Much to nobody’s surprise Brett Favre returned to the NFL yesterday with more news coverage than the last presidential election. I watched ESPN all afternoon as they tracked his every move from the plane ride to the podium where he held up the famous No. 4 jersey, but this time it was colored purple and white.

C’mon folks, do you really think that Favre just suddenly changed his mind and immediately boarded private jet to Minnesota where a $12 million contract and a jersey were sitting there waiting for him? I have believed all along that this has been in the works for a while between. Both parties spoke after his surgery and agreed that he would play for them this season. Why would he have the surgery if he wasn’t going to return?

The Vikings sent trainers and coaches to monitor his health and go over the playbook, and then both parties agreed that he would join the team at the end of training camp. We all know that veteran players hate going to camp and give excuses why they won’t attend. Michael Strahan did this in his last season with the Giants and Lawrence Taylor always had an excuse for skipping camp. Vikings coaches and management acted as if they were moving on when he said he wasn’t returning a month ago and Brad Childress even went through the motions at the start of camp with Sage Rosenfels and Tavaris Jackson knowing all along Favre was going to be his starter this season.

I am neither a Favre supporter nor a hater, but I’m sorry folks. You can’t convince me that all of a sudden Favre changed his mind, a plane was ready to take him to Minnesota yesterday and all of the Vikings’ game plans were changed instantly to accommodate him learning the offense so he could start a game on Friday night. I think if Favre still thinks he can play in the league than by all means he should play, but I think the game that he and the Vikings have been playing these past months is just ridiculous.

The funny thing is that even though Favre is way past his prime, he is still a better option for Minnesota than the other two quarterbacks and there are also a lot of money incentives for the Vikings with jersey sales and media coverage as well. So after all the craziness of the past six months Favre will end up right where we all thought he would this season, and we can save the drama until the next offseason when it will happen all over again.