Sometimes the Fat Lady Just Won't Sing

So it finally happened today. After months of anticipation, and three weeks after both sides announced the window had closed, Brett Favre signed with the Minnesota Vikings.

Sports columnists around the country will paint Favre either as a hero (white horse, Super Bowl run, the whole bit) or a villain (usurper of Sage Rosenthels and Tavarius Jackson, team chemistry killer, etc.). The common sense truth is that Brett Favre is neither of those things.

Brett Favre is just a guy trying to do what loves to do, while he still can (sorta) do it. Even in advanced football years at age thirty-nine, he found someone willing to pay him for it.

I’m certainly not going to sit here and proclaim the Minnesota Vikings as the favorite in the NFC. Hell, I’d still pick them second in their own division behind the Chicago Bears. What I will do is say that people should just get over it. The man doesn’t know how to do anything else. He’s a quarterback, and he just so happens to be able to make an amazing living doing it.

No, the Vikings won’t make the Super Bowl, but they’ll be in the national media spotlight, sell tons of merchandise, and endear themselves to a football starving public that craves superstars like Farve.

By this time in two months, the Vikings will have had enough media exposure, sell enough tickets, and push enough purple “4" jerseys off the racks to cover the investment made in Farve today. Vikings owner Zygi Wilf knows that Brett Favre is good business, and the good football may just be a bonus, like tasty mints on the pillow in a plush hotel.

On the actual football side of things, Brett Favre makes them a better team, period. Have you watched the Vikings the last two seasons? And outside of highlights on Sportscenter, has anyone actually seen the Vikings complete more than one pass in a row? Didn’t think so.

There are many things you could say about Brett Favre. He may have an axe to grind with the Packers, and he may have trouble not knowing when to let go, but he’s no dummy. No one with any sense leaves money on the table, and especially not twenty-five million dollars.