As Peyton Manning looks for a new home after 14 years with the Colts, it's important to remember one thing: It rarely ends well for the great ones, especially the quarterbacks.
Current Seahawks defensive end Anthony Hargrove has released a statement to SI.com in reaction to his name surfacing in connection with the league's investigation of a bounty program within the New Orleans Saints organization from 2009 to 2011.
When Vikings coach Brad Childress returned to Minneapolis after the NFC Championship loss two-plus years ago, he got a tape together of eight hits on quarterback Brett Favre that were not flagged for penalties in the game. He was, I am told, very upset about what he saw as the excessive brutality in the game that left Favre bruised and hobbled afterward, and he wanted the league to look into the hits.
It's a nice idea having two NHL teams play outdoors in January in a gentle snowfall, but the so-called Winter Classic is hardly an authentic approximation of hockey's roots, given that it takes place in a baseball stadium and not on a frozen pond, cleared by shovel, lit by the headlights of a '72 Dodge Dart and contested with a single puck, so that every time it's flipped out of play both teams have to hunt for it beneath the snow with their sticks like old men combing a white-sand beach with metal detectors.
Jenn Sterger says the whole sordid episode turned her life "upside down"
Related galleries for the February 14, 2011 issue
Related photo galleries for the Jan. 31, 2011 issue
Related Galleries for the December 13, 2010 issue
Before long, every major athlete of our time will have been undone by his telephone. Brett Favre and Tiger Woods are the two most prominent athletes accused of texts outside of marriage, both men imprisoned in a cell -- and by a cell -- of their own making.
Embattled quarterback Brett Favre is facing new sexual allegations after two massage therapists filed lawsuits against him and the New York Jets football organization, where he was formerly employed.
Two former Jets massage therapists file a lawsuit against the quarterback in New York
updated: Tue Jan 04 2011 09:15:00
Stephen Smith, Fox Sports Radio, and Paul Callan, attorney, debate the legality of Brett Favre sexual harassment suit.
Quick-hitting insight on today's 1 p.m. games ...
But the N.F.L says it can't find evidence the quarterback sent sexy texts, photos
Musings, observations and the occasional insight from the Bears' playoff-clinching drubbing of the Vikings in the frigid environs of Minnesota....
A special Monday night doubleheader edition of musings, observations and the occasional insight as we watch the Favre-less Vikings fall 21-3 to the road-weary Giants in Detroit, while the Ravens hang on by their fingernails to outlast the Texans 34-28 in an overtime thriller ...
updated: Mon Dec 13 2010 19:56:00
Brett Favre's shoulder injury will keep him off the field when the Vikings face off against the New York Giants.
Brett Favre stories in the SI Vault
The NFL's most undeniable truth, year after year, is that headliners and big brands always draw the most interest.
The NFL is sending England its worst export since the AMC Pacer. Brett Favre won't be surprised by anything Brett Favre does. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is dwarfed by all sorts of Giants. And could "None Of The Above" be the answer to who's the best team in the NFC?
The last time Brett Favre missed an NFL start, Bill Clinton was the governor of Arkansas. Think about that. The man earns his living as a human piñata, but he never misses a day of work.
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Dispatches from Green Bay's eventful 28-24 win over reeling Minnesota Sunday night at a giddy Lambeau Field ...
The manager for the woman at the center of the Brett Favre controversy said Wednesday afternoon he has been in touch with the National Football League about Jenn Sterger possibly cooperating with the league's investigation of Favre, but that no decision has been made whether she will consent to be interviewed in the probe.
updated: Mon Oct 18 2010 14:19:00
CNN's Howard Kurtz talks with blogger A.J. Daulerio about how he broke the story of Brett Favre's alleged sexting.
Here are five things we learned from watching the Jets belt the Vikings at new Meadowlands Stadium.
You want to say Vikings-Jets is one of those games in which Brett Favre really wants to send a message. But Favre hasn't had a lot of luck sending messages lately. Voice, text, multimedia or otherwise, reportedly.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we watch a wacky Week 2 unfold while awaiting that showdown of sibling rivalry known as Manning Bowl II ...
Minnesota coach Brad Childress knew there would be coaches, players and media wasting him for fawning after Brett Favre the way he has the past couple of weeks. "If you have to beg Brett Favre to be a part of this team, then I've lost respect for this team,'' former Patriot Tedy Bruschi said on ESPN after the Vikings sent Childress (twice) and three players (once) on trips to Favre's living room to drag him back to football. I'd predict half the coaches in this league feel the same way as Bruschi -- and I talked with three of them myself -- but they just won't speak up to criticize one of their peers.
"No one ever got fired for buying IBM."
Well, that was a heck of a day, even by Brett Favre standards. First he mixed things up by practicing before he came back to football. Then he pre-emptively retired again!
There's really no justification in devoting 1,000 or so words to Brett Favre's reunion with the Vikings (I doubt he flew to Minneapolis Tuesday with the sole purpose of opening a K-Mart in Mankato and NOT returning for a 20th NFL season); but that's how today's Fantasy Clicks might shake out. So, if you instantly turn ill at the mere mention of Lord Favre's name on radio, TV or the Internet -- not unlike the time Kramer got seizures at the sound of Mary Hart's voice -- then here's a free pass for missing today's column, with the hope you'll be back on Friday.
It was an odd day at Winter Park, where a security guard patrolled a rooftop and the cops did their best to keep the traffic in front of the Vikings facility moving.
Monday, August 9, was a noteworthy day in the NFL and it had nothing to do with labor negotiations, Hall of Fame speech omissions or will-he-or won't-he speculation. Well, actually it had something to do with Brett Favre, but not in the way one would first imagine.
I have a healthy respect/appreciation for Fanball magazine, especially its Cheat Sheets edition, which solely focuses on mock drafts -- standard-scoring, PPR, TD-only, TD-heavy, QB-heavy, distance scoring, IDP and defense and keeper leagues, etc. But that doesn't mean I'm in lock-step agreement with their rankings, or specific picks from a standard 12-team mock draft.
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- When I pulled out of Mankato, Minn., Monday night after spending the day at Vikings training camp, there was no question in my mind that Brad Childress and his players were supremely confident Brett Favre would be their quarterback again in 2010.
I am not going to ask Brett Favre to stay retired. Absolutely not. That would be way, way too ... subtle. I'm going to beg him, scream at him, handcuff him to a fishing dock, glue his hands together -- whatever it takes. Come on, Brett. We only ask one thing of you now: sit on your couch and do absolutely nothing. You are an American male. This can't be that hard for you.
Do I believe it? Too early to tell -- with an asterisk. A big one.
Brett Favre, the 40-year quarterback who led the Minnesota Vikings to a 12-4 record and to the NFC Championship game last season, has reportedly told the team he will not return for a second season. A press release is expected later today.
SI.com has dispatched writers to report on the 32 NFL training camps across the country. Here's what Don Banks had to say about the Vikings camp in Mankato, Minn. For an archive of all camp postcards, click here.
As NFL training camps open this week with Cleveland and Dallas taking the field first, Brett Favre stands alone as the only player in the league who's happy with his contract but who may not show up for workouts.
I will admit up front that that in this particular case the details are foggy in my memory -- but the emotions are not foggy at all. I suspect some of you Packer fans will remember the details better. This was maybe three or four or five years ago. I'm pretty sure it was a playoff game (but it might not have been), and I'm pretty sure this happened near the end of the first half. It was third down for the Packers, and they were somewhere near their opponent's goal line, maybe the 5-yard line or so.
NEW ORLEANS -- The moment was deeply routine, and yet it was not routine at all. Brett Favre sat on a stool in front of a cubicle in the visitors' dressing room in the belly of the Superdome. His pads and helmet were stuffed into a purple canvas bag with the Minnesota Vikings' logo on the outside. His shoes and socks sat on the floor. Slowly he peeled off his white game pants and pulled a sleeveless undershirt over his head. He squirted white, gooey shampoo into his grey buzz cut and it began running down off his head. All of this he has done hundreds of times since he was a little boy, flinging footballs around fields in Mississippi.
NEW ORLEANS -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight from the Superdome on the NFL's Championship Sunday, a day the Saints and Colts will always remember as quite super ...
NEW ORLEANS -- Greetings from P.J.'s Coffee Shop in Uptown New Orleans, where I have come to try to figure out if the Jets have another miracle-of-the-road left in them, whether Brett Favre will live to fight another Golden Age day and whether the Saints can stop the most relentless playoff pass-rush we've seen since the Ravens laid waste to the Giants a decade ago.
SAN DIEGO -- Poignant weekend in a lot of ways, with the Canton-great careers of Kurt Warner and Ed Reed maybe coming to an end with bad losses, with the ageless Brett Favre Blanda-ing his way to the NFC Championship game, and with the most accurate kicker in NFL history taking the apple not once but twice in a crushing three-point loss to this year's Cinderella. And tragically poignant in a life unfulfilled, with the stunning death of a good man, Chicago defensive end Gaines Adams.
SAN DIEGO -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we, for the second time in a row, had the good fortune of being at the only dramatic game of the NFL's playoff weekend, that 17-14 Jets upset of the stumbling, bumbling Chargers at Qualcomm Stadium....
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- Yes, I am putting a dateline on this story. I am putting a dateline on it because it is 5 degrees outside. I am doing this because the wind is howling, and hard snow (hard snow?) pelts you from all directions, and the sky is the sort of dull gray that drains the color out of everything. I am doing this because it is utterly miserable here, and nobody expects the misery to end any time soon. Snow swirls along the ground, looking for all the world like the death smog in The Ten Commandments. And spinning car tires. And frozen ears that feel like they can be broken off. And piles of snow in the driver's seat. And so on.
Each week SI.com's Richard Deitsch will report on newsmakers from the world of TV, radio and the Web.
As a public service, since Brett Favre did not play this past weekend, I thought it was my duty to talk to you about him. It just wouldn't seem right to have a whole week go by without allowing sport America to have its obligatory Brett Favre discussion.
Football Insiders:Check out Stewart Mandel's College Football Overtime column.
GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Now that it's over, and the circus portion of the Minnesota Vikings schedule has concluded with smiles and vindication all around, where do Brett Favre and his latest (and, according to him, greatest) team go from here?
My weekly look at key matchups and storylines to watch in one game at each time slot. (All times Eastern).
Maybe I've got the story of the week wrong. In this space, I always try to look at the aspect of the weekend's games that fascinates me the most, and the thing that really hit me the other day when looking over the 13 games on tap was this: Dick LeBeau and the Steelers against the two-headed Brett Favre/Adrian Peterson monster of the Vikings.
My weekly look at key matchups and storylines to watch in one game at each time slot. (All times Eastern).
With everybody from David Letterman to Lamar Odom revealing their most intimate secrets these days, I guess I ought to be up front: I like a woman in a Green Bay Packers sweater.
Click here for Peter King's thoughts on Brett Favre's big game against the Packers.
MINNEAPOLIS -- Dude, this is America.
MINNEAPOLIS -- This is why they wanted him. This is why they went out and got him. For the kind of moment that came on Sunday, and the kind of play that seemingly only he can make. And no, I'm not talking about Greg Lewis in this case.
Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre was fined $10,000 by the NFL on Friday for his crack-back block on Houston defensive back Eugene Wilson in a preseason game.
(CNN) -- The National Football League is reviewing a controversial block made by Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre during Monday night's pre-season game with the Houston Texans, the league told CNN Radio on Tuesday.
HOUSTON -- "Two weeks ago,'' Brett Favre said, walking out of Reliant Stadium late Monday night, "I was weed-eatin.' I mean, to come out here and move around this way and make a few throws, I'm pretty happy with it.''
EDEN PRAIRIE, MINN. -- The plan going into the Minnesota Vikings' third preseason game is to have Brett Favre play the first half, or slightly less than five innings. Manager Brad Childress and pitching coach Darrell Bevell -- that is, head coach and offensive coordinator, respectively -- will be watching closely from the dugout, or rather, sideline and booth to gauge Favre's velocity and location. Going over signs and getting some rhythm with his young backstop, er, catcher, er, center John Sullivan has been a daily part of workouts for the recently signed veteran NFL passer. If he gives up takes too many hits, Favre could be in for a rough night Monday against the Houston Astros Texans at Minute Maid Park Reliant Stadium.
What I learned on an incongruous night at the Metrodome, when people stood and cheered for a once-hated foe now wearing their colors in their building:
Is there any other professional sport that discards players as briskly and unceremoniously as the NFL? Longtime stars go from heroes to zeros in the blink of an eye. I mean, how is it possible that guys like Edgerrin James, Marvin Harrison and Derrick Brooks can't even get a decent contract offer?
I don't know about you, but I was super excited when I heard the news: Brett is back!
Football is the ultimate team game and the dynamics and chemistry in the locker room are critically important to any team's success. Championship teams have a palpable aura and feeling of internal unity to them. That's the main reason I don't like the Vikings' signing of Brett Favre. The messages this move sends to the rank and file are plentiful, and most of them are not good.
MADISON, Wis. -- For 16 seasons, he was the ultimate Packers hero. But now that the Brett Favre era in Minnesota has launched -- at long last, with yet another trademark flip-flop -- the most fascinating question to ponder is whether that instantly makes him Green Bay's ultimate villain as a Viking?
Visanthe Shiancoe tried to edit himself, but it was too late. The Minnesota Vikings' tight end had said it, loud and clear -- "the road to the Super Bowl'' -- in the giddiness immediately following Brett Favre's first practice in purple and red (quarterback jersey), and there was no taking it back.
"I'm sure I'll regret my decision down the road.'' --Brett Favre, to me, on July 28.
Two years ago, in the central Chinese city of Chongquing, the local government set out to build the world's largest bathroom.
MANKATO, Minn. -- You can count Vikings all-world running back Adrian Peterson among those who right up until Tuesday afternoon were dreaming fondly of a Brett Favre era in Minnesota. Peterson, one of the Vikings stars who in recent weeks were openly lobbying Favre to come out of retirement once more, said the club's pursuit of the soon-to-be 40-year-old Packers legend was in essence a no-brainer.
Musings, observations and the occasional insight on the opening day of a Favre-free Vikings training camp at the Minnesota State University-Mankato ...
Read all about it: Michael Vick is feeling sorry for himself. Brett Favre is done ... for now. Enough already. The only thing certain about the Vick and Favre departures is that there is more, and more, and more, to come. I'm guessing about 11 billion of my closest football-following friends have had it up to HERE with both quarterbacks. Let's move on, shall we?
MINNEAPOLIS -- All was right in the Upper Midwest football universe Wednesday in the wake of Brett Favre's re-re-reassessment of his comeback plans with the Minnesota Vikings (spot me a re- or two, since I've lost track).
Minnesota coach Brad Childress, jilted at the altar Tuesday afternoon by Brett Favre telling him he wasn't going to play for the Vikings in 2009, said he had nothing against the quarterback for dragging the story out all offseason and then saying "no" on the eve of training camp.
"It's hard to admit I'm not 25 anymore,'' Brett Favre said late Tuesday night, when what he'd done began to sink in. He still sounded stunned that a few hours earlier he'd called Minnesota coach Brad Childress and shunned his dream job: quarterback on a team with a great defense and the best running back in football, with coaches who run a scheme he could operate falling out of bed.
Former New York Jets and Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre is staying retired, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
The scenario by which Brett Favre joins the Minnesota Vikings, which probably will happen (though might not with a verdict coming as soon as today but maybe not for another week or more), gets portrayed at times as one of kismet.
Brett Favre will be returning to the NFL this week with the Minnesota Vikings, according to my sources. There is also a chance Favre will not be returning to the NFL this week with the Vikings, according to my sources. In either case, here is an up-to-the-minute timeline of Favre's twist-and-turn life since his original retirement announcement on March 6, 2008:
Almost everyone seems to have a strong opinion on the probable return of Brett Favre, the sanity of Chad Ochocinco and other hot topics around the league. But how many of those opinions are based on film work?
The NFL is about winning but there are several parties in virtual no-win trick bags heading into the 2009 season. It isn't that they can't win in terms of victories. It's just perception has a nasty habit of becoming reality and the perception is they have been handed the keys to a Ferrari. If they win the race, it's the car. If they lose, it's their fault.
Like regular people, great athletes retire in all sorts of ways. Some do it gracefully. Some do it tragically. Some do it almost invisibly. And some do it endlessly.
These are not easy times for the NFL fan, your headlines co-opted by two quarterbacks who bother you for very different reasons.
I couldn't sleep much last night. I just had too many Favre-related thoughts percolating on the brain. I found myself thinking I must record them in Snap Judgment fashion...
First, a Brett Favre prelude. A semi-brief Favre prelude. I don't know what he's going to do. But I, like some of you, am suspicious. There's no good reason to ask for his release from the Jets unless it's to leave open the option to play again. I am told he may be feeling the urge to play again.
Lots of e-mail this week about Brett Favre and whether he might return to football. I've tried to reach him by phone without success, and the only on-the-record reaction to the latest brushfire about a possible comeback seems to have come in a text message to ESPN's Trent Dilfer. Favre reportedly responded "no'' when Dilfer asked if he was coming out of retirement. So we'll see.
We've got a lot going on for what's supposed to be a dead time -- Michael Vick's on the block while in the cell block, Julius Peppers is trying to politely talk himself out of Carolina, Alex Rodriguez is lying about Selena Roberts (which enrages me), we're on the verge of another thrilling NFL Scouting Combine (how many of you brain surgeon college players are not working out this year?), a 10-year-old dog won Best in Show at Westminster ... and oh yes, Brett Favre retired. Again.
Brett Favre is finally retiring, which means millions of New Yorkers are dancing in the streets and 501 New Yorkers are heartbroken.
Were Brett Favre to hold another retirement announcement news conference -- and he says he won't, saving us the sight of more tears -- I'd have just one question for him: Was it really worth it?
After a rocky season with the New York Jets, quarterback Brett Favre has decided to retire, his agent says.
Speaking to Brett Favre Friday night from Mississippi, I got the distinct impression that he was going to retire from football, this time for good. But they don't sell insurance for this kind of thing, obviously, as his flip-flopping of the last three years shows.
1. Brett Favre had the look of a man who had played his last game after the Jets' 24-17 loss to the Dolphins. Favre repeatedly referred to his age, 39, his shoulder pain and his struggles down the stretch. "Am I old and washed up? Maybe so," Favre said. "If that's the case, maybe it's time to do something else."
Breaking down Sunday's Miami Dolphins at New York Jets game (1 p.m., Eastern, CBS) ...
After leading the Jets to their most impressive win of the season last Sunday, a 34-13 demolition of the previously undefeated Titans on their home field, quarterback Brett Favre ran off the field wearing a broad smile. When he got beneath the stadium and turned left toward the visitors' locker room, a female team employee was standing outside the doors. Favre jogged up to her and acted as if he were going to deliver a chest bump before stopping and arching his eyebrows as if to say, Gotcha!
NASHVILLE -- Five things we learned from the Jets 34-13 dismantling of the previously undefeated Titans (Recap | Box Score) at LP Field on Sunday.....
Brett Favre has done it again. He's involved in yet another controversy with his former team. Only this time he may be losing the respect of some of the guys who used to be his teammates, to say nothing of other NFL players and officials.
There is a real deception going on right now. It comes dressed up in a showy, color brochure that bears the heading, "The New York Jets Coaches Club Seat Auction, Oct.19-27, 2008," and was mailed to the club's season-ticket holders. It describes the auctioning off of 2,000 prime seats.
You can't drive a block in this town without bumping into something that reminds of you Brett Favre -- a yard sign, a steakhouse, a jersey in a storefront window. One of the first shops you see when walking into Austin Straubel International Airport is a Packers store stocked with Favre shirts and posters. Even the Barnes & Noble on South Oneida has a section dedicated to the Packers in general and Favre in particular, commemorative tomes, animated picture books and everything in between.
Breaking down Sunday night's Dallas Cowboys at Green Bay Packers game (8:15 p.m., NBC) ...
© 2013 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|