In one of the earlier posts, I told you about my antipathy about what the NFL has become in this culture, namely a black hole that sucks light and gravity and anything else into its maw.
Well, nothing encapsulates that feeling more than the unbelievable coverage afforded to Brett Favre's retirement/unretirement. The proverbial visitor from another planet would wonder just what circus world he/she had landed on having watched the ridiculous level of attention paid to whether a 38-year-old man who appears to have commitment issues is going to play football.
(Here's my two cents on this: Having gone through this "will he/won't he" nonsense for a few years now, and even more so in the last five months according to Fox's Jay Glazer, the Packers are entirely correct to want to cut their ties with Favre. They have Aaron Rodgers, whom they drafted a few years ago, and have no idea what he can do. At some point, they have to take him out for a test drive before he leaves, Favre is gone and they have nothing to show for it all.)
But, my sweet Lord, is anyone, ANYONE really worth this kind of attention? And the joke of it all is that you have media types decrying the ridiculousness of the situation? Hello? Who asked for moment to moment updates on the status of his flight from Mississippi to Wisconsin, not to mention live shots from the landing and a minute by minute rundown of what Favre ate on the plane as well as a full recap of how he disposed of it?
OK, the last part is a little facetious, but you get the point. For the media to be talking about how silly the Favre Farce is is a little like a kid offing his parents, then throwing himself on the mercy of the court as an orphan. This kind of breathless, no sense of perspective coverage has got to stop or at least slow, or else the media will be seen as a collection of Chicken Littles all too willing to proclaim that the sky is falling, when what you're getting is a little drizzle.
BTW, a very big shoutout of thanks to the folks over at the Women's Hoops Blog for noting my departure. If you love women's basketball, there's no better clearinghouse to get the news you need with spot-on commentary than their site. Give it a look, if you haven't already.
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Is it all right to add a "me too" to the comments? Why don't they just add an ESPNFavre network and be done with it?
Then again, Favre-worship in the state of Wisconsin is almost at the level of religious icon (he'll be canonized with St. Vince). I still remember that media feature about the kid who wore Favre's jersey every day for like, what, eight years?
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