I hope this bit of the interview doesn't go unnoticed:
Joe Buck: There was a point there in Green Bay when it was like, 'Let me out, let me off, let me breathe, let me live my life,' wasn't there?
Brett Favre: You know, not really. As I got older, I cared a lot less about what was going on aside from football. I went to meetings, I went to practice, I came home, me and my youngest daughter would go to the stadium in Green Bay and we'd ride scooters around the concourses when no one was there. It was great. I would go hunting, come back, go to the stadium -- I'd do it all over again. 12 years ago, when I quit drinking, I had my fill of going out partying, all that stuff, and I wouldn't trade these last 12 years for anything. And I'm at a place where I'm at peace -- I pull up to stoplights now and instead of getting right beside the next car, I stay back behind it. I don't want people to say, 'Hey, there's such and such.' It doesn't turn me on like it once did. And so playing is -- it's because I love to play, not because of all the things that go along with it.
As we move toward the inevitable event of Brett Favre becoming a Viking, are his motivations for wanting to come out of retirement still fair game for criticism and speculation? It's very difficult for me to claim that people shouldn't be able to raise legitimate questions about why, exactly, he's been putting us through this neverending ordeal, because it's something I've often wondered myself. Some have claimed it's a bizarre sense of insecurity, others have argued that he wants revenge on Ted Thompson, and yet more have asserted that Brett simply loves the attention.
But is there a fourth option in this equation? An option that -- let's face it -- is easily the corniest of the four, and one which some will reject simply because it might sound a bit naive? I'm talking about the factor Brett referred to in that quote: A love of playing the game of football. If you watch the interview, he certainly wasn't lacking in sincerity during this part -- I think the words convey that fairly well, as he discusses the memory of playing with his daughter at Lambeau and his reflection that he wouldn't trade the last 12 years for anything. Should we take him seriously?
Look, it's still a tough pill for me to swallow after sifting through all the theories throughout the past weeks and months, but maybe this isn't about insecurity, revenge or attention. Those are three very human weaknesses, and it'd hardly be surprising if they were pushing Favre back to the field -- but hey, maybe he just loves the game.