I fell asleep watching the 11:30 episode of The Simpsons on Fox last night. The television played as I slept and no doubt random bits of syndicated sitcoms and infomercials crept into my dreams as the night slipped towards day. I slept soundly, however, through all of that. Until 5 am when one of the hosts Fox's morning news show uttered the words "Favre is coming to Gang Green."
With those words I was up with start. Or at least I thought I was. Was I dreaming? Was I having a nightmare? Had this Brett Favre debacle really "concluded" with his private jet jetting from Hattiesburg, Mississippi to Long Island? Or was he headed straight for Cleveland to start tonight's preseason game against the Browns? Hoping to establish the reality of the words I thought I heard from the television I groggily moved over to my desk and the computer. And, there it was. An email from the NY Jets trying to sell me a Brett Favre jersey. Then I knew it was real. No dream, no matter how bizarre or how lifelike, would be able to conceive of the money-grubbing ways of the modern professional sports club. IF the Favre jersey was on sale then the deal was real. I guess it should have been more shocking that they weren't advertising half-price No. 10 shirts in the same email. And that's the second-part of this deal. Chad Pennington is likely gone. In that regard, this is a sad day for Jets fans. Even if some of them are too trusting of television announcers (who lament Chad's lack of arm strength with the same rote fervor that they celebrate everything about Favre) to fully realize how much his leadership and smart play have meant to this team since he was drafted by Bill Parcells. But, we can talk about Chad's legacy in green later. This morning the story is all about the three-time NFL MVP and sure-fire Hall of Famer who the Jets received from the Green Bay Packers in exchange for a conditional draft pick. I believe that right now the pick is fourth rounder but becomes a first rounder if No. 4 takes more than 80% of the team's snaps. Or something like that. It seems the Jets bested the Tampa Bay Bucs in this contest by allowing that the conditional pick to slide all the way down the first round if certain performance incentives were met.
So how do I feel about this? Two weeks ago I said that if the Jets weren't going to give the keys to Chad Pennington then I would rather see the guy who led his team to the NFC championship game line up under center than Kellen Clemons. Two weeks ago I was ready for Jets GM Mike Tannenbaum to go for it. The offseason infusion of veteran talent, especially on the offensive line, makes this team in win-now mode more than last year's 4-12 record would indicate. And, two years ago they were in the playoffs. Under Pennington. Of course, the last two weeks have been the sports-news equivalent of water boarding as we've all felt that we were literally drowning in stories and opinion about Favre and the Packers. My opinion of the gunslinger surely suffered a bit over that time. But not nearly as much as my opinion of the folks who run the Packers. Not only did they refuse to play the guy who brought them to the brink of last year's Super Bowl but they did so in such a way as to heap unbelievable pressure on the untested player they have tapped to succeed him. Anyway, the fact that I've already spent these wee hours of the morning scouring Craigslist for Jets tickets means that I must be on board with this move. And, at the very least, it should be pretty interesting to hear NYC work itself into a fervor about this over the next few days. OK, back to sleep. And, at this point, I hope Favre is still here when I wake up.
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