The Old and the New

When I had heard the news that Brett Favre had "informed" Vikings officials that he was retiring, I was shocked. It was unbelievable--literally. After an hour or so I realized how unrealistic that was. Sure enough, people were questioning the credibility of these reports later that day. Ryan Longwell, the Vikings kicker, had spoken to Favre earlier in the day and the NFL's all-time leading touchdown passer mentioned nothing about retirement, which basically convinced me that the earlier reports were fallacious. Before you know it, the new Brett Favre ESPN headline read "Brett Favre still undecided but will play if healthy". We know that Brett Favre wants to come back and, as Tony Kornheiser put it on today's PTI, he'll play unless his ankle leaves his foot. We all know how ardent number 4 is about throwing the pigskin, and after 19 years, I can't imagine how tough it is to consider stepping away. Nonetheless, we know absolutely nothing more than we did 48 hours ago.

Now this has been old, old news as Favre has been on the brink of retirement ever since January 20, 2008 when his final game in a Packers uniform was a loss in the NFC Championship game. It is also old news that Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez had been stuck on 599 home runs since July 22nd. Notice how I said "had" and not "has". The new news is that the 46-at-bat drought is over. A-Rod hit home run #600 in the first inning today off Blue Jays pitcher Shaun Marcum, exactly three years after hitting his 500th. He's the youngest player to reach 600 and also just the seventh to achieve the milestone. I was at the series opener Monday and was hoping he would hit it then, but I had a feeling he was going to do it this week anyway. 46 at bats is a long time without a home run for a player who's hit 30 home runs 12 seasons in a row. The weight is now off his shoulders and he can finally relax.

A-Rod's home run total is arguably tarnished, so the question comes up of whether or not this is a meaningful achievement. For me, it's tough to say because of the performance-enhancing drug history. Rodriguez is 35 and said that he juiced for three years, so there is still a very good chance that he would have hit at least 600 home runs if he hadn't used steroids, but we'll never know. He seemed almost impeccable before he admitted his wrongdoings, reaching many major milestones at a younger age than anyone else. Now, almost nobody is talking about his 600th home run without mentioning steroids. It's unfortunate that such a good player (even without PEDs) has to carry this burden for the rest of his career, but it was his choice in the first place. It's going to affect his legacy, whether he hits two more home runs or two hundred.