Dear Brett, We Don't Care

Rumors are swirling that Brett Favre has notified the Vikings of his plan to retire. If anyone cares, kindly cease and desist.

In terms of retirements, Favre wants to be "Like Mike" a little too much. He's made Sugar Ray Leonard look like Mike Schmidt. With his 7th official retirement, Brett has damaged his legacy in a way that his painkiller-aided MVP trophies could not. The drawn-out drama of will-he-or-won't-he has been less compelling with each and every retirement speech, notion, tweet, or text.

Congratulations, Brett. Your ego is now officially bigger than all of your on-field achievements. Whether or not he plays this year, (and let us reserve judgment on that until Week 4) his arrival on the field will have less to it. Only Vikings fans will be behind him, having destroyed his league-wide appeal himself. He has used his numerous "retirements" to get what he wanted, pure and simple.

Brett retired his way out of Green Bay when they moved on to Aaron Rodgers. In reality, he wanted to go to Minnesota and stick it in the Packers' ear. He couldn't go there directly, so he picked up $12 million for a year with the Jets, then soaked up the retirement sunset again. Free to sign with the Vikings, Brett had a great year at age 40, and is now giving the Vikings and their fans exactly what Packers fans had come to expect during every Favre offseason since he was 34: "The Decision."

For a moment, let's imagine he doesn't play in 2010. After a year off at age 42, would he not feel fan-favring-tastic?