Don't hate the player, hate the...

Across all professional sports, contract negotiations, player-coach relationships, retirement, and player-player conflicts result in athletes changing their uniforms. The popularity of the player is positively correlated with the outrage of the old team and the excitement of the new team. Switching teams is not, by any means, a new sensation. Usually, a trade makes a small wave within the organization that ripples out into the public for a week at the most. When great players are traded, however, it is a different story. Over the course of five weeks, we’ll take a look at five significant cases. The first is Brett Favre.

1992-2007: Green Bay Packers

2008: New York Jets

2009-2010: Minnesota Vikings

Brett Favre was the starting quarterback and face of the franchise for the Green Bay Packers from 1992 to 2007, when he retired from the NFL, crying on national television. Four months later (July), Favre decided to return to the NFL and formally requested a release from the Packers when he found out he would not be a starter. The Packers tried to pay Favre to remain retired, but a month later (August) he was reinstated into the league. However, Favre and the Packers parted ways when general manager Ted Thompson decided that he did not want to take him back. (To their credit, the Packers had taken steps to overcome Favre’s retirement, including finding a new quarterback to replace Favre). Instead, Favre was traded to the Jets and welcomed to New York by Mayor Bloomberg.

After a successful start to the 2008 season, Favre and the Jets won only one game out of their final five. He retired again soon after…claiming that this time, it was for good. That turned out to be false. Favre signed a two-year contract with the Minnesota Vikings on August 18, 2009, joining the same conference as his old team, the Packers. Thus far, Favre has led the Vikings to a 5-0 record, including a victory over Green Bay.

So now, the question remains…will Favre return to the Vikings for the second year of his contract, will he request yet another trade, or will he retire for a third time?

Next Week: Wayne Gretzky