Favre Says Decision Coming by July 30

For the first time since his appearance in Joe Buck's ill-fated talk-show debut, Brett Favre has spoken publicly about his intentions. We know that Favre will play for the Vikings in 2009, if he plays for anyone at all.

Naturally, Favre didn't say much when speaking to the Associated Press, but we did finally get a clue when he expects to decide on his football (or non-football) future.

Favre told the AP that his decision is coming soon.

Brett Favre tells The Associated Press that he felt "pretty good" after a workout Wednesday, but he's not yet ready to commit to the Vikings because he wants to make sure he can be effective for an entire season.

The 39-year-old quarterback says he will give the Vikings an answer on whether he'll play this season by the July 30 start of training camp.

How kind of Brett to let the Vikings know what will be going on before training camp starts. Actually, if he waits until July 30, he'll be a day late to camp, as players are supposed to report on July 29. At least Favre knows he's running out of time.

"There's two weeks left and I'm doing everything I can," Favre said. "I was down here Sunday morning working out. I'm trying to get everything to where I feel 100 percent when I go in. I can't go in any less. When you're 39 years old, it's hard enough. But it's getting there."

The Vikings have not commented, but Favre's public announcement of his intentions (sort of) would incidate that they've signed off on the timetable. After all, if the Vikings had a problem with waiting, Favre wouldn't be able to get away with a delay.

Since Brad Childress is desperate to make a splash, and he happens to be coaching for his job this season, he will do nothing about Favre jerking his organization around. As long as he thinks Favre can save his job, Childress doesn't care about the other 52 guys he will take to Cleveland September 13.

From Favre's standpoint, he'll continue to pull stunts like this as long as there are weak-willed coaches in the league willing to put up with it. It's obvious that Favre detests minicamps, offseason workouts, and training camp, and he'll avoid as much of them as humanly possible without looking like the selfish guy he is.

The Vikings have two quarterbacks -- Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels -- who have gone through the entire offseason program. Childress' reckless disregard for them is astounding, given that he played a role in acquiring both of them. If Favre shows up, and one of them were to request a trade, would the Vikings do the honorable thing and make the move?

While it's easy to rip Favre for his behavior this summer, the reality is that there would be no behavior like this if it weren't for Childress. It's always been true that desperate men do desperate things, and Childress is certainly desperate.