At the time, it seemed like a reasonable prediction -- that the Favre signing would be made official near the end of this week. I made the prediction thinking that the Vikings would get a nice boost at the box office with the timing of the announcement (single game tickets will soon go on sale), and it would make sense to have the announcement come well before the start of training camp to give the circus some time to settle before the team hits the field.
The prediction made a couple of key assumptions: That Favre was completely ready to commit to the Vikings, and that a deal has been virtually in-place to bring him to Minnesota.
But according to a report by Ed Werder, Favre might delay a decision until just before training camp gets underway. Whether or not to consider Werder and BSPN's stuff as serious reporting is your call, but if the saga carries on beyond this week, it will certainly be discouraging.
Training camp opens on July 29 -- and with myself and many others predicting a conclusion to the Favre saga around July 16 or 17, delaying an announcement until near the start of training camp would only push things back by a week or two. I could live with that, even though a resolution this week would obviously be preferable. One thing, however, would be unacceptable: The uncertainty lasting a single day beyond the start of training camp.
As we all know by now, it's difficult to rule anything out when it comes to the always-unpredictable Favre. It might happen later this week, it might happen next week, and it might happen the day before training camp starts. But it cannot be allowed to extend a day past July 29.