Viking fans ready to welcome Favre with open arms

MILWAUKEE (AP) — For most of his career, he was celebrated as a tough guy playing a man’s game with the joy of a little boy. Now Brett Favre stands on the verge of plunging the sports world into yet another offseason’s worth of waffling on his retirement.

Does Favre really want to play for the Minnesota Vikings — or is he simply willing to jump at any chance to play against the Green Bay Packers and prove a point to the man who traded him, general manager Ted Thompson?

That doesn’t seem to be a particularly important question in the Twin Cities right now, where the potential signing of Favre is seen as the final piece in an otherwise Super Bowl-ready roster. The chance to tweak a division rival makes it even juicier.

Even Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty — perhaps forgetting that he’d need to pick up a vote or two in Wisconsin if he runs for president in 2012 — called the potential Favre signing “a wonderful little salt to rub in the eyes of some of our Green Bay Packer friends” on Wednesday.

Right now, the collective sound emanating from Wisconsin — and anywhere else fans have tired of Favre’s now-annual bouts of public indecision on his football future — is a loud, protracted groan.

The 39-year-old Favre, who is a free agent after retiring for the second time in as many years and being released by the New York Jets, is scheduled to meet with Minnesota coach Brad Childress this week to discuss the possibility of playing for the Vikings, according to several media reports.

Favre’s agent, Bus Cook, did not return messages left by The Associated Press. But in an interview posted on USA Today’s Web site Wednesday afternoon, Cook reiterated that Favre remains retired, said he wasn’t aware of any meeting with Childress, and denied that Favre would return simply out of spite.

“Are there certain things about the Packers, how things ended there and he felt they didn’t treat him right? That’s true,” Cook told the newspaper. “Does he have a certain vendetta against them? That’s not true. If he came back, it would be because he wants another chance to win a Super Bowl.”

For now, much remains unclear about Favre’s situation, including just how much he has left to give. He was awful at the end of last season, and apparently hasn’t had surgery to fix an arm injury that might explain his subpar play.

That’s the danger in a comeback: While Favre would get a pair of chances to stick it to his old team with the Vikings, he also could sustain a serious injury, alienate whatever remains of his fan base in Wisconsin and become a national punchline in the process.