Keep hope alive — Smith's career with Niners may be over, but he could land on his feet

DESERET NEWS, SUNDAY, SEPT. 14, 2008 DX

W

rett's a jet? Seriously?

I know he was traded from the Packers to the Jets more than a month ago. He's held press conferences and played in preseason games wearing a new shade of green. I haven't been living in a cave since the big trade.

But today it becomes real when the Jets open the 2008 regular season in Miami against the Dolphins.

How are cheeseheads supposed to feel about this?

Full disclosure here: I've been a Green Bay fan for many years. I have Packer hats, jerseys, shirts, mugs and various other items collected through the years, including two cheeseheads. I don't know how that happened. I also have a piggybank. Can't explain that one either.

This Favre situation is also tough to explain and understand. Since free agency began, team executives and players haven't been the most loyal people around. But if there was ever a player who earned the right to retire and un-retire, no questions asked, it is Favre.

When the Packers' 2007 season ended in the bitter cold at Lambeau Field, I had a feeling an era had also ended in Green Bay. I was lucky enough to not only attend the NFC Championship game last winter, but I also got the chance to walk on the frozen tundra shortly after the game ended. That's when I got the nagging feeling that things would never be the same in Green Bay.

When Favre retired in March, it seemed my hunches were crystal clear. That changed in July when the news broke that Favre wanted to return to the Packers and the Packers didn't want him.

So the guy who started in 253 consecutive games, with various ailments such as a broken thumb (kind of an important body part for a quarterback), sprained ankles, bumps, bruises and a heavy heart the day after his father died, couldn't return to the team because he would be putting it in a bad position?

Shortly after the trade, I bought a Jets T-shirt. You should have heard my co-workers burst out in laughter when they saw it. Yep, Mr. Green Bay was a turncoat.

Not entirely. It didn't mean I was abandoning the Packers. But the standoff between Favre and the Packers made me question why sports fans are held to a different standard than the front-office types, coaches and players who comprise their favorite teams.