Brett Favre: Ankle Surgery or Retirement? I'll Pick the Latter

The Brett Favre carousel continues to go ‘round and ‘round, just as it has the last three years.

The news which broke Friday morning, courtesy of ESPN’s Ed Werder, revolves around Favre’s ankle. Apparently his ankle is so wretched after last season’s NFC Championship game against the New Orleans Saints that it would require surgery.

To put it in the simplest terms, it’s either surgery or retirement for the 40-year-old gunslinger.

This could pose quite the predicament in the Minnesota Vikings’ locker room, as well as their front office. Everybody knew the aging quarterback would take his sweet old time in making a decision to return for yet another season, but his bum ankle presents an entirely new conflict.

Does Favre want to endure another surgery to a bruised and battered body? Will he think it is worth rehabbing just to come back for another season, only to pull off the same prima donna behavior at this time next year?

Nobody knows the answers to any of those questions. I don’t even think his own wife knows what is going in that head of his. And, although Favre would never listen to yours truly, I have some advice for him:

Just retire already. Call it quits. Let it go. Enjoy a life outside of football.

I don’t have any feelings of apathy towards Favre. Actually, I have a lot of respect for everything he has accomplished over the last two decades. He has set numerous passing records, won a Super Bowl, won three MVP awards and is regarded as a “big kid” on a gridiron full of 300-pound men and diva wide receivers.

It’s just the fact that this whole “should I stay or should I go” mentality is played out. When media and fans alike know you won’t make a decision until the end of training camp, it’s time to hang up the jersey and stop giving everybody the benefit of the doubt—including a guy like Brad Childress.

Favre is hurting his own legacy. Ever since the soap opera which occurred in his final months as a Green Bay Packer—in which Aaron Rodgers came out looking a lot better, mind you—to the consistently inconsistent decisions made every offseason, Favre’s ego has become bigger than the game of football, and it’s become bigger than himself.

And I didn’t even mention that his last Super Bowl appearance was over 12 years ago. As a seasoned veteran he is still making the mistakes of a rookie quarterback, and the playoff game in New Orleans validated that notion.

If Favre decided today that surgery wasn’t worth the price of being knocked around by some of the fiercest athletes in professional sports for one more season, I would commend him on coming to a sensible resolution.

Too bad we don’t live in a perfect world.