It's over...maybe

So, now that the story of the summer has concluded, the Vikings can just go back to preparing for the upcoming season without the specter of Brett Favre hanging over their heads. Now, Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels can compete for the starting job without looking over their shoulders at the retired legend waiting in the wings.

Right?

Well...

It doesn't take three months to determine you can "never get over the mental hump" of another season, as Favre said -- well, OK, for Brett Favre, it might, but even that's stretching a little bit. More likely, the Vikings didn't offer him enough money or offer to rename the team the "Minnesota Bretts" or whatever absurd additional clause he demanded for his services (guaranteed starting job, perhaps?).

And then there's this. If you don't throw up a little watching this video, well, then I don't know you.

He is going to stay retired. However, he told [Steve] Mariucci that he is going to keep throwing and that he is going to continue to work out. He says he is torn about his decision. Mooch asked him about, "What will you feel like tomorrow when you wake up after having made this decision," and Brett replied to him, "I wonder how I'm going to feel about this tomorrow morning."

And then Rich Eisen laughs. He laughs hard. So, after, let's say, 80 days of waffling, he's not "mentally prepared" to come back to the NFL. 81 days, though? That might be completely different. Or it might not. Who know?

I used to work with a guy who was almost late with everything. Almost late with projects for work, almost late to the airport, almost late for appointments. It wasn't because he was slow or overworked, it was because he'd waste time -- literally, I'd drift by his computer in the afternoon and see him working on an online crossword puzzle or somesuch -- and then, he'd rush through it, pull something together at the last minute and, because he worked so hard and was so tired after everything he put into it, he'd come off looking like a hero for getting it done.

That guy reminds me of Brett Favre.

I have no doubt -- none -- that as soon as the first significant injury to a quarterback for a contending team happens in the NFL (to a team that isn't run by a desperate or incompetent coach -- I doubt Bill Belichek would have called Favre's number last year after Tom Brady went down), we'll be right back into Favrewatch. Favre doesn't want the grind of training camp or to put the same work into the season that everyone else does. He just wants to ride in as the conquering hero, the cavalry surging over the hill, the golden boy rescuing a team from itself. And if he happens to play poorly, well, that's not his fault...the poor guy's having to learn an offense on the fly, how could he be expected to do that?

Answer: By being in training camp, practices, and so on all off-season and not pretending he doesn't need them.

Still, whatever may come tomorrow -- and you better believe something will come -- the Vikings are back to where they were three months ago with Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels. And regardless of what you think of either of them, you better hope neither of them goes down with an injury in the preseason.