Yet another reason to watch the NHL...

Okay, I am not the world's biggest pro sports fan. If you've been paying any attention, you've probably already picked up that I am a hockey guy--but that's the extent of my pro sports devotions. I like football (American football, Cara, sorry) and pro volleyball or pro lacrosse--which most people don't even consider pro sports. I find baseball tolerable, but can barely endure basketball--and don't even get me started on tennis or golf. Beyond the whole I'm-bored-to-tears-can-we-get-another-ten-dollar-hotdog thing, though, the world of pro sports has become so commercial, so pathetically Hollywood its money-grubbing, scandal-ridden, media-attention-grabbing stunts, that I just don't have a taste for it.

All that aside, though, if I'm watching football (and, I must admit, I do like to watch pro football occassionally), I like to root for the Green Bay Packers. An uncle of mine played for them way back in the days of leather helmets, when the guys playing for the team really were working at the packing plant during the day, so I have a bit of loyalty there. They are a community-owned team, not spinning at the whim of some star chamber of corporate magnates. They come out at practice and sign autographs for the fans. They have the same horrible, wonderfully charactered and storied stadium they have had for years, not some sleek mall with an astroturf field in the middle. There is character in the fan base, character in the locker room, and it all shows in how they play, win or lose.

Their quarterback for the last several years has been a man named Brett Favre (that rhymes with carve, if you don't know.) This guy was a perfect fit for the team--he had some problems, sure, but he overcame them. (He struggled with a painkiller addiction, but outed himself and got off it on his own, not at the expense of his team, league, or reputation.) He was a blue-collar sort of guy, good natured and at ease in the spotlight. He worked to solidify the organism of the Packers, recruiting heavily and making suggestions to the front office that led to the team taking the Vince Lombardi trophy back to Green Bay. He played selflessly, even on the weekend after his father passed on, dedicating the game to him and winning soundly. He was a sort of Cal Ripken of football, setting records in many, many categories and winning the Super Bowl. He played with heart, intensity, and love of the game.

The fans, we loved him so, we didn't want him to ever leave. But we all understand how time can do its evil thing to the human body--especially a body that is used to experiencing the same force as a car wreck dozens of times a day for years on end. At the end of last season, he held a tearful press conference in which he expressed his intention to finally hang up the cleats for good. We all cried with him, but we moved on, the team moved on, everyone in the world moved on.

Then the unthinkable thing happened: he started listening to his agent.

Suddenly, a few weeks ago, he was back in the spotlight, pressuring his former team to take him back. See, there were a couple of years left in his contract, and he just didn't want to stop playing after all. The Pack had already moved forward, though--they drafted players according to a new strategy utilizing their next (hopefully great) quarterback, and couldn't just change in midstream again. He and his agent pressured the team, to the point of getting the NFL commissioner involved. Having forced everyone's hand, the commish said the Pack had to take him back. It was weird.

Then, just as suddenly, he was on the New York Jets roster. What the aitch?!? Not only has he abandoned reason, he has now abandoned loyalty as well. It is as if he was replaced by a pod some summer night in his home, and this is all part of a crazy alien plot to do away with Truth, Justice and the American Way. Now, I have to root against the Jets just for having such an abomination, and that doesn't make me feel good. Just conflicted.

I wonder if I can get a NHL-only sports pack on my cable this season?