Just When You Thought It Was Safe…

I thought it was over.  Surely, we no longer had to endure three and a half hours of John Madden spitting and spewing line after line about just how great Brett Favre was.

Now, the nightmare that was Monday Night Football and now is Sunday Night Football may not be over afterall.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Brett Favre has been talking quietly to several NFL teams about returning to the NFL.  He has still yet to file his retirement paperwork with the league office.  Even so, that process isn’t required for retirement and can also be reversed if it is filed.

"Favre’s agent, James “Bus” Cook, told the Times he was not aware of his client’s possible interest in resuming his career.“That’s news to me,” Cook said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with anything. He’s retired, period, point blank.”During his press conference, Favre denied he retired because the Packers did not make a more aggressive attempt to sign wide receiver Randy Moss.However, Favre’s decision came one day after the New England Patriots re-signed Moss to a three-year contract worth $27 million.Ted Thompson, general manager of the Packers, dismissed the report. “We don’t know anything about it, and it’s inconceivable,” Thompson told the Associated Press.The league sources said Favre’s decision to retire was partially influenced by his frustration that the Packers didn’t make a more aggressive attempt to sign Randy Moss. The team twice had a chance to do so, first in spring 2007 — before New England acquired the All-Pro receiver from Oakland — and again this off-season.Favre retired a day after the Patriots re-signed Moss to a three-year, $27-million deal. Cook, who, along with agent Tim Dipiero, handles contracts for Moss, denied any link between the receiver and Favre’s decision to retire.“As far as Randy’s deal with New England, there were never any negotiations with Green Bay,” he said.“As far as I know, Brett retired because he was tired and burned out.”One of Favre’s closest friends on the team, wide receiver Donald Driver, said he was convinced Favre was finished with football — but couldn’t completely rule out the possibility of a Michael Jordan-style comeback for Favre.“I don’t know,” Driver told the Associated Press. “It’d be hard to say.”"

I have to be honest, if Favre decides to un-retire again, for like the seventeenth time, I’m going to lose a tremendous amount of respect for him.  If he comes back like this and this all turns out to be some slick way to get out of Green Bay because he was unhappy, then I’ll lose the ability to write anything nice about him for the foreseeable future.

Then he can spare us all another sob fest.

If it’s not true and the LA Times is just full of it, then it’ll be another reporter we can forever ignore.