I’ve got to ask this: Am I the only one sick of this whole Brett Favre thing? Retire. Not retire. Retire. Not retire. Every year, there’s a different jock who goes through this dance. Favre has done it for several seasons now. The Rocket originally retired way back in 2003. Does anyone remember Charles Barkley retiring every season after the Rockets knocked the Suns out of the playoffs? And how many sports did Michael Jordan retire from?

It’s Favre’s career. And he can do with it whatever he wants. But at some point he’s got to realize his words mean something. And if tells the Packers he’s retired, and they start changing up the playbook to better fit the skills of Aaron Rodgers, then Favre just can’t change his mind mere weeks before training camp and expect the Packers to keep welcoming him back with open arms.

And I might respect Favre a little more if he wasn’t whining to the folks over at the Fox News Channel about the Packers disrespecting him. Really, Brett, Greta Van Susteren? Cameron Diaz wasn’t available? And I like how Newt Gingrich of all people has come to Favre’s defense: “The fact is Brett Favre made a bad decision…Now it is the Packers turn to change their mind and put the ball back in Favre’s hands…”

It really does a person good to hear Gingrich talking about loyalty. Because no one knows more about loyalty than the Newtster. Like that time he asked for a divorce from his first wife while she was in the hospital with cancer, then refused to pay alimony and child support. Or calling his second wife, at her mother’s, and asking for a divorce so he could marry the woman he was having an affair with.

Then again, I know why Favre’s getting Newt’s support. Newt has the morals of an athlete.

But what bugs me, what really bugs me is that Favre, like Rocket, refuses to be a man about this. He hides behind his agent. He faces softball questions. He leaves his employer hanging out to dry. It’s just what Rocket did after the 2003 season. And after the 2005 season. And after the 2006 season.

Be a man. Quit. Or don’t quit. But make a damn decision already. And one more thing, quit before it is too late. Don’t hang on too long like Johnny Unitas or Joe Namath or Willie Mays. Get out while you can still walk. Don’t become this guy.

Please. – John Royal