Spring Break
Loyalty should go both ways for Favre
The public has blasted NFL quarterback Brett Favre but columnist Ian McPhail says he should be supported.
By: Ian McPhail
Issue date: 7/15/09 Section: Sports
The Packers typify the current problem with teams and ownership through their treatment of a man who has done so much for them and for the league. In the NFL, as soon as a player reaches the end of his career, he is often discarded for a fresh piece of meat such as Joe Montana was. Favre's situation has proven that no player, no matter how remarkable, can stand up to the combined public relations power of the league, the team and the sports writers, whose paycheck depends on the financial success of the league.
Maybe in a response to the lack of fans' patience with a bad team, the general managers who run the show have decided to sacrifice quality players for a better chance at winning.
The league and its teams need to decide whether it wants society to view athletes as role models or just random employees to be discarded as soon as they break or someone better comes along. It simply is not right to allow the media to switch between demonizing and worshiping players like Favre whenever it becomes convenient for a team's bottom line.
This is the problem with professional sports and the "media" that calls propaganda covering the sport. Mere months before journalists and the league decided to tarnish Favre's image, they were idolizing him as the reason for Green Bay's unlikely 2008 playoff run. Favre garners interest in a sport with a painfully dull off-season, and few writers will admit that stories about his un-retirement sell. Ironically, NFL media members are able to linger around Favre's house, report ridiculous Vikings deadline rumors, and stalk the quarterback, while blaming him for causing this media frenzy in the first place.
Watch the live interview with sports broadcaster Joe Buck on HBO, and hear Favre explain his side. For several months he has been silent to avoid a media backlash, letting reporters rip him before telling fans he wants to be sure his arm has healed before committing to the Vikings.
Ultimately, the reason the NFL and their unaccountable puppet media is allowed to be as two-faced and terrible to its players is because we let it. Fans lament the loss of quality human beings in the sport, while refusing to throw our support behind a good man like Favre. During the weeks in which the Packers planned to force Favre into Rodgers' backup, fewer than 200 fans bothered to show for a nationally advertised weekly protest for their quarterback at Lambeau Field. Loyalty should go both ways.
Pundits will spend this summer continuing to lampoon Favre for considering un-retiring, but true supporters should want to see him take another chance with the team of his choosing. Fans seem more than willing to excuse Rodgers' shortcomings last year, but because of Favre's age and the controversy around him, few will allow any excuse for a decline in play. As a former fan who bled Packers green and gold, nothing would please me more than to watch Favre and the Vikings beat up on his former team. If Americans will open their eyes to the poor treatment of players by teams, perhaps we can get a better class of athlete. But as long as we throw our support behind the Rodgers instead of the Favres, expect sports role models to continue to disappear.
Ian McPhail is a sophomore history major.
Maybe in a response to the lack of fans' patience with a bad team, the general managers who run the show have decided to sacrifice quality players for a better chance at winning.
The league and its teams need to decide whether it wants society to view athletes as role models or just random employees to be discarded as soon as they break or someone better comes along. It simply is not right to allow the media to switch between demonizing and worshiping players like Favre whenever it becomes convenient for a team's bottom line.
This is the problem with professional sports and the "media" that calls propaganda covering the sport. Mere months before journalists and the league decided to tarnish Favre's image, they were idolizing him as the reason for Green Bay's unlikely 2008 playoff run. Favre garners interest in a sport with a painfully dull off-season, and few writers will admit that stories about his un-retirement sell. Ironically, NFL media members are able to linger around Favre's house, report ridiculous Vikings deadline rumors, and stalk the quarterback, while blaming him for causing this media frenzy in the first place.
Watch the live interview with sports broadcaster Joe Buck on HBO, and hear Favre explain his side. For several months he has been silent to avoid a media backlash, letting reporters rip him before telling fans he wants to be sure his arm has healed before committing to the Vikings.
Ultimately, the reason the NFL and their unaccountable puppet media is allowed to be as two-faced and terrible to its players is because we let it. Fans lament the loss of quality human beings in the sport, while refusing to throw our support behind a good man like Favre. During the weeks in which the Packers planned to force Favre into Rodgers' backup, fewer than 200 fans bothered to show for a nationally advertised weekly protest for their quarterback at Lambeau Field. Loyalty should go both ways.
Pundits will spend this summer continuing to lampoon Favre for considering un-retiring, but true supporters should want to see him take another chance with the team of his choosing. Fans seem more than willing to excuse Rodgers' shortcomings last year, but because of Favre's age and the controversy around him, few will allow any excuse for a decline in play. As a former fan who bled Packers green and gold, nothing would please me more than to watch Favre and the Vikings beat up on his former team. If Americans will open their eyes to the poor treatment of players by teams, perhaps we can get a better class of athlete. But as long as we throw our support behind the Rodgers instead of the Favres, expect sports role models to continue to disappear.
Ian McPhail is a sophomore history major.
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