Favre should flee Green Bay
Run, Brett, run.
Fast. Get out of Green Bay. Distance yourself from Littletown, U.S.A.
No athlete should have to play his entire pro career up there. Brett Favre must have realized that long ago because he bolted town after the football season. For where? Hawaii? The Caribbean? Canada, even?
No, for sweat home Mississippi. Now tell me, who summers in Mississippi unless it's to escape Green Bay?
Walter Payton, the greatest football player from Mississippi, came to Chicago and lived here year-round.
If Payton was drafted by the Packers instead of the Bears, he, too, might have spent his off-seasons back home, or anywhere but Green Bay.
Anyway, now Favre reportedly is feeling the itch, as many who spend time in Wisconsin do.
But this is a different strain of itch. This is the itch indigenous to sports, where a retired player itches to play again.
Favre should scratch the itch by moving to another NFL team in a real NFL city.
Honestly, this isn't another Chamber of Commerce advertisement for Chicago, the world's greatest city, where a clamor would resonate for Favre to join the Bears.
Outside of Green Bay, Chicago would be the worst place for him. All of a sudden, an all-time, top-two quarterback would start looking like everyone else who plays the position for the Bears. Favre's itch would evolve into Bobby Douglass disease, Bob Avellini illness, dare we say Rex Grossman-itis.
Instead of being a cross between John Elway and Joe Montana, Favre would start looking like a cross between Jonathan Quinn and Chad Hutchinson. As a quarterback in the twilight of his career, Favre would be the next in a long line of Kordell Stewarts and Chris Chandlers.
Even Montana and Elway would have started throwing senseless interceptions in a Bears uniform. Favre, who did some of that even in his prime, would make it an art form here.
Not that Favre would have that much opportunity. His record for consecutive starts might end on a stretcher after the first play from scrimmage of his first game as a Bear.
So if Favre is serious about returning to the game, Chicago is out as a destination. Anywhere else is in, especially a team one quarterback away from the Super Bowl.
Favre still can play. He can't play like he once played, but he can play better than 80 percent of the league's quarterbacks can play. With Favre last season, the Packers advanced further than 28 other teams. If he returns to Green Bay, the Packers automatically have the NFC North's best quarterback.
(By the way, just the fact the Pack is somewhere between ambivalent toward and opposed to welcoming Favre back tells you something about Green Bay.)
For those concerned about what a comeback would do to his legacy, relax. He was Brett Favre, is Brett Favre and will remain Brett Favre.
For those who can't imagine him in anything but green and gold, relax again. The legacies of Montana, Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath survived wardrobe changes.
In Favre's case, it would do him good to experience professional life outside Green Bay.
So run, Brett, run.