re: Favre to retire

florio sez it pret well on this-

He'll be in the Superdome on the evening of September 9, when the Vikings face the Saints to start the 2010 season. He'll be there. He'll be in uniform. He'll play.

We believe that in part because we rarely believe anything anyone connected to the NFL says. We've developed that attitude because, on too many past occasions, a player or a coach or a G.M. or an owner says one thing, and then does the exact opposite.

As it relates to Favre, his own history supports the conclusion that he'll be back. He retired in 2008. He later reiterated his intention to call it quits, scoffing at rumors that he hoped to return for another season. And he played/

He retired in 2009. In late July, he told the Vikings that he would not join them. Then, just as many of us began to believe that he really was finished, Favre played.

This year, whether he's consciously doing it or not, Favre needs to once again convince us that he won't come back, for two reasons.

First, he needs the Vikings fans to rejoice when Lord Favre rides in on a white steed to save the team from a return to mediocrity. And they won't rejoice unless they first believe in their hearts that Prince Graybeard isn't coming.

Second, he needs an excuse for his own potential mediocrity. In his quest to ride off into the sunset with a Lombardi Trophy tucked into the back pocket of his Wranglers, Favre fears embarrassing himself. So if he plays poorly, it can't happen because he's lost his magic. There needs to be a good reason for a Willie Mays/Joe Namath/John Unitas end to his career unrelated to whether he can still bring it.

Last year, it was a biceps tendon, along with an assortment of maladies that he cited multiple times prior to the start of the season, so that we all knew that if he stunk it up it happened because of his battle scars, not because he's no longer good enough.

This year, it's his ankle. The one on which he had supposedly minor surgery. The one that all of a sudden is preventing him from doing the stuff a quarterback does with his legs.

(Maybe he simply was concerned that he'd fail the conditioning test.)

Either way, he'll be back. We joked yesterday that maybe he wants more money. Whether he wants it or not, look for the Vikings to throw a few extra million onto the $13 million base salary he's due to earn this year. And look for anyone named Wilf to bend a knee and beg Favre to change his mind.

And then look for Favre to reluctantly comply. Possibly as late as the eve of the start of full-blown preparation for the regular-season opener, making Brett's Third Annual Unretirement the dominant story over Labor Day Weekend.

Heck, it's also possible that he never even goes to Minnesota before joining the team, and that he simply jumps the puddles between Hattiesburg to New Orleans, walks into the locker room, belts out a verse or two of Pants on the Ground, asks for a helmet, slaps a few asses, and tells his teammates that it's time to go take care of unfinished business.

When it happens, it will be dramatic. It will be memorable. It will be great.

That's precisely why Favre has decided to retire now. He knows -- whether he's even able to admit it to himself or anyone else -- that he needs to build the drama. And the drama will indeed build.

And come early September we'll all learn what we've suspected for the entire offseason.

Brett Favre will play.

I would tell him to keep that arm in shape just in case disaster happens and he needs to take the short trip down I-10.

Paul Allen's (voice of the Vikings) show is on right now on KFAN 1130. You can listen here or on a smartphone with an internet radio app.

Jeff Duncan tweet-

The overwhelming reaction from Saints regarding Favre news: Could care less. We'll believe it when we suit up Sept. 9 & he's not there.

Maybe now we can bring Favre in to back up Drew. It'll be his best shot at a ring this year.

KFAN just called the Saints "Cheap Artists." Saying its the only way we are going to get out of game 1

PFT-

So what do you think: Will he return or not?

No, he's just building up the drama 80% (2,758 votes)

Yes ... especially now that everyone expects him back 20% (698 votes)

Total Votes: 3,456

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kinda funny from Nick Barnett GB-

...it doesn't change nothing for us. We're going to have the same goal whether it's Tarvaris (Jackson), Jeffrey Dahmer or Norman Bates quarterbacking.

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Mike Mayock-
I believe Adrian Peterson is going to get more touches than in any time during his career. He carried it a little bit more than 300 times last year with a fair amount of receptions. I think he could get 400 touches this year.

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