Hey ESPN, STFU!

Hey ESPN, can you do me a favor?

STFU about Brett Favre. Seriously. Devoting the front page to him after it was rumored he had an “itch” to come back and play? Complete bullspit. Use some common sense guys. Do you honestly think that Favre would not get an “itch” to play again? Hell yeah he’s going to get that itch. If you went through as much as he had in the game, of course you want to play again. I’m absolutely disgusted at this.

I turned a blind eye to all the times Favre was “coddled” by the media. I’m not denying that he was, any idiot can see that he was. I just dealt with it because he was and is and will remain my favorite football player of all-time. But seriously, I was never on my knees before as much as those hacks at ESPN are.

So there’s a report he has an itch. OK, anyone that knew anything about him would realize that. So what does ESPN do? Put it on the front page of their website. Plaster it all over Sportscenter and NFL Live. In my defense, I refused to watch either show when the Favre coverage came on. I received a slew of text messages about this as well, one companion going as far as saying the Packers should trade him to the Baltimore Ravens. I’d do everything in my power to stop that from happening. So there have the article already posted. Then there is another one that I can’t find right now. Then Hashmarks has an absolute orgy over the man. Seriously guys. Is there really that much to say?

But luckily, thanks to some reporting for a good old local paper, “It’s all rumor.”

I love the SI.com articles about this, which refers to these as an “ESPN report.”

But again, has anyone thought about the timing of this? The day a new issue of Sports Illustrated is released with a somewhat in-depth feature on Aaron Rodgers, all this baloney surfaces. Is this another ESPN conspiracy to keep Rodgers down? SI is trying to do their best to show people who this man is, but ESPN, and their constant hard-ons with Favre, can’t let a respectable publication like SI do that, so they have to grandstand and take all the attention away from the new A-Rod.

The conspiracy theorist is alive and well inside me, and it won’t take crap from those ESPN ball-lickers.

But anyway, I am really starting to take a liking to Rodgers. I think it’s too early for me to get his jersey, because I don’t know whether he is going to go the way of Steve Young or Jay Fiedler or any of those other guys mentioned in the SI feature. But still, he’s got some moxie and some confidence:

"The magazine asked Rodgers “whether he feels pressure to connect with the fans the way Favre did.”“I don’t feel I need to sell myself to the fans,” Rodgers responded. “They need to get on board now or keep their mouths shut.”"

Aaron, I like the way you think. That is some confidence right there. Of course, backlash from that type of thing is unavoidable, and what he did might be considered the same as pissing on Favre’s grave, but Rodgers offered a little explanation:

"“I do care deeply about the fans and I think anybody who has been to training camp sees a lot of times I’m the last one out signing autographs. I care about the fans; I care about their opinions,” Rodgers said. “Everybody wants the fans to care for them and to pull for them and I am no different. “I think my record, as far as the time I spend with the fans, and more importantly the stuff I do in the community, kind of speaks for itself.”"

I have a feeling I’m going to like Rodgers. Not as much as Brett, of course. He is showing he’s got what it takes to succeed. He just has to succeed now.