Bye Bye Brett

Tuesday August 5th, 2008 - Chicago, IL

Brett Favre needs to leave the planet for a few days so the stench of his selfishness can air out for a while. Coverage in the media has been like the Iraq war and I’m so sick of it I’m thinking of buying a gun and pulling an Elvis on my TV next time his face is on it.

Anything and everything with the number 4 on it is starting to make me sick. I wouldn’t even order a number 4 at a fast food restaurant at this point. Can’t it all just go away? Is it necessary to occupy every minute of ESPN with the speculation on the life of a hillbilly? I for one am completely nauseated by the attention paid to something so inherently stupid.

What I have learned from all this is just how quickly something that appears to be set in stone can completely change and do an about face. I loved Brett Favre just like all Packer fans did and he could do no wrong in most of our eyes but I’ve got four. Now my glasses are off and my two remaining ones see that he wasn’t the humble nice guy inside after all.

In a million years nobody would have thought he’d be rejected by the Packers and sent on his way and have bad blood between the two parties but that’s exactly how it’s turning out. He’ll probably eventually play for another team and not come close to recapturing his glory and that will be it. Michael Jordan did the same thing and now nobody really cares.

I really don’t care what Favre does either but it sent up a red flag in my own life that it’s always possible to screw something up, even in the best of situations. We can all say that we’d have handled it differently but I guess nobody can really say for sure unless they are in that situation themselves. I thought he had it made but he found a way to screw it up.

There are collectors who have his jersey and autograph and football cards and all kinds of stuff and when he retired it appeared safe but now who knows? He has already hurt his reputation with a chunk of fans and I’m one of them. That wouldn’t have happened at all if he’d just stayed retired like he should have. For whatever reason he can’t just let it be.

I’d hate to build up a lifetime reputation of being a good person and then ruin it in a day by doing something stupid but that could totally happen. ONE bad choice can destroy the entire body of work of a lifetime and I totally see it and don’t want to go down that path. I have made plenty of my own mistakes in life and I don’t want to add another to the list.

The Favre thing will all be over soon and in my mind it already is. Three hours to work on my own projects on Sunday afternoons will be a lot more productive than watching the NFL and I think I’m going to just skip it for the most part this year. That would be smart.

Tonight I performed at a new comedy room in Chicago that’s above a restaurant called Blue Bayou. It’s a tiny room but it was still fun and I’m glad I went. It’s run by my former student Hollie Himmelman and her husband Steve and they are trying to get some shows going on weeknights to give newer comics stage time. I always try to support my students especially when they run their own shows. This means a lot more to me than Brett Favre.