Offseason Favre-ite
Well, at least it's official. Brett Favre is going to meet with Minnesota Vikings head
coach Brad Childress later this week to discuss coming out of retirement for
the second consecutive year, for the second consecutive team.
The usual suspects in the sports media world have been speculating on such a move, smelling blood in water after Favre was unconditionally released by the New York Jets over a week ago.
What I don't understand is the coverage; The hundreds of commentators, who, like me, felt that Favre-related opinion was apparently lacking, are quick to preface their articles with jokes about how they're tired of Favre's retirement escapades. Of course, they follow those jokes with the news/notes of the day, detailing the latest rumors and responses to text messages as means to draw conclusions. (Side note: I still don't know you can describe a text message as "resounding"... it's a text message)
In turn, the consumers are quick to complain about the Favre coverage. But they continue to mark their discontent by voting in ESPN's Sports Nation polls and in the comments section of Favre-centric blogs.
I agree that the coverage can at times become ad nauseam, but it's the nature of the beast. If you have a Hall-of-fame quarterback talking about coming out of retirement, it's going to be discussed.
My only suggestion would be to put the context of the situation aside. I don't need to hear clichés like "stop me if you've heard this one" jokes from sportscasters and I don't care to read "oh, shut up" comments from consumers. If it's not important, don't cover it and if doesn't interest you, don't consume it.
This whole thing is unpredictable, which is way it's fascinating and is why it will be covered and consumed. Peter King of Sports Illustrated said it best in his Tuesday column. "So we'll see how it goes. Will he play? I'm out of that business. I simply don't know. I was wrong a year ago when I said he was retired for good, and I said this time he was retired for good, and I could well be wrong again. Your guess is as good as mine on this one."
