Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Thursday, July 31, 2008
Favre, Murphy meet
GREEN BAY — NFL commissioner Roger Goodell chose not to rule on soon-to-be unretired Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre’s reinstatement application Wednesday, hoping that Favre and his current — or possibly former — team could reach some sort of accord in their continuing standoff.
Whether Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy’s clandestine trip to Hattiesburg, Miss., Tuesday night and the ensuing meeting Wednesday with Favre and agent James “Bus” Cook led to any meaningful progress between the two sides, no one was saying.
“Hattiesburg is a lovely place, that’s all I can say,” Murphy told a group of reporters after leaving Cook’s office about 5:45 p.m.
Cook later called the discussions “amicable,” but did not indicate a resolution had been reached.
“We’re going to do whatever Brett wants to do,” Cook said. “And right now his intention is to go back to Green Bay and play football.”
After Favre completed his regular workout with the Oak Grove High School football team and ran the stairs of the stadium with wife Deanna, Favre, Murphy and Cook met at Cook’s office around 9:30 a.m.
As Favre hurriedly left his workout, he told reporters, “I’m late for a 9 o’clock meeting and I’m not lying.”
Favre was then seen arriving at Cook’s office a short time later. He left the meeting without commenting around 12:30 p.m., while Murphy and Cook continued to talk after the quarterback’s departure.
“Why don’t ya’ll get in the shade?” was all Favre would say to reporters gathered outside Cook’s office before driving away. When approached shortly thereafter at the gates of his home, Favre waved off a Hattiesburg American reporter without comment.
“He would love to go back to Green Bay. That’s why he started working out,” Cook said. “But right now, it looks like he’ll be the quarterback at Oak Grove High School.”
Favre filed his reinstatement paperwork on Tuesday with the league office, and since Goodell has said in the past that he would grant Favre’s reinstatement, it was a mild surprise that the commissioner held off on rubber-stamping Favre’s return.
In an e-mail to the State Journal, NFL senior vice president of media relations Greg Aiello said Goodell wanted to wait to accept Favre’s reinstatement to give the two sides more time to iron out their differences.
“The commissioner is taking no action (Wednesday),” Aiello wrote. “He wants to give both the Packers and Brett an appropriate amount of time to make decisions, including decisions impacting the team’s roster and salary cap. When Brett is reinstated by the commissioner, we will announce it.”
Once the league officially reinstates Favre, who tearfully announced his retirement after 17 NFL seasons on March 6, the Packers will have 24 hours to release him, trade him or put him back on the roster.
Packers general manager Ted Thompson did not return a message Wednesday afternoon.
Murphy had a charter jet waiting for him at the Bobby Chain Municipal Airport after the meeting and was scheduled to land at Green Bay’s Austin Straubel airport during the team’s evening practice at Clarke Hinkle Field. A team spokesman said Murphy would not speak to any reporters awaiting his arrival at the terminal because he wanted to talk to the appropriate people in-house before commenting publicly.
After the Packers’ morning practice, coach Mike McCarthy said he “was not part of” any conversations before Murphy’s Mississippi mission and that he was trying to focus solely on football despite what he acknowledged has become a distraction.
“My job is to coach the football team and that’s what I am focused on. I’m more concerned with footwork and pad level and the things that we need to improve on,” McCarthy said. “Ted Thompson and Mark Murphy are handling the Brett situation.”
Asked whether Favre is still welcome at Lambeau Field regardless of the meeting, McCarthy replied, “Absolutely. I can’t control what the perception is, but in the locker room, no one dislikes Brett Favre. That’s not the opinion at all and that’s not the opinion that we want expressed. I’ve said it before and I’ll just say it again: He was a big part of our history. And with him reinstating and coming here, he’ll be a part of our future.
“(The distraction) is there. I’m not going to deny that. But our direction has been set. We have said it over and over again how we’re moving forward, and that’s our plan. If he’s part of that locker room, we’ll have plan for that. If he’s not, we’ll continue the way we’ve been going all week.”
McCarthy was then asked if the team is concerned about Favre going to an NFC North team — the Minnesota Vikings, whom the Packers have charged with tampering, remain the team most interested in his services should he be released — and replied, “I’d really like to share my opinion on that, but I’m not going to do that.”
Today is one of McCarthy’s designated “recovery” days on which the players have meetings and walk-throughs but no on-field practice time. The team returns to public practice Friday with workouts at 8:45 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
Because the Packers are at the 80-man roster limit, they would have to make a corresponding move to make room for him. His $12 million base salary for 2008 also would come onto the books, though the Packers have plenty of cap space to accommodate him.
“That,” McCarthy said, “is something that will be answered if we have to.”
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