Crimes to Sport- Favre, Rose, Braun

[rickh150]

Favre should have just kept his mouth shut until each training camp and played out his deal until he didn't want to play anymore, or play until he was benched. Are you kidding me? All of his wish washy feely, not loving me, reading into things crap was terrible in that it threw the entire organization in an impossible position. They committed to Rodgers for months, and then he wanted back in (after 3 seasons of sitting on the same fence). He split our allegiances, a loyal to a fault organization, didn't apologize for it, even though his indecision caused it ALL, and then wormed his way AGAiN- fake retired and came back to beat his organization that made him into what he was........

 

And He did it all with the VIKINGS! Still troubling...

 

Would you want to live in a word where the Favre-led Vikings were Super Bowl Champions? How bad would you hate that organization to this day???? Rephrase... How much more? You know that Favre would still be waiting for that Packer Hall of Fame call, right, if that all goes down.... and it all should have if Petersen doesn't fumble/Favre doesn't throw a pick. He burnt the bridge, pissed on it, and gave the whole organization the finger in the process,

 

Nothing wrong with that???

 

"Crime" is not meant to be used in the literal sense here of being fined or jailed. Of course, Favre is 3rd on that list when taking "crime" literally because what he did was not criminal. Yet, when we are talking about morality, crime to sport, right and wrong in a sports sense, what he did to the home team and fans, the debate is a little more complicated. Why???? Some feel Braun did nothing wrong, even though what he did was punishable. Others, dozens or hundreds in the past perhaps, were doing it and did't get caught, didn't get punished. Why should he??? He never failed a test. Others weren't even tested. Braun said he did it for recovery purposes, which is fine and reasonable for some people. For Rose, most would like to see him reinstated and put in the Hall. Most view gambling as ok. Some believe since he bet on his own team to win, that he is whitewashed clean. These are popular, main-stream arguments for Braun and Rose, even though technically they were punished.

 

Still, I put Favre 3rd. The other two were worse in my mind. Yet, I am for redemption for all. I'd like to see Rose back, in some sense, with MLB again.... I cheer Braun because he is a Brewer. He seems friendly and personable with fans, as well, which is admirable compared to how easily it would be to hate fans based on how he has been treated in other parks..... I would have tried to put emotions aside.... Would have stood and cheered Favre at the hula palooza on Saturday night. He provided so much fun for an organization for years, toughed out numerous games with injury, and played some elite ball. He accepted some responsibility in the breakup in interviews over the last year, and his graciousness with the fans gracious and thunderous applause was good for the soul.

 

That being said, if he Won with the Vikings, Favre moves to 2nd. If he won it with the Bears, he moves to 1. Now That would have been criminal. How do you live with that???

[nodakfan17]

Would you want to live in a world where the Favre-led Vikings were Super Bowl Champions?

Admittedly, that would make it more difficult for me to accept Favre. However, as history played itself out, the Packers defeat Favre twice in 2010 and win a Super Bowl (thus proving Ted Thompson correct). I still cringe when I see highlights of Favre wearing purple, but I'm over it.

[FVBrewerFan]

Would you want to live in a world where the Favre-led Vikings were Super Bowl Champions?

Admittedly, that would make it more difficult for me to accept Favre. However, as history played itself out, the Packers defeat Favre twice in 2010 and win a Super Bowl (thus proving Ted Thompson correct). I still cringe when I see highlights of Favre wearing purple, but I'm over it.

 

I'll admit that as well. If the Favre-led Vikings won the SB, it would be much more difficult to forgive and forget.

 

But let me ask you this. What if Vince Lombardi won the SB with the Redskins after he left GB? Would he have a statue outside Lambeau Field? Would there be this same dislike for Lombardi?

 

I know it's not exactly the same situation, but it is similar. Back then, there was no 24 hour day sports channels, talk radio, twitter, etc. While Favre/Packers had the entire sorry saga play out through the media every day.

 

I'm not forgetting how Favre handled himself, I just choose to forgive. Imagine you played 16 years for the Packers, won a SB, 3 time MVP and you're told you need to decide in a week if you're retiring or not. Hurry up, we have this young guy waiting. We'll let you compete with him for a starting job. Be honest, that's not a good position to be put in.

[TheCrew07]

\I'm not forgetting how Favre handled himself, I just choose to forgive. Imagine you played 16 years for the Packers, won a SB, 3 time MVP and you're told you need to decide in a week if you're retiring or not. Hurry up, we have this young guy waiting. We'll let you compete with him for a starting job. Be honest, that's not a good position to be put in.

 

That's not exactly the way it went, it was the more the yearly "Farve might retire if..." and the saga got very old very fast. No player is bigger than the team I thought the Packers handled the drama year in and year out about as well as could be expected. I found the entire scenario very manipulative but even then I shed a tear or 6 watching his retirement press conference. When he decided to come back I was done with him. I admired the football player but the person left quite a bit to be desired... his exploits with Chmura and Winters as "guest bartenders" are pretty common knowledge around the Fox Valley and I don't think anyone was surprised when Chmura ended up in a hot tub with underage girls or Farve later got caught texting pictures of his junk to someone other than his wife.

 

I'm largely indifferent to Farve now while I will always have a soft spot for players like Driver.

 

Braun... I had serious doubts about his innocence from the start, my personal shine was off him long before he was caught. In the end he's just another professional baseball player who lied about PEDs, like everyone else before him. Only he took it a step farther and convinced everyone including his teammates and friends outside the organization that he wasn't cheating.

 

Rose is by far the worst of the bunch and he doesn't even come across as a good guy, I don't see much latch to onto there but his career was long over by the time I was a huge baseball fan. While steroids were more about personal profit for the athlete, gambling has much greater and farther reaching consequences.

[1992casey]

There's probably a better word than "crime" to describe these examples, but I can't think of one.

 

Favre's issue was that his ego would occasionally get in his way. Some of it was public right away, such as his yearly retirement soap opera and that he continued to drink after treatment for addiction. Some of it came out later, such as the fact that he felt he deserved input into personnel decisions. From a fan standpoint, I think that qualifies as being annoying vs. being a "crime" against anything.

 

Braun's case has the weird caveat in that the initial test and hearing were never supposed to be public to begin with. Still, he can't be excused for the way he handled the situation. But had it remained private like it was supposed to be, he'd have been just another PED user.

 

Gambling on one's own team is far and away the worst of the three "crimes." BillScottCanRake covered it well.

 

From today's standpoint, I agree with TheCrew07 when he says that Rose still "doesn't even come across as a good guy." Braun seems to be doing his best to do what he can to make things better. And the Favre issues are things that simply seem less significant as time goes on.

[Point Beer Is Best]

The only thing I didn't like with Favre was his second retirement after one year with the Jets - he still had time left on his old contract, and by him retiring he suddenly became eligible to sign with any team rather than having the Jets control where he'd be headed. He gamed the system in much the same way the Packers gamed it to try and keep him away from competing against them.

 

That's not correct. When a player retires while still under contract, the team still retains his rights. That's why the Packers were able to trade him to the Jets in the first place. After he retired from the Jets, they still held his rights. They were prohibited from trading Favre back into the NFC North as a term of the trade with the Packers. Then they drafted Mark Sanchez and decided to release Favre from his contract (which was totally unnecessary if he was truly "retired"). That's what ultimately made him a free agent and eligible to sign with the Vikings. The Jets ended up giving the a Packers a draft pick a year or so later for nothing in return that everyone knew was a goodwill gesture for allowing to happen what the Packers did not want (Favre back in the division).

[JJHardy7]

But let me ask you this. What if Vince Lombardi won the SB with the Redskins after he left GB? Would he have a statue outside Lambeau Field? Would there be this same dislike for Lombardi?

 

Great, great, great, great point. Emotions run high, but this is a perfect example of why short-term items don't matter in history.

 

Bottom line...Favre wanted to play....Green Bay wanted to go with Rodgers...so what?

[MrTPlush]

The real crime here is the fact they all have gigantic egos the size of the Hindenburg.

[rickh150]

Favre could have stayed and played with the Packers instead of starting the whole drama. Here's a puzzler, would the Packers have ever traded/sat/cut Favre on their own if Favre simply comes back to Packers in training camp in 2008.. 2009... 2010??? How woulda/coulda that have played out?