Death, taxes, and Brett Favre being a drama queen

Can anyone really be surprised that Brett Favre is coming back to the NFL?

After months of "I don't know"s and "We'll see"s, and just weeks after "No, I'm staying retired," we now have "I'm back."

In one of my first ever blog posts, I talked about how I (rather unexpectedly) came to appreciate Brett Favre in what seemed to be the last couple years of his career. However, his faux retirement from the Packers and ensuing stint with the Jets made him seem fake and calculated off the field, a far cry from the raw, emotional quarterback he's always been on the field.

When he delivered a supposedly heartfelt and sincere speech announcing his official retirement this past February, it got me choked up--from the vomit in my throat. I would have put money on him coming back to the NFL this season. And lo and behold, after forcing sports fans to endure SportsCenter stories about him every freakin' week since about May, after supposedly thinking things through and finally, ultimately, conclusively deciding that he was walking away from football, here we are: Brett Favre is a Viking.

And know this: my anger is not founded on bitterness or frustration over the fact that Favre is back in the Bears' division. In fact, I'm glad he's back. You know what he led the league in last year? Interceptions. 22 of them. And 10 fumbles to boot. He had a passer rating of 81, good for 21st in the NFL. And he's gonna hit the big four-oh in October. And he missed the first several weeks of training camp. I'm sick of Brett Favre's drama, but as a Bears fan, I say welcome to the black and blue division, pal.

I always look forward to the clashes with the Packers more than any other games on the Bears' schedule. But this year, the games with the Vikings will be a very, very close second. I hope Brian Urlacher et al knock the gray hair right off that little drama queen head of his, and I hope they inflict so much pain on him that he'll have no choice but to retire right then and there.

For good.