would prompt an unidentified member of the Vikings to say, "I'm telling you it's already done. Right after the Indy (preseason) game. I don't think anyone here doesn't think that"?
Another Viking commented, "I don't know if it's done, but I think he'll be in by the third preseason game."
"It was crazy," fellow FOX staffer Curt Menefee reportedly told Glazer. "It was like it was accepted as fact … by everybody. It wasn't even like it was a secret. I've never seen anything like it."
So why Favre? Why now?
First, from the Vikings' perspective, they don't appear to have anyone better. Even though Sage Rosenfels completed 10 of 13 passes for 91 yards in Minnesota's preseason opener against the Colts on Friday, he's not exactly a consistent starting NFL quarterback. The prospect of opting for Tarvaris Jackson, who has been hurt much of the preseason and has been unimpressive in previous starting gigs, isn't much more palatable. Nor is handing over the job to third-stringer John David Booty.
Second, and more interestingly (or depressingly, depending on whom you ask), this is turning into an obsession for Favre. He says he's too mentally tired, too sore or too injured to bring it anymore … then he says he doesn't want to give it up.
Furthermore, Favre is well known to despise training camp and everything that comes with it. As Glazer says, Favre "dreads the rigors of living at a college campus, working out in the stifling sun with a bunch of kids who won't be in the league in three weeks. If he could miss camp, he would. In this case if the Vikings would take him back after camp, Favre gets his wish."
It's almost like he's using his professed indecision as a ploy to get exactly what he wants: more time in the NFL spotlight, more time on SportsCenter and more time in front of his devoted fans.
But what is it that the Vikings want? A veteran presence behind center who can sling the ball down the field?
Or more TV cameras? More soap opera? Further uncertainty at the game's most important position?
As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for.
