I have been on vacation down in California for the past two weeks where I saw my Oakland Athletics blow a lead in the 9th against the Los Angeles/Anaheim/Orange County/Compton Angels (my wife's favorite team) and lose. It is the first A's game I have been to this year, and probably the only game I will get to, and I really saw a stinker.
But while I was gone, a funny thing happened in Green Bay - Brett Favre has "unretired".
As I drove back to Oregon this week, listening to ESPN Radio on XM 140, all the deep thinkers on ESPN Radio could talk about was Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers. Where is Brett going to go? How is this going to play out? Who is going to win? Who is going to lose? These were all questions the hosts would ask, and each host arrived at his own predictable answer.
Pretty much the consensus was that if Favre wants to get reinstated, he is going to have to be a backup on the Packers. Every host concluded that the only team that needed Favre was the Vikings, and there was no way the Packers would trade Favre to the Vikings (Favre has three years left on his contract, which means the Packers hold all the cards....).
As I spent 10 hours on the road, listening to host after host talk about how the Vikings were the only team that could possibly use Favre, I found myself yelling at the radio:
WHAT A
BOUT THE ATLANTA FALCONS!!!!!!
Remember, Favre has played for two NFL franchises in his lifetime: the Packers and the Falcons. Favre was taken in the second round by the Atlanta Falcons in 1991, and actually appeared in 2 games for the Falcons that year before being traded to the Packers in 1992 for the 19th overall pick (which ended up being Tony Smith, who lasted three years in the NFL, great trade Atlanta).
The number one reason people are pooh-poohing the trade to the Vikings is the obvious reason: the Vikings are in the same division as the Packers don't want to face Favre two times a year. Trading Favre to the Falcons would mean the Packers would face Favre this year (in week 5, at Lambeau), but they would only face Favre once, and it would be on the Packers' turf.
Atlanta just makes sense from the Falcons' perspective. Yes, I know the Falcons drafted Matt Ryan 3rd overall, and he is penciled in as the started for the Dirty Birds. But what better quarterback coach is there than having Brett Favre teach your future franchise QB how to play the position?
Atlanta also makes sense for the Falcons from a different perspective. Let's face it, the quarterback position hasn't exactly put the Falcons (as a team) in the most positive light in recent times (thank you Mike Vick). Favre adds stability, credibility, and respectability to the franchise, and gives Falcons fans a reason to be proud of their team again.
And for psychological standpoint, the trade makes sense because the one thing the talking heads said on ESPN Radio was they couldn't stand the thought of seeing Brett Favre in anything but a Packers uniform. Well, I can understand that. I felt the same way watching Joe Montana in that butt-ugly Chefs uniform (yeah, I know I spelled Chiefs wrong, it was intentional).
But putting Favre back into a Falcons uniform won't seem so out-of-place because that is how Favre started his career, and that is how he is going to end it....in Atlanta.
I just wonder if the Packers would be willing to take Tony Smith back.
