SubscribeBut is it good for the Jew?
The Minnesota Vikings — owned by Jewish businessman Zygi Wilf — lured future Hall of Fame QB Brett Favre out of retirement — again.
Favre, who spent most of his career at the helm of the Green Bay Packers before retiring momentarily and signing with the Jets, will receive an estimated $10 million to $12 million, according to ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen.
(Even Favre’s own website hasn’t caught up with the news.)
This is all well and good, but what Jewish football fans want to know is how all this will shake out with regard to Sage Rosenfels, whom the Vikings acquired for the 2009-10 season earlier this year.
Before Favre inked the deal, Tarvaris Jackson, who had been Rosenfels’ main competition for the starting job, told reporters he had no opinion about his team’s courtship of the veteran signal-caller.
“I pretty much have said [Favre] probably will follow me even when I retire. I’ll probably have to hear about it. I’m just trying to take care of my business, and I can’t worry about that stuff,” Jackson said, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “If I let that stuff get to me, ain’t no telling where I’d be right now. I just let it roll off my shoulder and just keep going. Just keep trying to get better.”
So far, no word from Rosenfels.
Now let’s be real: all these athletes can tote the team line and say what a great thing it is that a man of Favre’s accomplishments. But he he was threatening to jeopardize my job, I wouldn’t be so cheery. Take, as an example, Jamie Moyer, the 46-year-old pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, who lost his staring job when his ball club signed and called up Pedro Martinez. Moyer, a 22-year veteran who leads the Phillies with 10 wins (albeit with an unsightly earned run average of 5.47), told the media
I feel a little disheartened. I feel a little bit like I’ve been misled. I feel like I’ve played this game long enough that the respect factor should be there.
Ultimately, I’m a little disheartened because I know this past winter, when I was negotiating with the Phillies, this was a sore thumb, if you will, about this potentially happening. You can’t promise anything in this game, but I really felt that [general manager] Ruben [Amaro, Jr.] kind of parlayed to me that this type of situation would not happen.
I’ll be curious to see if Rosenfels toes the company, “anything for the team” line or speaks honestly.
The Moyer-Pedro comparison is definitely relevant. I felt bad for Moyer when it happened. Right now I feel bad for Jackson and Rosenfels. Assuming Rosenfels would have won the job over Jackson, I was looking forward to watching him play against the Bears. Still, Favre v. Packers is can’t-miss.
So how cool was it to have Moyer come into last night’s rain-delayed game in relief of Pedro and collecting the win? A big “I told you so” for Jamie.
Yeah, doesn’t get much better than that.