Hey, Brett Favre, Are You In or Out?

Brett Favre, the high-rolling risk-taker, the reckless gunslinger, has been brought to his knees, apparently.

Favre ran away from would-be sackers, rifled passes into the thick of secondaries with defiance, and was as durable as titanium.

But now a simple question is his kryptonite.

To play, or not to play?

Favre won’t tell.

He has the Minnesota Vikings on the edges of their seats, waiting for the future Hall of Famer to decide whether he wants to, once again, eschew retirement for another autumn playing football.

Training camps are starting all over the NFL this week. Some have already begun. And still Favre isn’t sure.

To play, or not to play?

He’s been pulling this stuff for several years now, Brett Favre has.

Another football season ends, and Favre starts talking retirement. He winces and sobs and tells us that it looks bad for another year in uniform.

He yearns to spend more time with his family—that age-old reason for hanging ‘em up for good.

He almost fooled the Green Bay Packers a couple times with this act before the Pack got wise and cut Favre loose, tired of the posturing. Besides, it was time to see what Aaron Rodgers could do already.

Favre put in a year with the New York Jets, amidst talk that he wasn’t exactly the most accessible teammate the Jets have ever had. Or the most reliable.

Then the Vikings got into the mix after Favre did his annual chin-rubbing and head-scratching.

Twisting in the wind is young Tarvaris Jackson, the Man Who Would Be Quarterback, should Favre turn the Vikings down.

Meanwhile, Favre continues the transformation of his legacy, from one of the game’s top signal callers to one of its most aggravating.

To play, or not to play?

No one said this should be an easy decision. But Favre has had over seven months to make it, and still he hasn’t come to a 1-0 vote either way.

He’s sitting at 0-0-1, while Jackson and the Vikings wait to see which way they’ll proceed as a team.

Easy for me to say, but if I were the Vikes, I’d have told Brett Favre weeks ago one thing, and one thing only.

“We’re going to give you a deadline, Brett. If you haven’t made a decision by (insert date), then we’re moving on. No hard feelings, but this is a business, and we have better things to do with our time.”

It would be even gutsier, but I’d love to see the Vikings turn Favre down at this point, should his decision be, “I want to play.”

Too late!

None of the other quarterbacks enshrined in Canton ever made such an excruciating exit from football.

Even Johnny Unitas, who spent one awful year plus a few days of the following year’s training camp as a San Diego Charger before calling it quits, never came close to what Favre has been doing to first the Packers and now the Vikings.

Joe Montana played a couple seasons for the Kansas City Chiefs and then retired with little hesitation.

Many of them even announce before the season that “This is it, guys!” and when the final gun goes off, they peel the uniform off and ride into the sunset.

But Favre is making like a pro boxer, bobbing in and out of retirement, keeping himself in the news all year round.

To play, or not to play?

Ah, that is the question.

So answer it already!