Pictures of Brett Favre Newspaper Headlines and Articles

Pictures of Brett Favre Newspaper Headlines and Articles










Vikings tickets selling fast since Favre's arrival
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. -- The Vikings have sold more than 3,000 season tickets since news broke that Brett Favre was coming to Minnesota. That's in approximately a 24-hour span.

Chief marketing officer Steve LaCroix says the team has sold about 10,000 single-game tickets during that time as fans clamor over the arrival of the veteran quarterback.

Seats for the game against Green Bay on Oct. 5 are only available through a season ticket. There are roughly 7,000 season tickets remaining. The Vikings had to race to beat the blackout deadline for several games last season.


Tarkenton again expresses disgustFran Tarkenton, who previously has expressed his loathing over Brett Favre's inability to make a decision, spoke out again Wednesday, a day after Favre decided to sign with the Minnesota Vikings.

"I really have no interest in what Brett Favre does. He kind of lost me a few years ago by retiring and unretiring and here and there," Tarkenton said on "The Opening Drive" on Sirius NFL Radio.

"I asked a few friends here, maybe 10 or 12 people we were out with last night. I said, 'What do you think about Brett Favre going back to the Vikings?' You know who cared? Nobody. It's good news for you guys. It's good news for television and so forth but the last time I heard ... football was a team sport, isn't it? It's not just about the quarterback."


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Tarkenton was later questioned during ESPN's "Outside the Lines" about Favre's right to pursue whatever he needed to pursue to keep on going.

"We have responsibilities were just not athletes that are in it all for ourself, football, is it not a team game? isn't it all about team ... and here comes Brett Favre riding in on his white horse, doesn't go to training camp, doesn't come to offseason workouts and he's gonna come on his white horse and bond with all these players."

Favre, who first retired in March 2008, came out of retirement and forced the Green Bay Packers -- with whom he had starred for 16 years -- to trade him to the New York Jets in August when the Packers declined to accept his unretirement.


He played one season for the Jets, then retired again in February.

But rumors started bubbling again in May that Favre wasn't fully committed to retiring. Vikings coach Brad Childress communicated regularly with Favre. And Tarkenton -- a Hall of Famer who spent five seasons with the New York Giants, but is remembered for his 13 seasons with the Vikings -- made clear he was disgusted by the team's flirtation with Favre.

"I think he has been a great flamboyant quarterback, but he has made more stupid plays than any great quarterback that I've ever seen. Look at his final game in a Packers uniform. He blew that game [NFC championship] against the Giants," Tarkenton said in late May on KFAN-1130 in the Twin Cities.

At first, Favre said he would remain retired. Then he wasn't sure. He said he would let the Vikings know by July 30. Then he decided he'd stay retired. Then on Tuesday, he flew to Minnesota and signed a two-year deal worth $25 million.


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"I really think the whole Brett Favre saga of retiring, unretiring, three weeks ago [saying] 'I can't play,' the Vikings said, 'We're moving on,' it's a circus," Tarkenton said Wednesday on "The Opening Drive." "It's an absolute circus, and it takes away from all the other things that are going on with the Vikings, with the NFL. We're getting ready for a football season and this is a circus and I just have no interest in it.


"Wouldn't you be upset if you're a Packer fan? I think you're going to have Packer fans burning the No. 4 Favre Green Bay jersey. I think the Packer fans have every right to be outraged."

Packers fans might be upset, but Vikings fans have embraced their new quarterback, as evidenced by the Vikings' ticket sales.

The team has sold more than 3,000 season tickets in 24 hours, and about 10,000 single-game tickets during that time. Seats for the Oct. 5 game against Green Bay are available only through a season ticket. There are roughly 7,000 season tickets remaining.

Last season, the Vikings had to race to beat the blackout deadline for several games.

Merchandise also is moving. Team chief marketing officer Steve LaCroix said several hundred pre-orders for Favre jerseys were placed online Tuesday. The purple No. 4s were scheduled to begin showing up in stores Wednesday.


Tony Dungy, the former Indianapolis Colts coach who retired -- and has stayed retired -- in January, was on "The Waddle and Silvy" show on ESPN 1000 in Chicago, and said Favre has a limited window in which to win over his new teammates.

"I would be very worried about that if I were the Minnesota Vikings and their head coach," Dungy said on "The Waddle and Silvy" show. "He's going to have to let them know he's as committed as they are. And get that across to them. If that happens, it could to be a big boost. If it doesn't happen, if players feel you weren't in this from the beginning ... is he really in this with us? If there were feelings for quarterbacks who were already there ... it's going to be interesting to see how this plays out."


Favre officially vilified in Green Bay
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Maybe Brett Favre(notes) lost the keenest segment of the Green Bay Packers fan base long ago. Maybe he lost them when every summer began to orbit around him, and every roster decision was applauded or disparaged based on how it impacted No. 4. Maybe he lost them in one tumultuous offseason after another, when his emotional whims became reason enough to hold the franchise hostage.


Or maybe he really, truly lost them on Tuesday, when he signed with the hated Minnesota Vikings, and then in Favre fashion, said “If you’re a true Packer fan, you understand.”


That was the line that still had fans fuming as they filed out of Stadium View Sports Bar in Green Bay, aptly named for its view of Lambeau Field down Armed Forces Drive. Some fans that had flocked for the Packers’ evening practice on Tuesday piled into the bar to watch Favre’s news conference. And ultimately they had a resounding opinion as they filed back out: Favre’s iconic legacy in this city has hit a new low.

No. 4 in purple

“I couldn’t believe the ‘true Packers fans’ should understand thing,” said Ron Knautz. “I’m 54 years old. I’ve been a Packers fan since I was 5, which is when I knew what the Packers were. I got my picture taken with Bart Starr when I was 12. I’m a true Packers fan. Maybe a true Packers player would understand how I feel.”


And that was an overwhelming sentiment pulsing through Green Bay, where radio talk shows were pre-empting programs and dumping everything but call-in segments, as the fan base opened a fiery vein. On the rare occasion a fan called to support Favre’s right to play for the Vikings, they were bayoneted by the next five callers, who reacted as if they’d just heard someone pitch the positives of joining the Taliban. One caller said he’d confiscated all the pieces of clothing in his house emblazoned with Favre’s number. Another woman said she had removed Favre’s autographed picture from her wall and banished it behind her couch.


“I think it comes down to how you were a fan,” said Gary Nixt, nursing a beer inside Stadium View. “If you’re a Packers fan, you’re behind the team and you’re going to have that tunnel vision. If you are a Brett Favre fan, you’re going to stand behind him no matter what he does.”


Nixt was among those behind Favre, saying “No matter what happens, he goes into the Hall of Fame as a Packer.” And he’s not entirely alone. Some have come to see the onetime icon as a self-absorbed football nomad. Others remain the baptized faithful, mindful of the 16 seasons which raised the Packers back to NFL relevance.


The latter have long given Favre its own version of amnesty. They blame general manager Ted Thompson for not bending more to the quarterback’s ego. They complain that other parts of the team failed Favre long before he ever failed them. And they have been slow to fully embrace Aaron Rodgers(notes), the successor who they believe helped force out their hero.


“Those people exist, absolutely,” said Brian Smith(notes), a Milwaukee resident who has been driving to Green Bay to watch practice and attend games “since Don Majkowski was a big deal.” Smith was parking his car across from Brett Favre’s Steakhouse, which suddenly seemed like a palpably awkward place to eat.


“Some people love Favre and will love him even if he beats the Packers twice a year for the next 10 years,” Smith said. “He’s just legendary in their eyes.”


You get the feeling it will be a little harder for those people to exist in Green Bay going forward. Yes, some fans will look at Favre now and see what they’ve always seen – like Elvis Presley fans who clung to his fading lounge acts in Las Vegas while still proclaiming him to be The King. Others? Tuesday took another chunk out of a crumbling mythology that may never be the same.


“Of course it takes away from his aura,” Knautz said. “He’s coming back with the Vikings.”


Knautz adjusted his Packers hat and made a sour face.


“The Vikings,” he said. “I never would have believed it.”