If we determine you are the most capable player to lead the Packers going forward, then you will be awarded the starting job. You should have every advantage to do so as you have been working with these guys throughout the offseason and we have been impressed with your performance. We have confidence you will be our starter. In the event No. 4 outperforms you, we will be going in a different direction. Good luck.”

Then I would call Brett Favre into my office. I would say, “This organization is grateful for the 16 years of service you have given it. It has been a very successful era of Packer football. The past is the past. Your retirement forced us to go in a different direction this offseason and we have another gentleman who we believe can lead this team going forward.

However, based on your terrific play last season, and previous years of outstanding service, we would be crazy not to at least consider you for the job. We would love you to go to camp and see if you are still the best man for the job. In order to win this competition, you will have to clearly be the better player.

If you are clearly better, you will be our starter in Week One. If it is a tie, the nod goes to Rodgers. In that event, you will be the backup or released based on what we determine is in the best interest of the Green Bay Packers. Because of the difficult position your retirement has put us in the last couple years, we can no longer consider your starting streak of great importance.

If you play badly in the regular season or the team plays badly in the regular season, and all hopes for the playoffs are lost, we will bench you and evaluate the younger guys. Based on your tendency to waffle, we have to be prepared for the fact that one year you might not get the itch back to play.

You are a flight risk in our minds, and we have to know what we have besides you to protect ourselves going forward. We will not be put in this ridiculous position again. If you are okay with that scenario, we will see you in camp tomorrow. If you aren’t, we understand, but you should stay retired. Thank you and good luck.”

Unfortunately that will not happen because that would involve checking your ego at the door, common sense, and leadership. Those are three qualities that Ted Thompson has demonstrated that he severely lacks in this ordeal.

While Brett Favre is my no means a saint, nor has he handled this situation perfectly, it doesn’t entirely surprise me. It’s hard enough to figure out what goes on in the minds of professional athletes. They are a different breed. To figure out what goes on in the mind of a player that hasn’t missed a start in 16 years is borderline impossible.

I gave up on understanding Brett Favre a long time ago, and that is one of the things I have always liked about him. He is one of a kind. In a sports world where so many of the personalities are the same bland thing, he is refreshingly unique. That’s why some people love him and others don’t.

While I had hoped he would be able to walk away from the game cleanly, it doesn’t surprise me that a guy that played through broken thumbs, bum ankles, pinched nerves, family tragedy, and countless other obstacles would be this hard to get off the field.

It is obvious that unless Favre wins a Super Bowl in his final game, he will continue to chase the goal no matter what his body or mind tells him in March.

All I know is that while I am disappointed with some aspects of how Brett Favre has handled this, I am growing more tired of the Packers' management on a daily basis. This is a circus because of their incompetent handling of this situation.

Imagine an athlete not behaving the way management would like. The gall. The nerve. It’s time for the Packers to put the past four months behind them and deal with the situation in front of them. It is time for them to stop wishing a different situation existed and deal with it.

They need to go back and remember their goal as an organization. It isn’t to stroke their ego. It isn’t to make Aaron Rodgers feel loved and wanted. It is to put the best 53-man roster together for 2008. It is to act like you are running a professional football team and not a country club.

Ted Thompson’s job certainly isn’t to make stupid comments like this. This is my favorite exchange from his July 28, 2008 press conference:

Ted Thompson: “Again, I thought it was important for me to be perfectly honest with Brett that we have started down this path and it doesn't make sense for us to turn around and go back now. We have to continue down this path. Where that leads, I don't know, but I didn't want to be dishonest or disingenuous and say okay, we can do this and then change our mind. I think Brett Favre deserves more than that, so we told him the way we felt.”

Reporter: “But why do you have to continue down this path? Why not let him back and say the best quarterback wins?”

Ted Thompson: “We believe that this is the path that we should be on. We believe this is the best thing in the best interest of the organization, both in the short term and the long term.”

Is that for real? Did he really say that? Who is going to respect that?

The players certainly won’t when they start the season 1-3. The fans aren’t going to buy that in December when the team is out of playoff contention. He doesn’t even know where the path leads, but he believes it’s in the best interest of the franchise both short term and long?

Would you let that man run your business?

I certainly wouldn’t let someone take me down a path that he doesn’t even have the foggiest notion where it leads. I would be infuriated at someone that did that when arguably the most certain thing in the business is filing reinstatement papers and is ready to join the mix.

Ted Thompson doesn’t even know where the path leads and he won’t even let Favre report to camp to compete for the job? That takes brass, son.

Keep it simple.

The goal in the NFL is to put your team in the best possible position to compete for the playoffs and hopefully the Super Bowl. If they keep that goal in mind, the players will respect whatever decision is made.

This turmoil, no matter how big it seems now, shall pass. If they don’t make winning the priority, they are going to have one of the biggest NFL disasters in recent memory. I’m betting on the disaster.

They say the path to Hell is paved with good intentions.

I can only imagine where Ted Thompson’s Path of Bad Intentions will take the Packer Nation. Buckle up, Green Bay. This is going to be a bumpy ride.

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