Sweet Relief: Favre Will Stay Home

Breathe deep: Favre won't play for Vikings

There was nothing, absolutely nothing, good about the idea of Brett Favre coming out of retirement yet again. Even if Favre played for the Packers -- where he is treated, still, as a living legend, despite last year's trade ugliness -- football fans would be sick of him. The notion of Favre coming back to play for the Minnesota Vikings, one of the Packers' hated division rivals, merely out of spite would have tipped Favre's Q rating from "annoying" to "menace to sporting society."

So it is with great relief that we share this news today: Brett Favre will stay retired for good. No, seriously. He seems to sort of mean it this time. Favre informed Vikings coach Brad Childress -- who seemed to push for the notion of Favre's return more than anyone in the game -- that he wanted to stay retired. Sweet, sweet relief.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, of course, who knows if Favre will change his mind again? It certainly hasn't stopped him before. After last year's Jets disappointment, Favre told an ESPN reporter that he could say, "unequivocally," that he would never play again; that lasted exactly, what, five months? Favre's dalliance with the Vikings hardly seems unequivocal. Still, it seems, for now, that he's sincere. Key phrase there being, as always, for now.

Are we happy? Should fans rejoice? Sure. The alternate reality, one of an entire summer spoiled by breathless Favre updates on SportsCenter and column after column and idiots like us constantly whining about Favre -- really, could there be anything worse? This is good news. If it's real, that is. For now, we'll take it.

Eamonn Brennan is a Chicago-based writer, editor and blogger. You can also read him at Yahoo! Sports, Mouthpiece Sports Blog, and Inside The Hall, or at his personal site, eamonnbrennan.com. Follow him on Twitter.

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