Brett Favre's Retirement Indecision Shouldn't Mar NFL Career

Brett Favre called Minnesota Vikings head coach Brad Childress Tuesday and told his coach that he will not be back this season, reports out of Minnesota say.

The 40-year-old quarterback had off-season surgery to repair an ankle injury, and the ankle reportedly hasn’t responded to extensive rehab like Favre thought it would.

ESPN’s NFL Insider Adam Schefter reported that Favre sent a text message to teammates saying, “This is it.”

Of course, nobody will believe Favre until this season comes and goes and No. 4 hasn’t made an appearance or been seen throwing to high school players in Mississippi, his customary way of testing out his body every summer before finally deciding to join training camp late and play another season.

All sources with knowledge of the situation have spoken on condition of anonymity since the neither Vikings nor Favre have released an official statement regarding Favre’s alleged retirement.

In the last three years, Favre has turned himself into a national pariah. Not many athletes have gone from All-American good boy to an attention-grabbing diva as quickly as Brett Favre did. It took LeBron James’ free-agency circus to make sports fans forget about Favre’s chronic waffling.

Favre has been undecided about retiring since the 2006 season. Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson got so sick of Favre’s reluctance to make a final call on his career and stand by it that he completed an ugly falling-out with Green Bay’s biggest icon by trading Favre to the New York Jets in 2008.

Thompson had quarterback Aaron Rodgers waiting to take over the QB throne at Lambeau Field and wanted to know which direction the organization was going in.

The trade to New York decimated any thoughts Favre may have had about retirement because he now made it his mission to play some of his best football and lead a different team to the playoffs. Some speculated that Favre wanted to play for the Chicago Bears, an NFC North rival of the Packers, just so he could stick it to his old GM.

But Thompson wasn’t that foolish. He made no plans to trade Favre within his division. Favre had to burn his own path to redemption and vindication, which he did.

Farve played one mediocre season with the Jets—throwing for 3,472 yards with 22 touchdowns and 22 interceptions—before announcing he wanted to retire in early 2009.

But later that summer, the Vikings came calling and Favre had his opportunity to get back at the Green Bay Packers. He took the chance and promptly turned in one of his greatest seasons ever by throwing for more than 4,200 yards to go along with 33 TDs and led the Vikings to an NFC North title and the NFC Championship Game.

In his one season with the Vikings, Favre set career bests in completion percentage (64.4), quarterback rating (107.2) and interceptions (seven).

Favre didn’t need to convince America that he could still play. We knew he could. Perhaps he needed to convince himself. But the opportunity to one-up Thompson, to show the GM that he had made a mistake in ushering Favre out of Wisconsin, fueled Favre to play with the vigor and zeal that he did for most of 2009.

Naturally, Favre will never tell you that. He will never admit to there being any additional motivation other than his love for the game. Don’t believe it. Competitors, especially old ones with nothing left to prove, thrive on challenges. They need them; it is what gets them out of bed every morning. You could say that compulsively obsessed competitors like Favre are even worse.

Most people will probably shake their head and laugh today at this story. The sight of Favre crying over the microphone in Green Bay when he thought he was walking away from the NFL is still fresh. That’s fine. Laugh if you must.

But Favre’s indecision is just that. It’s a story of a man who is torn between his lifelong passion and his body’s insistence of pursuing old age. What the mind wants and what the body needs often conflict. Favre will go home and still think about football, still love football, still need football. He will always be that way.

But none of this attention, as tiring and overblown as it is, should stain what Favre has done in the NFL and the impact he left on the league and the quarterback position. Favre has won three league Most Valuable Player awards and holds every major career passing record.

Think about that. Montana, Elway, Aikman, Young, Marino. None of them share pinnacle of professional football with Favre, statistically speaking.

But, as it always has been with Favre, it’s about more than the numbers. When Favre does walk away for good, most of us aren’t going to sit around and rattle off the number of yards he threw for or the touchdowns he accumulated. His most famous record, consecutive games played, may not even be mentioned with a number.

What will be mentioned are the memories, the way Favre took the field every Sunday and ran around like a man playing a boy’s game in a troubling world should. You could count on Brett Favre to be there on Sunday. You knew he would give you his best effort while do his best to entertain and win.

In a sporting world where money rules, owners and unions threaten to halt play, and self-promotion takes precedence over everything else, Favre took the field and performed. (Note: Favre isn’t off the hook when it comes to self-promotion, we realize this).

You don’t have to agree with the way he’s gone about saying goodbye to the league. You don’t have to be a fan of his. You don’t have to root for any of the teams he’s played for.

But if you’re a football fan, a sports fan, or a competitor, you must respect the man for what he has meant to sports, the NFL, and youth competitions in this country.

There’s never been, and may never a be, a better ambassador of sport in America than Brett Favre.

Follow Teddy Mitrosilis on Twitter . You can reach him at [e-mail] .