Brett Favre’s Reputation, Randy Moss’ Return, And Rex Ryan: The Jets And Vikings On Monday Night
Tonight, multiple reputations are on the line, two teams look to make a statement and establish themselves as contenders, the whole country’s watching, and nobody knows what to expect. How can you NOT be excited for Jets-Vikings?
My only wish is that Monday Night Football were still on ABC, because it always lent a little extra flair to the proceedings when you knew it was on network television. On ESPN, it feels like just sports fans are watching. On ABC, it felt like the networks were saying, “This is important enough so that everyone should watch.” That was awesome--and tonight’s game is exactly the sort of thing that’d be perfect for the prime time slot.
But of course someone has to grumble. Here’s the Wall Street Journal today:
Please call the Vikings and tell them to pack their purple carry-ons and drive back to the airport. Asking the NFL’s two most preposterously overdiscussed franchises to meet on the second Monday in October feels like a wedge of German chocolate cake for breakfast. It’s the Hyperbole Bowl. Barring a tie, one of these controversy magnets is going to win, the other will lose, and no matter which side you’re on, you’re never going to hear the end of it.
COME ON.
Seriously?
Why even watch sports if a game like this doesn’t get you excited?
It really doesn't get any better than this. On the one hand, we've got Brett Favre, the rightfully disgraced poster child for Americana, suddenly playing to preserve his reputation and self-respect. Given all that's transpired the past few years, and considering the latest allegations of his sexual misconduct with former Jets employee Jenn Sterger, he's quietly mounting a serious challenge to Tiger Woods for "Most Unlikable Athlete on Earth."
The same guy of whom Chris Berman once said, “You know what? ... Rooting for Brett Favre is like rooting for America.” Tonight, we get to watch all the Favre fetishists come to terms with, you know, Brett Favre’s sexting fetish. Who can complain about that?
But it's more complicated than rooting against Favre, because Randy Moss is there, too. The same guy that once explained his NFL ambitions by saying, "My whole goal is to just come in and do whatever I can to wreck this whole league." He's been disrespected from day one, and now he's got one last chance to prove the doubters wrong. And people have dismissed him, yeah. But there's nothing more terrifying than a pissed off Randy Moss. He's the Omar Little of the NFL.
And then there’s the Jets, with one of the only NFL coaches on earth that seems capable of smiling, along with a fan base that’s been perpetually disappointed and trampled upon by fate. Of course, it’s hard to be the “feel-good choice” when your team’s starting wide receiver just got nabbed for a DUI, the whole team got in trouble for sexually harassing a Mexican reporter, and the quarterback is the NFL’s answer to Vincent Chase.
So it may be tough to choose a favorite team tonight. But don’t let that distract you.
Just because it’s difficult to separate good from evil doesn’t mean we should turn away or, worse, roll our eyes like we’re somehow better than all this. Get outta here. This is what makes sports worth it; when there’s no easy answer to who should win, who will win, or who we want to win. We all have to just watch.
The most famous football player on earth is at a career crossroads; same goes for arguably the most captivating athlete we’ve ever seen in football pads. They also play on the same team, and have inadvertently come to embody the NFL’s preferred corporate image (Favre) and the swaggering counter-culture on the opposite pole (Moss)--only those crayon morality sketches are getting blurry, and Moss is looking more like the underdog we can all root for, with Favre suddenly personifying Everything That’s Wrong With Athletes.
What does it all mean? Who can say.
It's too early to trumpet Moss as the underdog, and likewise, we're a ways off from having any confirmation that Favre's facade has been a complete act this whole time. And nobody knows whether the Jets are for real, Mark Sanchez can keep playing well, and what's going to happen with Braylon Edwards. Point is, we're getting challenged, and that's something that sports rarely does anymore.
We’ve seen it all, we say. We know how this story ends, etc. Except here, we have no clue.
Tonight, we re-think Favre-as-Icon and Moss-as-Villain. It all happens in the media capital of the world, with the Jets leering in the background as a the perfect partner for this attention orgy.
Over-exposure is one of the reasons I don't love sports the way I used to, but certain events merit all the attention they get. This stuff's too good to make up. For God's sake, Randy Moss actually told Tom Brady he looked like a girl last week. Brett Favre's finally been exposed for what he is--the only question is how he'll respond. Everything we always hoped for is coming true, and it dovetails on a Monday Night in New York City.
Tonight, multiple reputations are on the line, two teams look to make a statement and establish themselves as contenders, the whole country’s watching, and nobody knows what to expect. It’s all a web of cliches and warmed-over rhetoric that we hear 1,000 times a year, but this time it’s warranted. For once, the stories match the spectacle. Seriously. Who can complain about this?
I just wish it was on ABC.
