Brett Favre Retires: Has His NFL Sideshow Finally Come To an End?

Here we go again.

According to several published reports, future Hall of Famer Brett Favre has notified the Minnesota Vikings that he is hanging up his cleats...again.

Of course, the one person with the Vikings that you'd expect to be the first to hear from Favre, head coach Brad Childress, says he hasn't heard a peep.

So is it all true?

Is the all-time NFL leader in pass attempts, pass completions, passing yards, touchdowns, and interceptions finally ready to call it quits?

Has the NFL's all-time greatest attention hound finally done living in the spotlight?

Don't bet on it.

Favre is coming off the best season of his career, and while so many athletes say that when they decide to retire they want to "go out at the top of their game," that's not Favre.

It's definitely not about the money, even though if he truly is retiring he'll be leaving $13 million on the table.

For Favre, he wants another trip to the Super Bowl. Going out on top for him means winning it all one more time.

For a guy who once was addicted to painkillers in an effort to keep playing through various injuries, the same guy who has an NFL record of consecutive games started by a position player (285)—Favre is simply addicted to the game of football.

Since taking over for former Green Bay Packers quarterback Don Majkowski in 1992, Favre has been in the NFL spotlight.

The fans love him. The media loves him. Everyone loves him.

And while last year was supposed to be the fairy tale finish to an incredible career for Favre, the New Orleans Saints effectively ended the fairy tale, wrecking his ankle in the process and beating the Vikings in the NFC Championship game before going on to the win the Super Bowl.

That was supposed to be Favre's destiny, to finish it all up with another Super Bowl win.

Instead, Drew Brees and one of the losingest franchises in NFL history took it all away from Favre.

Does coming that close to another title, only to have it stolen out from under him, bother Favre?

You know it does.

Besides, he's only eight games away from breaking the record for career games started (292) held by Hall of Fame offensive tackle Bruce Matthews. Why not grab that record too?

In fact, the only thing that could keep Favre from coming back and being showered in all the love this season would be if the ankle is preventing him from doing it.

According to multiple sources, the ankle's fine—and the sideshow will continue in 2010.