Good God, you're coming up with reasons
Good God, you're dragging it out
Good God, it's the changing of the seasons
Whoa, you're such a (expletive) hypocrite.

-- "Fake It," by Seether

My buddy, Pete Schwaba, e-mailed the other day from California. He's a hotshot Hollywood screenwriter -- he loves it when I call him that -- and he's got a knack for writing just the right thing. Born in Chicago, raised in Wisconsin and having written, directed and starred in "The Godfather of Green Bay" and co-written "A Guy Thing," the man has a way with words.

So when he dropped me a note about the ongoing Brett Favre unretirement saga, he knocked it out of the e-mail park.

Unbelievable.

That was it. One word. Summed it up pretty well, I thought.

And now, it's really unbelievable.

News of Favre's "itch" to play football again broke a little less than two weeks ago -- and a little less than four months after his tearful farewell news conference -- causing a seismic shift in the Wisconsin sports landscape.

But the story broke wide open on Friday, when the Packers received a letter from Favre and his agent, James "Bus" Cook, asking for his unconditional release, followed by news that Favre had actually informed the Packers of his plans to unretire in late March, only to renege on the plans.

The Packers will not -- under any circumstances -- honor Favre's request for an outright release, preferring instead to trade him, two NFL sources said.

The Packers had decided to move on in the wake of Favre reneging on plans to unretire in late March. According to two NFL sources, Favre informed the Packers during the annual NFL meetings -- less than a month after his tearful March 6 retirement press conference -- that he wanted to play again.

At the time, both Packers coach Mike McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson told Favre they would welcome him back, and plans were made for him to return, including chartering a plane to go to Mississippi to complete the comeback deal.

But two days before the meeting was to occur, Favre called the team to say that he had changed his mind yet again and had decided that he wanted to stay retired after all.

Having been burned by the indecisive Favre again, the team decided after that to commit fully to moving on without Favre, the sources said.

On Tuesday, Favre, Cook, Thompson and McCarthy participated in a conference call in which Favre made it clear that he wants to play again this season, sources confirmed. Afterward, Favre was convinced that the Packers did not want him back and told Cook to move forward with the formal request for his release, one of the sources said.

Favre could have instead petitioned for reinstatement from the reserve/retired list, upon which he'd been placed by the club on April 25. Had he done so, the Packers would have had 24 hours to either put him back on their 80-man roster or release him.

If the Packers granted Favre's request, he would be free to play for any of the league's other 31 teams, including NFC North division rivals Minnesota and Chicago, both of whom could be in the market for a quarterback.

The Bears reached Super Bowl XL two years ago but did so despite Grossman's inconsistent play. Now, Grossman and Orton enter camp battling for the starting job.

The Vikings, meanwhile, are a chic pick for Super Bowl XLII, and coach Brad Childress runs a version of the West Coast offense. Favre's former quarterbacks coach in Green Bay, Darrell Bevell, is the Vikings offensive coordinator, while ex-Packers Ryan Longwell, Darren Sharper and Robert Ferguson are on the Minnesota roster.

The Packers are slated to retire Favre's No. 4 at a ceremony at Lambeau Field during the Sept. 8 regular-season opener against the Vikings on "Monday Night Football." The Packers report to training camp on July 27, and Favre is scheduled to present his buddy, center Frank Winters, for induction into the Packers Hall of Fame on July 19.

From Favre's wholly dishonest text message ("It's all rumor") to his buddy at the Biloxi (Miss.) Sun Herald after the news broke on July 2, to our unsuccessful attempts to get coach Mike McCarthy to address the situation following his appearance earlier this week at the Green Bay Boys & Girls Club, to general manager Ted Thompson's continued silence, to the divided opinions of Packer Nation flooding my State Journal e-mail inbox, it's been interesting theater. And it promises to continue.

The whole thing really is unbelievable (thanks, Pete!), and yet, you kind of had a feeling some of it would happen, didn't you?

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