Guest Post and Live Super Bowl Chat Reminder

First, I wanted to send out a reminder to everyone that we’ll be chatting tonight on the blog about the Super Bowl and everything going on in New York sports. The live chat will start at 9:30 PM and I look forward to seeing you all here for that.


Second, we have a very special guest post for you today. In my sophomore year of college I walked into the sports department of the school newspaper and said I wanted to help out. I walked out with a weekly column. Without that opportunity to write—something I loved to do but wasn’t able to do as much in college as I would have liked as an Economics major—I don’t think there would ever be a blog today. So when I got a message from a college student who was interested in writing a guest post, I didn’t want to say no; actually I was very interested in giving our guest blogger, Aladdin Shilleh, a chance to show what he could do. So without further ado, here is Aladdin’s guest blog on Brett Favre and those long-suffering Minnesota Vikings fans.
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Say what you want about Brett Favre, one undeniable thing about last Sundays game is that the guy can flat out take a beating. There were multiple instances where Favre was hit late after the play and there was no call (including a vicious ankle hit by Bobby McCray that NFL officiating czar said was a missed call--the result of the play was an interception). While last year nobody actually knew what Favre would give the Vikings--he is 40 and coming off a shoulder injury--most people around the football world all wanted him to just go away, “go back to Kiln, MS and get back on that tractor old man” is what they were saying.

For the last 3 or 4 post-seasons when all the Favre drama started up, I predicted each time that he would retire and stay away (after all, he has to hang it up sometime). Everyone (me included) just wished it would end and just let him go off like the legend that he will become. We were all sick of his antics and indecision. Everyone was (and still is) presumably sick of what seems like 5,000 screen shots of his wife Deanna and daughter Brittany (who I personally don’t mind). However, this season is different because of the production that Favre put up in Minnesota, 38 Tds to only 9 Ints. This is a guy that averaged 17 Ints a year for his first 18 years in the league and all of a sudden he learned to stop making stupid throws. Now we all know what Favre can do and most people would like to see him come back and try to win it all next year with a very talented and deep Minnesota team.


“He should’ve ran,” “He had Berrian open in the flat.” By now, we’ve heard all the different things Brett Favre could have done last Sunday in the Superdome, but its all irrelevant. Minnesota is my team (unfortunately) and Favre is probably my favorite player, I’m just trying hard not to turn this into a Favre gushing session.

While I can only congratulate the long-suffering Saints and their fans, that loss was probably the worst I’ll ever take in my sports-watching career. A game the Vikings dominated (219 more total yards) was literally fumbled away. The Saints made Brett their personal punching bag and that ankle is probably the color of the Vikings helmet right now. Now that most people want Brett to come back and he’s had great success in the league again, I’m going to make another prediction on Favre’s future. While I don’t know what will happen in this off-season of many questions, I do believe that #4 has played his last game. And really this time. Now that Favre and everyone else knows he can still be a successful QB I believe that he will hang it up. All the other years, everyone was pushing Favre away and telling him to leave, so he just kept coming back and now that most people want Favre to come back, he will do the opposite. He is once again loved and praised in the football community and I believe that will be enough to drive him away for good.

He came back this year because he didn’t want to ride into the sunset thinking about what could have been in Minnesota. So he used the Jets to get to Minnesota and now he knows the final outcome in Minnesota was the same outcome that Favre was putting up everywhere else. He was great throughout the season, chewed up Dallas in the divisional playoffs, then had a chance to lead Minnesota to the Super Bowl for the first time in 34 years, and he did what he always does: throw a costly pick at the wrong time. While I don’t blame the game entirely on Favre, we were still tied 28-28 with a chance to win it.

Favre has played his last game in the NFL. There are no more questions he has for himself, there are no more teams he wants to experiment with. He was curious about Minnesota but it turned out everything was the same as it was all those years in Green Bay. While I would certainly love to see Favre sporting the purple and gold again next year, I just don’t foresee it. The only thing that might drive Favre back to Minnesota is the very close relationship he formed with the Minnesota receiving core (particularly Sidney Rice and Percy Harvin, who he developed close pacts with). And while I am in fact a betting man, this is one bet I would never take even though I’m fairly certain Favre has played his last game in the NFL . (maybe)
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Thank you Aladdin for that. He is among the group that ESPN's Bill Simmons considers "officially tortured". As a Giants fan, I can't root for the Vikings, but I wish their fans the best. As Aladdin talked about, football may be too dangerous a game for Favre to continue playing and TIME Magazine wrote more about the dangers involved (H/T Paul).

If you're interested in writing a guest post for the blog, send me an e-mail and let me know.