Why It's OK for Packers Fans Not to like Brett Favre Anymore

It's the kind of thing Green Bay Packers fans would dream and then tell everyone else about the next morning so they could laugh along at the absurdity of it all.

"I dreamed Brett Favre had gotten mad at the Packers (your listener smiles) and decided to go play for the Vikings (a chuckle) and he threw a touchdown pass (a laugh) and then the next week they played the Packers at the Metrodome (belly laughs) and everyone across the country was talking about it (huge, roll on the floor guffaws)...."
As bizarre as it may have once seemed...Favre wearing anyone else's colors let along the purple and gold...here we are.

Packer fans spent so many great days and great nights watching his every move, sometimes cringing but more often than not awestruck by his ability to make magic happen in so many different ways. Now, they can't wait to see him fail. They're begging for it actually.

Favre and the Packers seemed like a union that would never dissolve. He said he could never see himself playing for another team. But he has. Twice. And this time, he wants nothing more than to beat the Packers and stick it to the thousands of people who once cheered his every move—put up with the bad times and stood by him always.

avre belonged to the Packers.

Sure, Joe Montana left the 49ers. But he played for the Kansas City Chiefs, not the Niners' fiercest rivals.

Favre playing for the Vikings is like Bird suiting up for the Lakers. Derek Jeter signing with the Red Sox.

He brought the entire episode on himself when instead of committing to a team clearly on the rise after the 2007-08 NFC Championship loss, he opted to retire. In retrospect, it just looks like he wanted out of Green Bay because he didn't think the club had a chance to reach the Super Bowl the following season. Remember his comment that "anything less than winning the Super Bowl would be viewed as a disappointment"?

he retirement talk has now faded, of course, and even though Favre has a right to keep playing, each time the Vikings and Packers meet is now a real nightmare--not a dream-- for those who thought he'd never leave, only to find out that he doesn't give two hoots about what Packer fans think of seeing him in purple. Fans a couple hundred miles to the west of Green Bay are almost giddy at sticking it to their rival. Packer fans have moved on. They're buying Aaron Rodgers jerseys by the hundreds, captivated by the skill and humility of their new leader.

You can't blame Packers management for moving on when Favre, even in the aftermath of a phenomenal 2007 season, waffled and then quit on the franchise that seemed to be on the way back. You'd think he'd rather play somewhere else than try to defeat the team owned by the fans who helped make him wealthy by buying everything that had the number four on it in green and gold.

Think again.