Favre says he's considering playing again
Football Betting Lines
06/15/2009 - New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Making his first public appearance since retiring from the New York Jets, Brett Favre said Monday night he's considering playing again, this time for the Minnesota Vikings.
Favre spoke on the new HBO show "Joe Buck Live" and said he had surgery 2 1/2 weeks ago on his throwing arm, but indicated his status on returning hinges on how the arm heals. He said Dr. James Andrews told him it would be 4-to-5 weeks before knowing if the surgery was successful.
"If it's not up to par when the time comes, then you can't play," said Favre, who also noted he's throwing the football now.
Favre said he met with a Vikings trainer on Sunday to work on different exercises.
"It makes a lot of sense because the pieces are in place," Favre said of possibly playing for the Vikings. "They do have a great running back (Adrian Peterson), a great running game. If I go there, there are no guarantees. We all know that. I went through that last year with New York."
Favre played for the New York Jets last season, but was hampered by a torn biceps tendon. He then announced his retirement, for a second straight season and was then granted his release by the Jets.
Quarterbacks Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels are battling for the Vikings starting job, but that was before Favre entered the picture.
The three-time MVP ended a very brief retirement in the summer of 2008 and was traded by Green Bay to the Jets, helping them to an 8-3 start last season. But Favre and the team stumbled over the final five games, as the Jets finished the campaign with just one win to conclude the season at 9-7, missing the playoffs.
The Jets selected USC quarterback Mark Sanchez with the fifth overall selection in the NFL Draft and subsequently released Favre, who reportedly wanted to become a Viking before the Packers traded him to the Jets last offseason.
Favre spent 18 seasons in the NFL and starred for 16 years with the Packers, who acquired him from Atlanta before the 1992 season. He threw four passes in two games with the Falcons, who had selected the Southern Mississippi product in the second round of the 1991 NFL Draft.
The ultimate gunslinger, Favre was a seven-time All-Pro and was selected to 10 Pro Bowls, including this past season with New York. He left the game as the NFL's all-time record holder in several categories, including wins by a starting quarterback, passing yards, touchdowns, interceptions and consecutive games started.
Favre completed 61.6 percent of his passes for 65,127 yards with 464 touchdowns and 310 interceptions. He led the Packers to a pair of Super Bowls, winning his lone title after the 1996 season in a 35-21 victory over New England. The Packers lost to Denver in the Super Bowl the following season.
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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting
So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.
Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?
If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)
Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).
In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.
Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.
| The Bubble Breakdown | |||
| CONFERENCE | LOCKS | SHOULD BE INS | AT-LARGES TAKEN (assuming no auto bid outlier) |
| ACC Betting Odds | 6 | 0 | 5 |
| Big East Betting Odds | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Big Ten Betting Odds | 2 | 2 | 3 |
| Big 12 Betting Odds | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Pac-10 Betting Odds | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| SEC Betting Odds | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| MVC Betting Odds | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| MWC Betting Odds | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 28 | 5 | 25 |
As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.
(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)
If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.
Atlantic Coast Conference
Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech
The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.
Work left to do:
Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.
Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).
Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.
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