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Shanoff’s Wake-Up Call: Favre Ruins Quiet Day

Jul 17, 2008, 12:16 PM UTC

â†µToday’s Calls: Packers vs. Vikings, Hornets vs. Celtics, Kevin Love vs. O.J. Mayo, USA Baseball vs. USA Soccer and More.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Opening Pitch: Historically, this is the slowest morning of the sports year, following the slowest sports day of the year.â†µ

â†µâ†µIt is almost like a day off for fans -- except it’s not like fans WANTED the day off; sports have basically TAKEN the day off.â†µ

â†µâ†µThat’s what makes this Favre story -- this ludicrous, wearying Favre story -- so brutal on fans and why there is a fan backlash: It is now relentless, making an appearance on the slowest sports day of the year and forcing us to pay attention.â†µ

â†µâ†µBrett Favre Watch: At some point, I fully expect Packers fans to display the self-worth to be offended Favre wants out.â†µ

â†µâ†µObviously, they want what’s best for him -- they are loyal to him, or at least his legacy -- but they also want what’s best for their team.â†µ

â†µâ†µWhat’s best for their team is NOT having Favre play in another team’s jersey, and it IS having him ready to fill in if Aaron Rodgers fails.â†µ

â†µâ†µAnd, certainly, what’s best for their team is not having Favre talk with a rival team’s offensive coordinator before he says, “Release me.”â†µ

â†µâ†µDid the Vikings “tamper” with Brett Favre? The Packers seem to think so. Even though he was retired, that feels like bad form by Minny.â†µ

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â†µâ†µMLB Instant History: If the season ended today,â†µ

â†µâ†µ*The Rays would be in the AL playoffs;
â†µ*(And the Yankees would NOT);
â†µ*The Angels would have home-field advantage through the WS;
â†µ*The Cubs would have HFA through the NLCS;
â†µ*The D-backs would be a sub-.500 playoff team;
â†µ*(The Tigers would be a .500 non-p’off team);
â†µ*The Cards would be an even more unlikely playoff team than the Rays.â†µ

â†µâ†µI am all for dramatic second halves, but would it be so terrible if this insanely awesome batch of results held up?â†µ

â†µâ†µGood luck getting tickets to the Yankees final home game, which will be at night on ESPN.â†µ

â†µâ†µClemens Scandal: I love that Kirk Radomski allegedly found packing slips incriminating Roger Clemens of being on the wrong end of an HGH delivery ... under his TV set. You: Loose change. Him: Damning evidence.â†µ

â†µâ†µNBA Free Agency: James Posey joins the Hornets. I’m not saying Posey was the reason the Celtics won the NBA title. But that star-laden team needed “glue guys” more than anything -- at least to fulfill their potential as more than an All-Star gimmick.â†µ

â†µâ†µAnd Posey seemed to end up being that “glue guy” -- now, he can do the same thing with the Hornets, a team on the brink of winning the West.â†µ

â†µâ†µNBA Vegas Summer: Kevin Love is the best big man in Vegas (17 reb to go with 18 pts). ... O.J. Mayo Watch: 20 pts on an um-you’re-playing-point-guard 8/22 FG (he did have 9 pts in the fourth quarter). ... Marreese Speights seems ready for the NBA (24 pts, 13 reb). ... Danilo Gallinari was a DNP (back). â†µ

â†µâ†µCFB: Notre Dame names Indy lawyer new AD. His success has been as a rainmaker for Indianapolis: He got the Super Bowl to agree to come to town in 2012, and he convinced the NCAA to move its HQ there in 2000.â†µ
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â†µâ†µHe also has zero experience as an AD. Administratively, that wouldn’t worry me. But I contend it takes AD experience to tame the beast known as NCAA compliance; I foresee future infraction issues.â†µ

â†µâ†µMore NFL: Ravens sign QB Joe Flacco to 5-year deal. The only remaining question heading into training camp is whether he will walk out of it as the starter; it looks like that’s what will happen.â†µ

â†µâ†µGang signs in the NFL? This should be so simple: Just go ask EA. If it’s not in “Madden 09,” it isn’t actually happening, right?â†µ

â†µâ†µBrandon Jennings Saga: He signs with the Italian team Virtus Roma. That didn’t take long.â†µ

â†µâ†µYou might not see him on Fox Sports Net playing on Thursday nights for Arizona, but you’ll see him in the top 3 of next year’s NBA draft, which is all that matters.â†µ

â†µâ†µNASCAR: Things are tough when your biggest headline is that one of your biggest sponsors (GM), facing a financial crisis, is massively cutting back its spending on your sport.â†µ

â†µâ†µOlympics: No Olympics for double-amputee Oscar Pistorius.â†µ

â†µâ†µUSA Baseball names its squad, led by CC Sabathia trade-bait Matt LaPorta. As Americans, we should all be offended that the team did not ask Barry Bonds if he wanted to participate.â†µ

â†µâ†µUSA Womens Soccer: Loses leading scorer Abby Wambach for the Olympics, after a freak injury last night resulted in two leg fractures. The team may yet rebound to win gold, but it just got harder.â†µ

â†µâ†µGolf: British Open preview! No Tiger Woods? Oh. Nevermind.â†µ

â†µâ†µThe Last Word: It is hard for me to take seriously any midsummer sports awards show that doesn’t include Tim Tebow as a nominee for Best Male Athlete of the Year -- let alone doesn’t name him the winner. (I’m kidding: Tiger was, as usual, a worthy ESPY winner.)â†µâ†µ

â†µâ†µDan Shanoff writes The Wake-Up Call every weekday morning for SportingNews.com and blogs daily at DanShanoff.com. Got any comments, questions or feedback? Email Dan at shanofftsn-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com.â†µâ†µ

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This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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