You know it's time for Brett Favre to hang up his cleats when other athletes are using him as a model of what not to do.
Yankees general manager Brian Cashman spoke publicly Tuesday about pitcher Andy Pettitte's playing status for the upcoming season. The highlight came when Cashman described a piece of advice he gave to Pettitte.
"I told him don't 'Brett Favre' us," Cashman said, according to The Trentonian.
Cashman spoke at the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting at Crowne Plaza in Cromwell on Tuesday morning. Cashman assured his audience that although the Yankees may have slipped from being the long-time favored team to the rivaled Red Sox, they are not giving up.
"My job is all about winning," said Cashman. "You have to make tough decisions, like when I let Bernie Williams go, [Hideki] Matsui, and Johnny Damon. But when you're trying to win you can't think about anything else. You just need to put the best team you can out there."
The biggest issue for Yankees' pitching is Pettitte's potential retirement after his solid 2010 season. Pettitte has struggled with this decision previously in his career because his home is in Texas.
"He's opting not to play right now but that might change it might not," Cashman said. "I told him don't 'Brett Favre' us. You got to be all in and fully dedicated to play. Do I need him? I need him, but I don't want him to play if his heart's not in it."
Losing Pettitte will only add to the many obstacles facing the Yankees in order to have a winning season. But don't count them out just yet.
"We're not conceding anything," said Cashman. "We know the Red Sox are picked to win, but we've been in that position before, too."
If history has taught us anything, the major league's leader in both titles and revenue (27 World Series championships and 40 American League pennants) will never be out of the running.
