Soxwoman Speaks

Brett Favre, once safely ensconsed far away in Green Bay, is now going to be a fixture in the AFC east, having been traded to the Jets (Aaron Rodgers, you can come out now!) Which means the Patriots have to play him twice this year. Which means I now have to endure ten times as much Favre media slobber as I ever did when he was with the Packers. It will be unendurable.

I can't stand Brett Favre. Actually, that isn't really true: I have nothing against Favre the human being. When he's not waffling about whether or where he wants to play, he seems like a decent guy, although the carefully manicured huntin'-and-fishin'-good-ole-boy-act gets pretty old (I don't go for those guys, anyway-Paul Krugman is more my idea of the perfect man). But Favre is a victim of Derek Jeter syndrome: undoubtedly a great athlete, a hall of famer. But they both are elevated to such an overly ridiculous plane by both their fans and the lapdog media (Peter King and John Madden have their noses buried so far up Favre's BLEEP that he'll never need a colonoscopy) that if you're not a fan of their teams, you really start to hate them and focus mostly on their shortcomings. I heard one NFL guy once say we'd all be better off if we just KNEW Brett Favre. I mean, barf. Favre has been a good quarterback over the years-one of the best-but he's not Jesus Christ with a better arm. Do I think he will make the Jets a better team? Absolutely-it's hard to be a worse one. But do I think it will make them good? Errr, no. I'm sure Favre will do well, but the rest of the Jets are either old or not that good. Barring catastrophic injury to Brady AND Moss, they're not going to win the division, and there are at least five other teams in the AFC with a better wild card shot than they have.  They may be helped by their Pop Warner schedule, but I just don't see the Jets as a better than .500 team even with St. Brett at the helm.

The best thing about this will be what goes down off the field, though. Favre created his legend in the bubble of Green Bay, where, as one observer remarked, you could fit the media contingent in a phone booth. Not so in NY. Just ask Randy Johnson what it's like to be an old guy coming into the Big Apple with high expectations. You think the pitbulls at the Post or Daily News are going to treat Favre's every bowel movement with the reverance they do in the frozen tundra? You think the fans are? Brett, I have a feeling you're not in Kansas, er, Wisconsin anymore. If things don't go especially well, and then get as ugly as they could, you may see Favre retire in mid-season. Hunting grizzly bears naked with nothing but donuts and a pop gun is less hazardous than athletic failures in Gotham.

The Pats kicked off their preseason last night, although neither Brady nor anybody else notable was involved in a single snap. Thus, they lost 16-15. Less than four weeks before the real season starts. It's gonna be great.

The Sox were idle last night, but did pick up a half game on the Rays, who lost to the pathetic Mariners. Sox send wunderkind Lester to the mound against Mark Buehrle in Chicago tonight, a series that will be the first real test of mettle for these guys post-Manny Ramirez. They need to at least split.

Oh, and the Olympics start tonight! Forgetting all the politics and pollution controversies, I love the Olympics, and am looking forward to two weeks of immersion.