While Favre has his ego stroked in NY, packers look to the future with Rodgers

The artist formerly known as an all time great team leader, Brett Favre, continued his “its all about me” farewell tour in New York on Friday. Meanwhile, in America’s heartland, the Green Bay Packers and their starting QB Aaron Rodgers got back to work at taking the team into the future.

Favre’s transparently fake “aw shucks” grin was on prominent display as another self absorbed egomaniac, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, officially welcomed #4 to “The Big Apple”. While it was difficult to tell who was using who for media “face time”, Bloomberg did come equipped with more props than a “Gallagher” comedy show including a big “Broadway” street sign that he gave to Favre in lieu of a key to the city and a few cheesecakes which were presumably meant to be ironic (Green Bay cheeseheads, New York cheesecakes).

After Mayor Bloomberg fawned over #4 for awhile, Favre took the mic for today’s recitation from his endless repertoire of “its all about team” clichés. After warming up the crowd with his shopworn “I’m just a simple guy from Mississippi” routine, today’s act focused on how much work was ahead of him and his new team…what was their name again?:

"I have to get a lot done in a short amount of time. They wouldn't have signed me if they didn't think I could do that."

The daunting task in front of Favre and the Jets makes the fact that he spent the day not working with the team, but engaged in a ‘dog and pony show’ with the Mayor all the more telling. Favre managed to say that line with a straight face, though presumably he’s aware that he was brought into town as a diversion as much as anything else.

Meanwhile, back in Green Bay, the collective eye rolling from the Packer organization and fan base at Favre’s Broadway antics was almost palpable. The good news is that the “ego has landed” in the 212 area code and everyone back in Wisconsin can get back to work running a football team. Aaron Rodgers looked sharp in practice, and then got off a backhanded compliment to his predecessor that was dripping with sarcasm: “"I'm still following Brett's legacy, regardless of the fact if he's here, retired or like he is in New York now.”

The funny thing is that the feared “Cheesehead backlash” due to the Packers sending Favre packing didn’t materialize. There was one apparently intoxicated crank at the press conference heckling the Packers leadership for making a “mistake”. Ironically, there appeared to be more #12 Aaron Rodgers jerseys on display than #4 Favre gear.

So for now at least, everyone is living happily ever after. The ego driven QB gets to be a big deal on the sports world’s biggest stage in NYC. The team he was trying to hold hostage gets to move on with their rebuilding process. The plucky young QB he was trying to sandbag keeps his starting job. And the Jets have found a way to keep their fan base placated, hopefully long enough for them to figure out a long term plan for the team.

At least until the regular season starts and the games actually count, there is peace in the NFL.