Sportsfrog.com

Surely you have seen the quotes by now. But, hey, when I click through the Frog today at work, I want to see them at the top, they are so damn good. So, Fran, what of Brett Favre? Well, quoth the Fran:

“I think it’s despicable. What he put the Packers through last year was not good,” said Tarkenton, who played for the Vikings from 1961-66 and again from 1972-78. ”Here’s an organization that was loyal to him for 17, 18 years, provided stability of organization, provided players. It just wasn’t about Brett Favre. In this day and time, we have glorified the Brett Favre’s of the world so much, they think it’s about them. He goes to New York and bombs. He’s 39 years old. How would you like Ray Nitschke in his last year [playing for] the Vikings, or I retire, and go play for the Packers? I kind of hope it happens, so he can fail.”

and

He told the Packers [after 2008 that], ‘I’m retiring,’” Tarkenton said. “They’ve got to move on. They’ve got to go through their offseason plan, their workouts, they go with the other quarterback [Aaron Rodgers], who is a good player, and then [Favre] comes back and says, ‘I think I want to play.’ … You build your team in the offseason. Everybody knows that. It’s about team. It’s not about Brett Favre. So he goes and runs up to the Jets, doesn’t even dress in the locker room with the players. Has a separate facility. Playing quarterback is about the relationships you have with your coaches, with your players, with your trainers, with your managers. How can you do that if you show up on gameday and you haven’t put the time in. And now he’s trying to do it again in Minnesota. And if Minnesota bites, God bless them.”

and

They did everything, but you get into a position, and I understand he’s been glorified so much. He’s been a great player, there’s no question about it, but it’s all about him. It is supposed to be all about your team. If you’re going to be the quarterback of your team, you need to be there in the offseason workouts in March and April. Peyton Manning’s there. Tom Brady’s there.”

and

I think he has been a great flamboyant quarterback, but he has made more stupid plays than any great quarterback that I’ve ever seen,” Tarkenton said. “Look at his final game in a Packers uniform [the NFC title game in the 2007 season]. He blew that game against the Giants. He’s playing against Eli Manning, I love Eli Manning, but he’s still not a great quarterback. He’s not Peyton yet, or Tom Brady. He’s just a guy. And [the Packers] are playing at home, and they’re in a tight situation, they went to overtime and [Favre] throws the interception that allows [the Giants] to come back and win the game.” … He has done that and driven his coaches crazy all of his career. But it’s team, is it not? I know [one of the hosts] is talking about, ‘I’d give him a shot,’ I think it would be terrible. [The Vikings are] trying to put together a team all spring. They’ve been there, they’ve been bonding, they’ve getting together. He hasn’t met the team, he hasn’t been there bonding, he hasn’t been part of that organization.”

Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Heh.

It’s like the boy pointing out the emperor has no clothes. It should be interesting watching Favre’s big media apologists working to re-clothe him after that broadside. Awesome.

While the interminable yearly wait for football’s Godot continues in its 2009 edition, the Vikings are having to make financial decisions that affect their football team for future years. Like, say, moving forward with a contract extension for Pro Bowl cornerback Antoine Winfield. Or, NOT moving forward with a contract extension for Pro Bowl cornerback Antoine Winfield, because they are having to hold money back in case Godot decides to bless Minnesota with his presence.

Perhaps. No one is quite sure. But the Winfield contract extension has gone limbo, and observers are not sure why.

Hard not to imagine, now that the Manny Ramirez news is no longer hogging the news media spotlight, that we won’t get Favre’s return early next week. I like the show of the Vikings “looking at film” to explain the delay in announcing it. Solid, even by Favre-needs-to-have-the-spotlight-on-him standards. As for his former team, Jets version, this was a rather pointed quote from an unnamed ex-teammate:

“Another player, who requested anonymity, launched this salvo at the future Hall of Famer: “I’m tired of being part of his soap opera. If he really wanted to win a championship, he’d be right here. Let’s call it for what it is: He wants to play for Minnesota so he can stick it to Green Bay twice a year. He’s just being selfish. I’m not surprised.”

Seriously, it is hard for me to imagine a scenario where he isn’t playing for the Vikings this fall. Good running game, good defense, decent receivers, and a chance to stick it to the Packers makes this seem like a done deal. The NY Daily News with a note on the whole sticking-it-to-the-Packers angle:

“Favre can’t stand Green Bay,” the source said. “He wants to play Green Bay and say, ‘I told you so.’ His bitterness is creating this. I think he’s calling Minnesota. I think Minnesota is talking about this as we speak. You haven’t heard the end of Favre. No way. He is bionic. As long as somebody will let him in, he will play.”

Yeah. That.

Book this. Some swamp chatter is bubbling up here. Drop by with a thought or two.