Dan Patrick only MSM member not on Favre's side?

I don't watch enough TV and listen to enough radio, but it seems like Dan Patrick is the lone member of the mainstream media to rip Brett Favre for sharing information with the Detroit Lions. A few sort of questioned Favre's action, but most (Peter King, Mike Golic, etc.) wanted to sweep this under the rug.

And when I say mainstream media, I guess I mean the big dawgs in the business. I am sure some of the local newspaper/radio/TV guys in New York, Detroit and Green Bay, didn't ride to Favre's rescue. Heck, they were the ones asking Favre the tough questions during his press conference.

Anyway, this leads me to Dan Patrick, who actually ripped Favre on his radio program Thursday. Here are Patrick's words, after he was told he was getting mail from listeners who were saying he was a Favre hater as well as a Favre apologist:

How did I become a Favre apologist? I don't hate Brett Favre. But I don't think he is being totally honest here that it was total B.S. that he contacted the Lions. "Okay, I did contact the Lions. Okay, I didn't tell them anything. All right, we only talked for a couple minutes. Okay?" It's wrong if there was any conversation about the Packers and anything to do with the game plan. So for the NFL players, former NFL players, analysts, apologists, who keep saying, "There's nothing wrong with this. That is happens all the time." Please don't take the broad brush to this. It is Favre, Packers, Lions. You don't play for the Lions. If you played for the Lions and you told them every play in the playbook, I don't have a problem with that. But don't make it seem like guys do this all the time. This is Favre, Green Bay and the Lions. That doesn't happen. We will never get to the true core of this, but I believe Jay Glazer is telling the truth when he says this is how it came out. If you heard Glazer on the show, he said, "I am a million percent positive on this."

By the way, if you go to Patrick's web site, there's a photo of him with Favre at last year's Sports Illustrated ceremony to award Favre as the magazine's Sportsmen of the Year.

ESPN airs Favre's denial, story now over

For a couple days, ESPN ignored the Brett Favre story of him possibly sharing information with the Detroit Lions. Yesterday, ESPN aired clips of Favre denying that he shared info with Lions GM Matt Millen. "Outside the Lines" did a nice job questioning the possibly of Favre doing so. Other then that, ESPN still doesn't seem eager to tackle this topic.

ESPN-Gate: Jay Glazer ticked over ESPN memo

The release of the ESPN memo, telling their folks not to report what Jay Glazer was reporting over at Fox, has Glazer ticked with the network. The ESPN memo had the headline: "DO NOT REPORT . . . DO NOT REPORT . . . . DO NOT REPORT . . . DO NOT REPORT.” Pro Football Talk reports (under the headline "GLAZER GOES ON THE WARPATH"):

Among other things, Glazer called ESPN’s attempt to question the accuracy of his story “kind of garbage,” and he said that he has no problem putting his record against ESPN’s.

“Don’t make it personal with me,” Glazer said. “I’ll make it personal with you.”

For starters, Glazer suggested that a score sheet should be kept between his reports and those from ESPN.

“I’ve got no problem going record for record,” Glazer said. “In fact I’d like to do that.”

This Glazer vs. ESPN story (with Peter King tossed in for good measure) is better than the Favre-Lions debacle.

Former Favre teammate: More stories on Favre due

Former Green Bay Packers safety LeRoy Butler sort of defended Brett Favre in a interview on Sportsradio 1250 WSSP in Milwaukee. But then he said there are “other stories that are going to come out” about Favre. Here's a report from the Green Bay Press Gazette:

(Jay) Glazer, in an interview with Sportsradio 1250 WSSP in Milwaukee, said he stood by his story “1,000 percent.” On the same radio station, former Packers safety LeRoy Butler said he doesn’t believe Favre initiated the conversation with the Lions.

“Brett didn’t do a whole lot of calling around,” Butler told WSSP. “People called him, and he loves to talk and the phone was passed around.”

Butler also said there are “other stories that are going to come out” about Favre.

“This is just the beginning,” Butler said. “This is only the smallest one.”

Charles Woodson stands by his comments on Favre

After Sunday's game, Green Bay Packers cornerback Charles Woodson said the following about Brett Favre's alleged involvement in aiding the Detroit Lions: “He contacted them? I don’t respect that. If they called him and he gives them information, that’s one thing. But to seek a team out, because you know I guess you’re trying to sabotage this team, you know I don’t respect that. I know he’s been the greatest player around here for a long time but there’s no honor in that.” After a couple days to think about what he said, he stands by his words about Favre. Pro Football Talk writes:

Woodson stopped a couple of reporters and asked them whether they believe the report that Favre helped the Lions. When the reporters told Woodson they believed the story, Woodson said, “OK, then I stand 100 percent behind my words.”

ESPN-Gate: ESPN explains decision not to report on Favre

Pro Football Talk finally got a response from ESPN on the lack of reporting on Brett Favre sharing information about the Green Bay Packers with the Detroit Lions. In a statement, ESPN spokesman Josh Krulewitz, said:

“Like all reports that come in, we gave careful consideration to this one. We couldn’t confirm it. It’s obviously a judgment call. Given the nature of the story, we needed to bring a lot of sensitivity to our reporting and do what we felt was the most responsible thing.”

ESPN-Gate: ESPN still out to lunch on Brett Favre story

ESPN is only media outlet not reporting Brett Favre story that he shared information with the Detroit Lions about the Green Bay Packers earlier this season when the two teams played. Jay Glazer said on the Jim Rome Show that he is "1,000" percent sure of his story. Here's The Sporting News' report:

After FoxSports reported on Monday that Brett Favre spent more than an hour debriefing the Lions coaching staff about the Packers' offensive strategies, nearly every sports news outlet in America picked up the story -- except ESPN.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel questioned the conspicuous absence of the story on ESPN early Tuesday. Mike Florio, a Sporting News contributor, received an internal memo from ESPN that instructs editors to steer clear of the Favre-Lions story.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel posted some of Glazer's comments on the Rome show, including this one:

Matt (Millen) was trying to get him to go hunting, Matt has a house down in Pennsylvania and Brett's up there in New Jersey, so Brett just happened to call back the week that they were playing the Green Bay Packers. Maybe it was coincidence, maybe whatever it is. Brett said, 'By the way, who are playing this week?-type of thing.' (Favre said) 'Oh, you are? You guys want any tips?' And then Matt hooked him up with the coaching staff and Brett...When Brett talks, he doesn't do anything in snippets. Brett talks...I've always said he's my absolutely my favorite person to ever sit down with in production meetings where I had done games at Fox because it's the world according to Brett and it's phenomenal. You sit in there and he just goes. That's what he did with the Lions' coaching staff.

Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times filed a story with the headline "Brett Favre's denial about tipping Lions rings hollow." Farmer wrote:

Favre wasn't asked about the report after Sunday's loss at Oakland, but before the game he text-messaged NBC's Peter King and flatly denied it.

Big surprise. I heard the same kind of adamant denial last spring, a month after Favre's tearful retirement, when I wrote that Favre's agent was poking around the league to see whether any teams were interested in trading for the future Hall of Famer.

Here's the Chicago Tribune's NFL writer Dan Pompei on Jay Glazer's reputation:

The man who broke the Favre story, Jay Glazer of Fox, is not a shoot-from-the-hip kind of reporter. He does not swing and miss very often, and he does not play fast and loose with the facts. In fact, people have told me they had heard rumors after the Packers-Lions game about Favre trying to prep the Lions.

The New York Post writes:

(The Glazer report on Favre) leaves one wondering why a network that beat us over the head with wall-to-wall coverage of Favre's fallout with the Packers and subsequent signing with the Jets would stay mum on this issue.

The New York Times' web blog "The Fifth Down" is even writing about it. How will Peter King, Favre's favorite in the media, respond? And will ESPN actually report this stuff?
(Updated at 10:00 p.m. 10-21-08)

Peter King: Jay Glazer should have gotten Brett Favre's comment

Peter King, Brett Favre's favorite in the media, didn't disagree with the accuracy of Jay Glazer's report that Brett Favre may have shared information about the Packers with the Detroit Lions. But King did say Glazer should have called Favre for a comment before running with the story. King said Glazer told him that if he called Favre, Glazer was worried he would feed the story to someone else in hopes for a better spin for Favre. Wonder who Favre would have peddled the story to? Hmmmm. Here's Peter King's comments on the Dan Patrick radio show Monday:

"I was texting with Glazer last night. I know Jay, and I was of the opinion that I thought on something this serious that Jay should have called Favre and gotten his reaction. And at least gotten the denial. I think journalistically, that's what you have to do. Jay's feeling was that if he did it, that Favre would have shared the story with somebody. So he would have got beat on his own story. And I kind of understand that. But ... the story is in essence going to ruin Favre's reputation. It will be as hurtful as anything, in my opinion, that has ever happened to him since he has walked into the NFL. And that includes going to rehab."

I love the line "that Favre would have shared the story with somebody." I wonder if Glazer thought that "somebody" was King?

Pro Football Talk reports: ESPN issued internal “DO NOT REPORT” warning on Favre story.

Awful Announcing also shares his thoughts on ESPN's avoidance of the Favre story.

Did Brett Favre trade secrets about Packers with Lions?

There are so many storylines to this latest installment of the Brett Favre Saga. The New York Jets Diva is reported to have shares Green Bay Packers secrets with the Detroit Lions before the two teams met. Jay Glazer of Fox Sports reports:

"Brett Favre called the Detroit Lions, starting off with Matt Millen and then the coaching staff, and gave them a 90-minute dissertation on every single thing that the Green Bay Packers do on offense."

Favre, in a text message to his man-friend/PR person/SI NFL beat writer Peter King, said, "total bs ... not true and pretty ridiculous. I'm telling you it's not true. What the hell is their [Fox's] problem?"

I guess Favre has problem with Fox.

Charles Woodson, Favre's former teammate with the Packers, said: "He contacted them? I don't respect that. If they call him and he gives them information, that's one thing. But to seek a team out and to feel like you're trying to sabotage this team, I don't respect that. I know he's been the greatest player around here for a long time, but there's no honor in that."

King apparently isn't sold on the info reported by Fox. He writes, "I think if the Fox report on Brett Favre is correct about him advising the Detroit Lions with tips on how to beat the Green Bay Packers, his reputation will be irrevocably tarnished in Wisconsin." IF???? King says IF so he can remain FRIENDS with Favre. First, he probably knows it is true. Second, if he doesn't believe the report, then he is saying Glazer is WRONG. Then, I love how King says he had tarnished his reputation in Wisconsin. Wisconsin?!?!??! How about the rest of the country? If this was Terrell Owens, King would not even be saying "IF" this report is correct. He would have already accepted it as fact.

People -- like King -- talk about Chad Johnson and Terrell Owens, but Brett Favre is the biggest Diva in the league. Favre is high-maintenance all the way.

ESPN.com's Bill Williamson: "Favre looked old"

ESPN.com's Bill Williamson is saying New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre looked old. Someone please page Peter King. We need to hear the other side of this story. Here's what Williamson wrote following the Jets' embarrassing loss to the Oakland Raiders in overtime:

Brett Favre looked old: You kept waiting for Favre to make a big play and win the game. It never happened. He had his moments, but Favre was not special. Not even close. He was horribly stagnant in overtime as he completed one of four passes during three uneventful drives. He threw two bad interceptions, including one at the Oakland goal line. Favre, 39, completed 21-of-38 for 197 yards. He rarely threw deep.

"I don't think that was ever the plan," said Oakland cornerback DeAngelo Hall, who intercepted Favre once. "They dinked and dunked."

After the game, Favre was down. He said the game was one of the toughest he ever had to endure. I remember his last game as a Green Bay Packer, in the NFC title game against the Giants in which his final pass was an interception, as tougher.