“Favre-first philosophy will come back to bite Childress, Vikings - CNN Sports Illustrated” plus 1 more |
| Favre-first philosophy will come back to bite Childress, Vikings - CNN Sports Illustrated Posted: 19 Aug 2010 10:50 AM PDT Brad Childress and the Vikings have coddled Brett Favre at every opportunity. Al Tielemans/SI Somewhere around the third or fourth time Brad Childress was asked Wednesday about his general level of discomfort in what it took to lure Brett Favre out of his Hattiesburg, Miss., barcalounger and back to Minnesota for another season, the Vikings head coach said a pretty revealing thing. "When the terrain varies, you go with the terrain,'' Childress opined, sounding more like an African bush country guide than a football coach. New terrain is certainly where Childress and his team have found themselves today when it comes to their celebrated 40-year-old starting quarterback. Even by Vikings' standards that were established last summer, the pursuit of Favre this time around spoke of a whole new level of desperation by the Minnesota organization. Childress himself making a trip to Mississippi to beseech Favre in July wasn't enough. Nor was the dangling of a few extra millions in salary and incentives earlier this month, when word of Favre's well-timed "retirement'' text messages leaked out and sent another wave of panic through the team's Winter Park complex. This time, with the regular season again pressing in on them and no sign of No. 4, a plan was hatched to send three Vikings envoys to Favre's house, basically to stage an intervention of sorts and bring the conquering graybeard home. Friends of Favre (FOF) members Jared Allen, Steve Hutchinson and Ryan Longwell were exempted from practice and dispatched on the rescue mission to Mississippi, with no less an assignment than to salvage the Vikings' 2010 season. In other words, whatever it took in the way of a spectacle, as Childress even gave voice to. Even if that meant having a couple of his assistants in Darrell Bevell and Brian Murphy stand up in front of the media on Tuesday and embarrassingly try to cover up the fact that Allen, Hutchinson and Longwell weren't at practice. "That's what that took,'' said Childress on Wednesday, after first issuing an apology to Bevell, Murphy and the Minnesota media for the subterfuge. "You look and see what a situation calls for and you do it. Now, it may have never been done before, but you do what you need to do, or you feel like you need to do, in a given situation. I thought it was common sense with what needed to happen.'' To that I say, whatever. Personally, I'm not falling for the banana in the tailpipe again. Believe if you will that Favre wasn't playing football again this season unless three of his most favorite teammates appeared on his front door step and asked him to, giving it everything but the Gipper speech. I happen to think Favre was eventually coming back to Minnesota this year, even if he had to pay his own way on a Greyhound bus via Biloxi. Everything he did or said this offseason was toward that end, but as always, he needed some prodding before taking that final leap back into the pool for yet another lap. MICHAEL ROSENBERG: Favre comeback makes no sense and perfect sense Favre's three teammates and their sojourn to the South were mere props in the whole made-for-television drama that has become No. 4. It's like watching our favorite show, knowing the writers have to come up with a new twist for the new season, and tuning in to see where they'll take the script. See what they did there? He's only playing for his teammates this year and his love for all that locker-room camaraderie. Otherwise he would have stayed home and been content to miss out on a 20th NFL season and a potential Super Bowl trip. But what about the ankle? Oh, never mind. That was only the storyline they used in the last episode. It's just that now that everything's Favre-ulous with the Vikings again, I can't quite get over the feeling that there will be a price to pay for all this new terrain they're covering in Minnesota. This isn't a second guess, mind you. It's a first guess. I could be wrong. After all, every season so far with the Vikings, Childress has won two more games than he did the year before. So maybe a 14-2 magic-carpet ride is coming down the pike, he knows exactly what he's doing, and the end really does justify the means in Minnesota. But I don't think so. Somewhere, at some point, the Vikings seem likely to pay for how they've flipped the script when it comes to traditional team-building methods, ceding almost all power and authority to the franchise quarterback, rather than the front office or coaching staff. You can't quibble with the notion that the message has been sent that Favre's bigger than the rest of the team. Not when the head coach fairly well screams it at the top of his lungs with every move he makes (see Favre, training camp 2009, 2010, thanks, but no thanks). Call me cynical, but I'd say the stance that the rules don't apply to everyone equally in Minnesota has seeped into a few other corners of the Vikings' locker room. My educated hunch is that the Favre Rules have at least a little something to do with how much trouble Minnesota had getting offensive cogs like running back Adrian Peterson and receiver Sidney Rice to take part in as many camp practices as the Vikings would prefer. I'm not saying Peterson (hamstring) and Rice (hip) don't have legitimate injury concerns that have factored into their work levels, but I am saying that when you foster a climate in which one of the team's stars can tell the head coach when and if he'd like to participate in the 2010 season, it's not lost on some of the team's other stars that coloring outside the lines is not only tolerated but also celebrated in Minnesota. Especially when those stars -- both Peterson and Rice in this case -- happen to be seeking rich new contract extensions. Again, the Vikings haven't paid for taking such an unconventional approach, even by typical levels of the NFL's star system. Yet. But I think they will. I don't know when or how it will show itself, but the Favre-first mentality is fraught with potential pitfalls and locker room issues unless the Vikings win and win big, as they did last season. But what if there's no 12-4 season and trip to the NFC title game in store this time around? If something less than Super Bowl contention unfolds for these Vikings, my guess is the end of the 2010 season in Minnesota will resemble the close of the Jets' 2008 season more than the Vikings' storybook 2009 run. Remember how Favre wasn't exactly portrayed by some Jets as the consummate teammate or leader once New York's season and playoff hopes swirled down the drain amid four losses in the last five games of the year? Maybe a potential repeat of that bitter ending is one of the reasons Favre was legitimately dragging his feet on returning to Minnesota, sensing that last year's winning formula couldn't be rebottled. I haven't talked to him, but I'm willing to bet that in the pit of his stomach, Vikings vice president of player personnel Rick Spielman hates the Favre-first structure that has ruled this franchise the past two years. The winning last season was great, of course, and it sure beats the unemployment that always eventually comes to underachievers in the NFL. But Spielman's a football guy who knows that putting the team first in this sport isn't just a bunch of hollow talk. He also knows that's not the Vikings way of doing business right now. Yeah, even a taskmaster like Bill Parcells was willing to bend his rules and have a special way of treating a special player like Lawrence Taylor. That is the way it works for stars in every facet of the real world. But there can be a point where traveling that road becomes counterproductive, and I think the Vikings are too far down it now to reverse course. They've put every egg they have in the No. 4 basket, and they're just crossing their fingers and hoping they get through another spectacular season without anything cracking. Maybe they will. Maybe Favre is that special, that unique of an X factor. Maybe Childress and the rest of the Vikings will wear a ring some day next offseason because they were willing to do what they needed to do and go to any length to get Favre back. The terrain varied, and they went with the terrain. As sound bites go, that's pretty effective stuff. But it still leaves Childress and his Vikings on some dangerous ground.
SI.com's Damon Hack discusses the return of Brett Favre and where the QB's expectations are as he eyes the Super Bowl once more. Run time - 2:24This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Lots of politics, philosophy to talk about at conversation salons - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Posted: 18 Aug 2010 09:57 PM PDT Margaret Chase Smith was the only woman in politics when John Head was growing up in the 1950s and '60s. A Republican senator from Maine, Ms. Smith was the first woman to be elected to the U.S. House and Senate, and she was the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for the U.S. presidency. "But that was it. There weren't any women in local governments," said Mr. Head, who grew up in Wisconsin and now lives in Scott. His wife, Pat Head, said she's happy to see so many women in politics today but often is disappointed in the quality of the candidate. The Heads, along with a handful of others, discussed the role of women in politics and the legalization of marijuana this week during the second conversation salon at Scott Township Library. Another is set for next month. "This is not a solution conversation. It's raising awareness about issues," said Norm Wien, a volunteer with the Allegheny County Library Association. Conversation salons are being held in 10 local libraries. They draw about 20 people or less who discuss philosophical and political topics. No fee is charged to join the discussion. The talk in Scott ranged from logical to lighthearted, entertaining to engaging. Participants sat in a circle with coffee or iced tea, listening to opinions and theories, asking questions and trying to answer them. Are mothers in politics any different than single women in politics? Do women run less negative campaigns? Are women better as multi-taskers, and is that an advantage in politics? If only women were in politics, how would that affect Roe v. Wade? Are women different than men as voters? Could the legalization of marijuana be the solution to a recession? Has the war on drugs been successful? How would the legalization of marijuana affect big business and the pharmaceutical industry? Is the so-called sin tax the way to restore economic vitality? The answers ranged from humorous personal stories to genuine concerns, often giving the impression that the conversationalists were as comfortable with each other as family members talking around a dining room table after a holiday meal. Although their political parties may be different, the conversation was respectful. The screaming matches and divisiveness often seen on television talk shows were absent. "Everyone comes into the circle as an equal person," said Janet Forton, library director. "Your opinions are just as valid as the person next to you." The two-hour conversation ended with a consensus on each topic. "It sounds like we're saying the role of women in politics is important and shouldn't be stereotyped. It's an individual experience for the candidate and voter," said Pat Maxwell, a Scott library volunteer who initiated the salons there. "It sounds like we all see a potential economic benefit to legalizing marijuana, that it's no more harmful than cigarettes or alcohol, but still have some questions," she said. Before the meeting ended, Ms. Maxwell and others decided on topics for the next conversation salon in Scott, which will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Sept. 13. "We will discuss the plight of newspapers and the print news media in general. Are we in danger of losing in-depth reporting that is essential to an informed society?" Ms. Maxwell said. "And ask: 'Is TV a good or bad influence?" In an age where people can read books on handheld computers and face-to-face communication is dwindling, conversation salons have a place in the future, Mr. Wien said. "This is the future of libraries as an information resource," he said. Bethel Park Public Library First Friday of the month, 10 a.m. - noon 5100 West Library Ave. Bethel Park, PA 15102 412-835-2207 Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - Oakland Second Wednesday of the month, 10:15 a.m. - noon 4400 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213 412-622-8830 Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh - Squirrel Hill Third Wednesday of the month, 1 to 3 p.m. 5801 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15217 412-422-9844 Mt. Lebanon Public Library First Tuesday of the month, 10 a.m. to noon 16 Castle Shannon Blvd. Pittsburgh, PA 15228 412-531-1912 Northland Public Library Second Thursday of the month, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Fourth Wednesday of the month, 1 to 3 p.m. 300 Cumberland Road Pittsburgh, PA 15237 412-366-8100 Pleasant Hills Public Library First Friday of the month, 1 to 3 p.m. 302 Old Clairton Road Pittsburgh, PA 15236 412- 655-2424 Scott Township Public Library Second Monday of the month, 1 to 3 p.m. 301 Lindsay Road Carnegie, PA 15106 412-429-5380 Sewickley Public Library Second Wednesday of the month, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. 500 Thorn St. Sewickley, PA 15143 412-741-6920 Upper St. Clair Township Library First Friday of the month, 10 a.m. to noon 1820 McLaughlin Run Road Upper St. Clair, PA 15241 412-835-5540 Whitehall Public Library Second Wednesday of the month, 1 to 3 p.m. 100 Borough Park Drive Pittsburgh, PA 15236 412-882-6622 OASIS (Participating partner Downtown) First Monday of the month, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Macy's 10th Floor 400 Fifth Ave. Downtown 412-232-2020 Candy Woodall, freelance writer: suburbanliving@post-gazette.com. First published on August 19, 2010 at 12:00 am This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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