Failure to Cooperate

What we have here... is a failure to communicate.

Brett Favre was fined $50,000 yesterday for "failing to cooperate" in an NFL investigation. The NFL seems like the bigger failure in issuing this fine though. Favre allegedly sent lewd pictures and sexually harassed Jenn Sterger during the 2008 season. She had photo evidence and her own personal testimony, but that proved little versus the power of the NFL.

The NFL protected its most talked about star by slapping him on the wrist for not cooperating. The NFL fined Favre for not being forthcoming, thus ending the investigation without any answers. Favre is free to send more pictures to more ladies because he is done with the NFL and it only cost him $50,000. I think starting 297 straight games can help cover that cost. The NFL blew it on this one and it could be due to Favre's imminent "retirement". I'll believe it when he's sitting on a couch next season. No one would be surprised if he came back for another season, especially if there is a lockout and he is given that much extra time to recover from this season.

The NFL had a big opportunity here to not only rid themselves of Brett Favre for good, but protect women's rights for those working for the NFL and other organizations surrounding the National Football League. This was the second case of harassment in this season alone - second case of harassment on the same team! And neither involve feet. (So far as we know). The NFL needs to implement strict rules protecting the safety of women, who need to work harder than men to be successful in the business of sports. This was a perfect opportunity and the NFL showed they could careless about their female employees and reporters.

This fine is a cop out by the NFL, according to ESPN, the fine is only 5% of one game's paycheck. Favre will walk away as the winner, but barely. He worked hard to build and then tear down his own legacy. While on the Packers, he was the most beloved player in the NFL. The only fans disliking him were probably Bears, Vikings and Lions, but even they had to respect the talent. Now, after retiring and returning countless times, playing for the Packers' hated rival, the Vikings, this scandal has turned Favre into probably the most hated. He is selfish, and cares nothing for his wife, his family, his peers, or his teammates.

His egotistical behavior is shown in playing this season. He needed to have his teammates beg him to come back, even though it was clear he wasn't retiring. He led a team that underperformed. He played hurt even when the season was lost. While some can commend that, I condemn it. And now, with a concussion, he cares more about playing his last game than giving Joe Webb a shot to prove he can be a starting QB and giving Leslie Frazier a chance to take the interim off from his job title.

Brett Favre probably learned little from this other than to not send pictures of his man parts. I hope Sterger can and does take him to court, if only just to provide an annoyance to Favre because that is all this was. He was not distracted by it during games so it was clearly pushed to the back of his mind and he knew little would come of it. We will all be much happier when Favre finally does retire. Maybe it'll be good if he plays on Sunday so that Ndamukong Suh can officially end his career by adding on to that concussion.