The "Amazing" Sports Media...
The sports media never ceases to amaze me! ...not in a good way though. I just read an article about Brett Favre about how people are asking him and Coach McCarthy if he's lost "his fast ball" based on his game against the Redskins ten days ago that was less than stellar. Now, far be it from me to take up the defense of my favorite QB to ever play the game, but this is ridiculous. They can't leave the man alone!

I believe that the media is getting to the point now that they are looking for anything that they can to prove that he's getting too old to play. Most of the time they go further than that and practically stalk him to find ANY story angle they can to have something about him. I realize how the media works - I used to sell broadcast television. They know how popular he is as a player - even people who aren't Cheeseheads love the guy and at least respect what he's done for the game so they hang on to anything they can to get a story about him. Why else do you think that they've had him retiring for at least 3 years now and hyped that up every year?

I'll make my case with the following experience - I went to the last Packers pre-season game this year against the Titans since it was only 3 hours north on I-65 from the 'Ham (otherwise known as my native Birmingham, AL...where American Idols are born). Again, just as a reminder, this was a Titans home game...which they won by 16 points. I was sitting about 12 rows up behind the Packer bench around the 50 yard line wearing my #4 Favre lady's jersey and cheesehead. I look over toward the aisle and there are dozens of people (not all in Packer gear) with cameras and camera phones in the air trying to get a pic of Favre. I walked down and struck up a conversation with another lady in a #4 Favre jersey with a camera and said, "Isn't this crazy? You'd never know we were the visiting team losing by 16 points". She laughed and we proceeded to discuss the fact that all the television cameras were over at the bench where Favre was sitting and trying to carry on a conversation with another player. He was the one that the tv cameras followed off the field into the tunnel...he creates a media frenzy everywhere he goes without asking for it.

I think the sports media has ended up like the paparazzi in Favre's case mainly because we as fans continue to watch anything we can on him and that begins the vicious cycle...fans watch = ratings...ratings = advertisers...advertisers = money. I would dare say that the Packers' franchise as a whole has made more money off #4 than any other one player for over a decade. Just watch the game against Denver next Monday night and count the Favre gear you see compared to anyone else - it's insane!

Look, in closing, I love a Favre story as much as anyone, but after reading the article mentioned above - my response is "CAN'T YOU JUST LEAVE HIM ALONE?" Do you agree that the sports media goes too far? He's an incredible player and fun to watch - we are all privileged to have been able to watch him throughout his career, but every player has a bad day. Don't pick him apart just to get a story...trust me - you don't want to mess with the Packer Nation...or this red headed cheesehead either!