Brett Favre

I would say that I can't believe that the Brett Favre news cycle is starting up again, except of course that I can believe it. What is it with this guy? I'm not a football fan and in that sense I don't have a dog in the fight, but I am a resident of Northeast Wisconsin and I work in Green Bay, so I will be hearing about this ad infinitum, and that will be mighty annoying. At this point I think that Favre really needs to seek help with his pathological need for attention. Every year recently he's put Packers fans through months of "Is he returning or isn't he?", and he apparently can't stop doing that even now that he's retired. This is turning into something akin to Cher's ten-year "farewell" tour, although that was kind of crafty and this is just nonsensical.

I'm reminded that I have never felt any attraction to athletes who, like Favre or Mickey Mantle or Mike Tyson, seem to lack significant mental horsepower and articulative ability. I go for the sharp and well-spoken ones; even if I don't become a particular fan, I strongly respect those skills. Tiger Woods is a great example -- hell of a smart man. Athletes like Cal Ripken Jr., Billie Jean King, Payne Stewart, Reggie Jackson, Curt Schilling, Peyton Manning, Nancy Lopez -- those are the ones I mean. Fun to watch, fun to listen to. Whereas listening to Brett Favre try to get through a press conference is pretty painful.

(There has been controversy among sports commentators as to whether the use of phrases like "articulate" and "well spoken" in reference to athletes has a racist connotation. I can see where that could be the case sometimes --if the implication is, like wow, he's black and he can string two sentences together -- but these are two of my favorite terms of praise, and I'm not droppping them!)