Brett Favre Needs to Shut Up

Repeat after me: "Retire." "Retire." "Retire." Just go away, please. There should be some sort of mandate that all professional athletes must agree to spend at least 3 years out of the public limelight following their official retirement announcement. I'm not completely against comebacks or anything, but I am so tired of hearing about premature retirements. I've never been a fan of Favre, believe me, but he is certainly not the first prominent player to pull this stunt in recent years. We've all had to endure the recurring (pre-PED awareness) Roger Clemens story. I actually watched a couple of innings of that chump's minor league rehab start for some really ridiculous reason.

But, back to Favre, here. It doesn't really matter to me that he has some huge grievance against his longtime franchise or anything. I really just don't want to hear about retired athletes anymore. If you are truly done, just go away for awhile. Don't hold press conferences. Don't have your agent speak out on your behalf. Go to the beach for a month or twelve, drink some margaritas, and let us forget about your recent failures and successes on the field. Trust me, when you come back in a few years and get a cushy job being an analyst for ESPN or a commentator on the dreaded FOX or whatever, all we are going to remember is the highlights of your career. It is really sad to see these athletes try and keep the fire going and try and stay in front of the microphones, the video cameras, and the hype machines (!!) because they don't know what else to do with themselves.

The card I posted above actually makes me laugh to this day. I lost interest in football cards awhile before I lost interest in baseball cards, and Pro Set cards made up the vast majority of what I collected (and still own.) I'm not sure what the maniac behind that operation was thinking or if he/she/it made off with any profit whatsoever, but I know that even a few months after a new release it wasn't difficult to purchase a box of it for $10 or less. I think the quality of the cards (especially the pictures) was superior to the other brands out there at the time, at least beginning in 1990, but the sheer amount of the cards produced was and continues to be mind-boggling. That being said, I clearly remember pulling the Favre card in a pack and showing it off - "hey, I got a Brett Favor rookie card!"

So, er, do me a favor and go away for awhile, Brett.