Don't believe the hype

You know when I’ll believe that Brett Favre isn’t going to play this season? When the Vikings’ season is over and he hasn’t taken a snap.

Then, and only then, will I believe that the latest “Favre is retiring” rumors are true. Quite frankly, anyone who buys into these vague reports now is naive.

Even if the attention addict of a quarterback does turn down the Vikings (who reportedly sweetened his deal by $4 million today) and officially announces his retirement, I won’t be sold. After all, he’s retired and changed his mind twice before.

If the Vikings break training camp and No. 4 isn’t in uniform, it doesn’t mean a thing. If Minnesota announces that Tavaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels is the starting quarterback and one of them is under center when the season opens next month, don’t rule out another Favre comeback. If the Vikings get off to a good start, it’s entirely possible some players on the team will get text messages along the lines of, “I’m coming back!”

After last season, we learned that Favre needed surgery on his ankle if he wanted to keep playing. He had said surgery, leading everyone to believe he’d play another season (at least). He spent the summer practicing with high school kids in Mississippi. Aside from being so narcissistic he feels cool being the big man on a high school campus, that certainly seems like a sign that he’s planning on playing a 20th NFL season.

Most assumed that was the case, until Tuesday. Now ESPN, among other national media outlets, is jumping all over this story as if a couple of alleged text messages are the end of the Favre speculation.

I flipped on ESPN Tuesday afternoon and Steve Young was on, talking about Favre. He was asked who he thought would be under center when the Vikings begin the season. Young said, unless he hears otherwise from Favre himself, it’s Favre. Then Scott Van Pelt asked if all the talk of Favre retiring was a huge waste of time. Um, yes. Yes it was, and will continue to be.

We won’t know for a while whether Favre is serious this time. We won’t know when he makes the official announcement. We won’t know when the season starts. We’ll know when the season is over. And even then, there’s no guarantee he won’t try to come back next year.

Like most football fans, I’m sick to death of Favre. I’d like him to shut up and retire, and stay quiet until he’s inducted into the Hall of Fame. But that’s not going to happen. This saga is far from over.