Let's face it, Brett Favre is an annoying d-bag. We're all sick of his phony press conferences and interviews with reporters sycophants like Chris Mortensen and Greta Van Susteren. Well, it turns out that ESPN has finally caught on, about 3 years too late, that people hate Brett Favre. While every SportsCenter and NFL Live episode can't go 10 minutes without some worthless Brett-watch update, at least ESPN is starting to acknowledge this basic fact in the segments it airs.
While basically every football fan has gotten over Brett, clearly the big brass at ESPN hasn't. Before Mark Schlereth's announcement of his Top 5 NFC teams that had everybody sitting on the edge of their collective seats on the 6 PM SportsCenter, Schlereth had to pontificate about the explosive potential of every member of the Vikings' offense now that Brett is their QB. As to be expected, this piece of "analysis" was delivered in the typical ESPN fashion: say as many superlatives and adjectives as fast as you can while music blasts and a "hard-hitting" highlight plays on screen. Of note, Schlereth didn't include the Vikes in his Top 5. I'm so glad I got to hear how amazing Percy Harvin will be because he'll now be getting some 4-yard swing passes from Brett. This Schlereth piece was followed later by the despicable Colin Cowherd and that blond girl talking about the fantasy impact of Favre (as an earlier post mockingly predicted).
More to the point, now that ESPN acknowledges that Favre has long fallen out of favor with fans, the network has been quick to play the sympathy card. Jeremy Schaap came on just before 7 with an editorial arguing that Favre isn't to blame. "Don't blame Favre for remaining compelling," he says. Well, Jeremy, the only people who find him compelling are you and your bosses." "Don't blame Favre that fans still tune in and log on to track his comings and goings," he continues. Well, Jeremy, the only reason that fans still "tune in" is because your network refuses to cover anything else - Favre is still the lead story on ESPN.com as I write this. Never mind that Usain Bolt just ran a 9.58 or Tiger lost a major though he led after 54 holes. These are easily two of the biggest sports stories of the year! And Brett Favre is almost 40, and he sucks! Do you really want me to feel sorry for Brett Favre?
Blame it instead, says Jeremy Schaap, on the "current crop of quarterbacks." He went on to talk about the glory days of Montana, Elway, Moon, Simms, Esiason, each around during Favre's rookie year. What about Brady, Manning, Manning, Brees, and (dare I say it) Aaron Rodgers? None of those guys is any slouch. Here's to Rodgers' Packers torching the Vikings on October 5 and November 1. Afterwards, I hope Rodgers punches Favre in his bad rotator cuff as retribution for Favre preventing Rodgers from taking his rightful place at the helm of the Green Bay offense 4 years ago. Shut up Brett, shut up ESPN; your sympathy doesn't work with me.
-RW
You left Quinn off your list.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you going to do if Favre and the Vikings win? It will have: (1) proven you wrong and (2) provided a reason for ESPN to keep this up longer than the Michael Jackson story (was he a drug addled freak or a misguided sensitive soul?). Of course, if they lose, it will be all the more reason to stay with the story to talk about how everyone (where "everyone" means an ESPN analyst) got it wrong. So my recommendation is, and I hesitate to say this for obvious reasons, to drink heavily.