Favre calls it a carrer... AGAIN?

Photo Courtesy of Sports Illustrated

The end is here ... at least for Brett Favre, apparently.
Sending a message to teammates and to the media through an anonymous league source, the19-year NFL quarterback has decided to call it quits, ending one of the more decorated and storied careers in league history.
Favre holds the majority of NFL passing records, including those for passing yards, passing touchdowns, completions, attempts and interceptions. His 385 consecutive starts under center and 181 regular season victories are also records, in addition to the legend being the first active professional football player to also be a grandfather, his daughter Brittany giving birth in April to a boy, Parker Brett.
For all of his fame on the field, Favre has also been known to be quite the "media whore," expecting different treatment from that of his teammates.
During Favre's latter years with Green Bay, his utter disdain for training camp became an issue hard for the team to ignore. Of course, as the years begin to stack up and the body heal a bit slower due to six months of punishment, the question whether this year could be the last tends to take a little longer to answer.
Not getting the long-term commitment from the Packers he wished, the quarterback retired for the first time in an emotional press conference on March 4, 2008. All those looking on knew it would not be the last time we saw No. 4 don a jersey, even if it was not the Green Bay green and gold.
Already having moved on and refusing to budge despite Favre's presence in training camp, the Packers shipped their longtime signal caller to the N.Y. Jets where he led the club to a 9-7 record with him at the helm. It would be his only season in the "Big Apple."
Green Bay, meanwhile, has not lost a step without him under center, as Brett's longtime understudy Aaron Rodgers has risen to elite status as one of the league's top signal callers in addition to helping the team earn a playoff berth in 2009.
However, Favre did get his revenge. After being wooed last summer to the "Land of a Thousand Lakes" by head coach Brad Childress following another brief retirement, the legend took the Vikings to a 12-4 record and within three points of Super Bowl XLIV. During the campaign, he completed 68 percent of his passes while throwing the least amount of interceptions (7) since his rookie season in 1991.
Coming into the summer, Minnesota not investing in its future at the quarterback position seemed to signal Favre returning to the team for one more run at the Vince Lombardi Trophy -- his second, and the Vikings first in franchise history.
All the signs were there. Brett playfully lofting passes in the direction of receivers for the local high school football team, as well as reports his wife Deanna renewing her fitness club membership in Minneapolis, Minn., seemed to precede what has become the trend in recent years -- after a lot of fanfare Favre would announce he was coming back for one more year.
Guess we're the fools.
Favre announced Tuesday he would not return, a surprise to everyone -- fans, players and media alike.
"I am still shocked. … I really believed that because of the way the season ended last year he would be compelled to come back – and I think he was. … The only way he ever retires is if he literally physically cannot play," said ESPN Monday Night Football analyst and NFL Hall of Famer Steve Young in a prepared statement. "And if he’s retiring officially today or in the near future, it’s probably, most likely and absolutely, will be because he cannot do it. I think that’s the only reason Brett Favre will ever retire for. He’s a physical phenom that we will never understand. … I also believe that he’s not retiring because of his general health. I think it must be a specific injury that he cannot get over and that’s it.”
Honestly, I wonder if anyone is truly convinced this is the end for Favre. After all, we have been taken down this road before. There is still more than a month left until the NFL's 91st season commences, and still seven months until Super Bowl XLV in Arlington, Texas ... who's to say Favre's mind changes between now and then.
Who knows?
"I don’t think fans here are ready to accept this is the final word … and you can’t really blame them," said ESPN Monday Night Football reporter and Minneapolis resident Michele Tafoya in a prepared statement.
Now all we're waiting for is a message from Favre himself. Sources...?