What was once a minor annoying storyline briefly addressed by Brad Childress has become something more than that. Adam Schefter, now employed by ESPN, reported earlier this week that there was a bit of dissent in the locker room about who should be the starting quarterback for the Vikings. Today, he followed up that report by saying pretty much what he said before -- just in scarier terms. From what is currently ESPN.com's top story:
What two knowledgeable NFL people described earlier this week as an "issue" in the Minnesota Vikings locker room was described Wednesday by a third informed person as a "schism."
But wait, there's more!
In the words of one NFL source, Favre has "little support" in the locker room as Minnesota prepares for its Monday night preseason game against the Houston Texans.
OK, so Ray Edwards (just speculating) and one or two other guys still want T-Jack to start -- let's make a big deal out of this and advance a narrative of the Vikings locker room being in turmoil! Yeah, that will get the page view meter going! As you can see in our equation, made-up locker room drama involving Brett Favre = page views = $$$.
Mr. Schefter: Step away from the keyboard. There is neither an "issue" nor a "schism" in the locker room. Sure, there could be an issue if the Vikings struggle out of the gate, and sure, there are likely a few players who would still prefer to see Tarvaris starting. But on the field, none of this matters.
You could go to the 31 other teams in the league and find a similar storyline unfolding. A couple of guys aren't happy about something. A handful of players are a little frustrated. What's so extraordinary about this happening in Minnesota? Believe me, this manufactured drama will be quickly forgotten if Favre produces on Sundays.
For now, though, Schefter's hyping this thing up in an effort to attract attention. And it's working. All he needed to do was find a couple of anonymous sources willing to say what he wanted them to say.