>Dear Brett:
I’ve posted about you in the past. On your retirement, on your un-retirement, on the rumors that you traded information with the Detroit Lions, and more. I’m one of many who have watched you grow from young cocky kid to mature team leader.
Now what the H- E- Double Hockey Sticks happened??!!
The young gunslinger attitude, the Three Amigos image with your buddies, the Huck Finn boy next door brand; all were attractive and exciting when you were young. They’re not so cute when you’re turning 40.
Brett, we fans know that there were hard feelings when you tried to come back and your old team had moved on without you. We fans recognized that despite your talent, Coach McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers were already putting the new game plan into play.
Your life has been very public, and your successes usually outweighed your failures. Both fans and foes knew then what we know now: you’re human. Very human. And with human comes the hard word: you’re flawed. For an amazingly talented person, those flaws are hard to face.
What’s to gain by attempting a comeback across the border in Viking territory? Seriously, what’s your goal? Thumb your nose across the St. Croix and the Mississippi? Buy one of the Viking hats with the horns and braids for Deanna? Honestly, she looks a lot nicer in the pink Packers cap. Play in a dome for a change? Hey, we Packer fans think domes are for wimps. You don’t want us to think of you that way, do you?
Wait a minute. Brett, did you think about the fans? I remember you told Greta Van Susteren that you weren’t worried about your reputation. Is that really true? If you insist on this perceived vendetta against your former organization, your reputation will suffer more than you ever imagined. If you run onto Lambeau Field in a purple and white jersey, it won’t be your playing skill they remember. It’ll be the way you turned your back on not only the pros in the offices, but the teammates in the locker room and the fans in the stands.
The fans who made sure Lambeau Field remained sold out with a waiting list longer than the list of ticketholders. The fans who supported you through your treatment for drug addiction. The fans who bought the pink hats (see above) to support breast cancer research – because your wife announced her diagnosis in public.
The fans – Brett, what about the fans? Are you so self-centered that you’ll forget all the people who filled the seats at Larry McCarren’s Locker Room Show on Favre Night? Are you so self-absorbed that you’ll forget all the families who bought jerseys with #4 on them, knowing they’d be timeless?
Peter Pan was cute onscreen as the boy who wouldn’t grow up. It’s not so cute in an adult, no matter how talented. Brett, think this through. Seriously. Think about it.