clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

The Non-Existent "Favre Effect"

While Brett Favre’s contract “holdout,” such as it was, was still ongoing, many of the “experts” out there thought Favre was affecting how some of the Vikings’ players were viewing Training Camp, implying that if Favre didn’t have to be there, many other players figured that they didn’t have to be there, either.

↵

That supposition, to put it mildly, has been a bunch of garbage.

↵

Take Sidney Rice. . .many of the “experts” thought that he was sitting out because Favre wasn’t there and because he wanted a new contract, and that his hip injury was a means to that end. Well, no. . .turns out that Sidney Rice did have a hip injury that was causing him to sit out. Nothing to do with his contract.

↵

Then there’s Percy Harvin. Now, “experts” and non-Viking fans have long made excuses for Harvin’s migraine headaches, saying that they were either a) a reason for him to not have to practice, or b) an excuse to avoid being drug tested by the league. The latter of those two reasons is beyond asinine. . .but, then, so are most Viking haters.

↵

But, you know. . .it turns out that Percy Harvin doesn’t have “migraine headaches,” complete with air quotes. . .he has actual migraine headache issues. We all saw that first-hand at Vikings practice last week.

↵

You’ll note that the apologies for these sorts of things are not nearly as forthcoming as the accusations. Shocking, no?

↵

Brett Favre may or may not be a diva. . .but he had basically zero effect on how his Viking teammates conducted themselves during the 2010 off-season.  There's no "may or may not" about that.

Photographs by Micah Taylor, clairity, and Fibonacci Blue used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.