Solution to Our Brett Favre Problem: Stop Asking Him

Our annual Brett Favre fatigue is upon us. The once-beloved Green Bay Packers icon is dominating the sports news again, in the ponderous, mind-numbing way only he can, and if you're sick of the guy you're in good company.

But the blame is all misplaced. This isn't Favre's fault. It's our own fault, and we can fix it. At the end of this season, which it increasingly appears Favre will spend with the Minnesota Vikings, when it comes time to ask whether this is it -- whether he really, truly is retired this time -- we all need to stop, think and NOT ASK.

Generally, I'm not one to advocate a lack of curiosity -- especially in reporters. But here we're talking about a question that's literally not worth asking anymore. The answer has no relevance, since it never turns out to be true, and to seek it is to seek a sound bite rather than information or actual news.

The night's headline becomes "FAVRE SWEARS THIS IS IT," or something like that, but it doesn't serve readers, since it has no connection to any actual fact. It's just the thing Favre decided to say at the time he was asked the question. By now he must know that such an answer isn't binding, and that its worthlessness has no harmful consequences for him. In turn, we should know by now that it has no useful consequences to any of us who seek information.

Trent Dilfer, a former quarterback beginning his career as a member of the media, is the latest to get caught in this trap. Earlier this week, ESPN's newest NFL analyst revealed that he had texted Favre, asked him directly whether he was coming back, and received the response "NO," in capital letters. Dilfer presented this as news, on the air, and in recent days has indicated that he regrets having done so. Not only does he fear his texting relationship with Favre is permanently damaged, but he surely now realizes that what he was reporting was not news, because it was not true.

This isn't Dilfer's fault. He was just doing his reporting in preparation for a show. He was to talk about Favre, so he decided the best thing he could do, to be as informed as possible about his topic, was to go right to the source and ask the question directly. The lesson is that, in the specific case of Favre, traditional reporting techniques such as "ask the question and report the answer" are ineffective. Favre's answers on the topic of his own retirement don't advance the story; they muddle it.

So the solution is to stop asking the question. When this Vikings season ends, and Favre is doing his wrap-up news conference, let's not ask him whether he's through playing. I'm sure he'll appreciate it, and the rest of us will lose nothing. We'll just proceed into the off-season expecting him to play again. Either he will or he won't, and at some point down the line we'll realize that it's been a year or so since the guy played a game and wow, he must be retired. And he'll sign with a TV network and go to the Hall of Fame and that'll be that.

In the meantime, feel free to ask Favre how his arm's feeling or what the coverage was that prompted the audible or how great it is to be handing off to a guy like Adrian Peterson. Just please don't ask him whether he intends to play again after this year. He doesn't know, and you don't want the answer, because it's not going to be worth anything anyway.