Favre's a crybaby, a loser, and a traitor. I hope his tractor runs over both knees. Go away Favre, just go away, you bum.

The Bears are going to kick both their arses anyway.....

Dude why? you know the Bears still suck, but congrats on obtaining your fist decent quarterback in 80+ years.

And James that Photo is just wrong!

Because Favre's lawyers were better than the Packers' lawyers, of course. But who is surprised, its a bunch of cheeseheads in Green Bay??

The Bears are going to kick both their arses anyway.....

;-)

Not only is the story essentially a re-run of last summer’s drama ...

Last summer? This is year five of the Bret Favre NFL retirement tour. Don't forget that he tortured the Packers with will I return/will I retire every year for a couple of years as well.

Favre still had three years on his contract with the Packers at the time of the trade. Why is this run-around permissible?

I would imagine it's because Favre retired, was sent to the NFL equivalent of inactive reserve, and was released from his contract.

Since there is no contract with Favre, there can be no penalty for trading where a trade does not exist.

I have no dog in this fight and won't even argue that this maneuver is "fair," "just," or even "smart," but it seems permissible.

n.b.: IANAL

That may be but where I come from (the land of 0-16) he'd be a step up from what we've got.

and...

Favre is a mediocre QB at this point (albeit nonetheless an upgrade over Tavaris Jackson).

What, I ask, wouldn't be an improvement of that situation?

I think if the Lions lured Andre Ware out of retirement...that wouldn't be an improvement :)

That may be but where I come from (the land of 0-16) he'd be a step up from what we've got.

and...

Favre is a mediocre QB at this point (albeit nonetheless an upgrade over Tavaris Jackson).

What, I ask, wouldn't be an improvement of that situation?

That said, and the legal aspects (which I don't pretend to undersatdnfully) aside I wonder... given the assesment of Favre's playing ability these days, I don't quite understand why the Packers are worried about him playing for a division rival. Seems to me that even with the trades that 0 and 16 provides, they've still got far more problems than a slight uptick in the quality of their QB is going to provide, and that thereby GB has little if anything to fear at this stage. The money that Favre is going to soak up will clearly keep the Vikings off the trade wire, preventing them from picking up better quality players elsewhere in their formation.... players they need desperately. I should think Favre being in Minn be nothing but a help to GB at this point.

Why is this run-around permissible?

I'm guessing that Favre wasn't a party to the contract in which Minnesota traded him to the Jets. To bind Favre, he would have had to have been a party to the contract and received some benefit.

Also, contracts precluding you from working from a competitor are usually unenforceable as restraints on trade.

Favre is a mediocre QB at this point

That may be but where I come from (the land of 0-16) he'd be a step up from what we've got.

As for the run-around...looks like the "poison pill" verbiage was not as precise as it needed to be and if this violates the letter of that contract i'm sure the league will scuttle it.