Brett Favre: In Solidarity

I’m feeling a lot of solidarity with Brett Favre these days. It’s not the money… Lord knows, Brett and I are on the extreme two ends of the national salary scale. And it’s not culture, Brett’s a lot more “blue collar” than me. Instead, where the solidarity is coming from is the way Brett is getting disposed of. Brett Favre, like me, is in the end just another disposable worker.

So I’m thinking about the Green Bay Packers and Brett Favre. Favre’s career in Green bay was simply amazing. Super Bowls, league records, for most of Favre’s career, the Green bay Packers were a force to be reckoned with in the National Football League. Right now Favre is capable of playing quarterback better than 90% of the quarterbacks in the League. In a wheelchair, Favre’s bullet accurate passes should still insure him a starting position in half the League’s teams.

And the guy gave his heart and soul to Green Bay and the Packers. Farve is a guy that showed up to a game 110% prepared and emotionally hyped. He never “dissed” Green Bay and he never played the “greed” card. Green Bay Packer fans loved Farve and Farve honored and loved the fans.

And then the shoe falls… Brett Farve, still arguably the best quarterback in the League gets told he’s no longer welcome in the Green Bay Packer organization. Seems the Packers have a “personnel development plan” that says Farve is in the way of the future Packers. Like any piece of meat, Farve has been placed under the microscope of calculating businessmen, who have found him disposable in the interests of the businessmen’s calculations.

Of course, the double shame here is that the Green Bay Packers are the only community owned team in the League. Even though every resident of Green Bay is an owner of the Packers, the businessmen are still running the show. Even though Packer fans are there for the loyalty and commitment to their team rather than the calculation of future worth, the businessmen still control…

So hey, Green Bay’s folks should make the call on Brett Favre’s future in Green Bay! Green Bay fans are committed to Farve and most folks know he has another Super Bowl or two in him. So why should he be sacrificed to the businessmen’s future? Why does calculation always take precedence over loyalty, commitment, and individual grace?

P.S. And I’m a 46 year Chicago Bears fan!