Please, Not Again ...

Jay Glazer reports, at FOXSports.com, that Brett Favre's decision to stay retired is not a done deal.

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"After visiting the Vikings for two days, I am convinced — positively convinced — that Brett Favre will soon have talks with the Vikings to return to the team and could be joining them for this season after all. If my instincts are correct, all those purple Favre jerseys will have a home on Minnesota store shelves."

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He admits that his visit to the Vikings' camp occurred "before Sage Rosenfels lit up the Colts in the preseason opener to the tune of 10–of–13 passing for 91 yards. And if Rosenfels can continue like this, he could squash this prediction as the preseason continues."

But he expresses — with a certain amount of confidence — his belief that Favre soon will be a Viking. And he offers a compelling case:

• Exhibit A) Acceptance within the team that it's pretty much already done.


• Exhibit B) Favre has not closed the door on his decision.


• Exhibit C) Best available option.


• Exhibit D) Favre hates camp.

As I say, Glazer acknowledges that a continued strong performance by Sage Rosenfels could put the kibosh on this idea.

And the flip side, for me, is that I've seen this movie before. I have rarely seen a professional athlete who was as reluctant to accept the end of his career as Favre has been, and it wouldn't surprise me at all to see him change his mind again before the season starts.

I do believe some of the things I have read about Favre — in particular, that he wants to go out with a Super Bowl appearance and that he felt robbed of that when the Packers lost the 2007 NFC title game to the Giants. I'm not sure if I agree with some of the rhetoric I have heard and read from Minnesota partisans that Favre is the "missing piece" for the Vikings' Super Bowl hopes — perhaps, if we were talking about the 30–year–old version of Favre, that would be true, but the 40–year–old version?

I'll wait and see what happens with Favre. If he is as smart as I think he is, he will stay retired and mostly injury–free.

But, in the last couple of years, Favre has reminded me more and more of something Bill Cosby said on a record I used to listen to when I was a kid. "Never say that things can't get any worse," Cosby cautioned his listeners, "because that is when the gremlins say, 'Worse!' "

If there is one thing I have learned about Brett Favre, it is to never say "never."