If you were a betting man, how much would you put on Brett Favre staying retired?

Exactly.

So that’s why his announcement that he wouldn’t be returning for a 20^th season on Tuesday was met with a collective “meh”, except in ESPN’s head-office where there was a collective Favre-gasm.

“Spark up the camera’s boys – time to go live to Vikingland 24/7!”

The guy who just doesn’t know how to quit quit yet again texting his now ex-teammates, “This is it.”

He wants us to believe that it’s a done deal. Time to move on. Nothing to see here. Except when it comes to Favre, lately, nothing is as it appears to be. This is the third retirement for Favre, who also retired after 16 seasons with the Green Bay Packers after the 2007 season and one season with the New York Jets after the 2008 season.

Now the countdown is on ‘till he announces there will be a fourth. Or in other words, Brett Favre to “retire.” And by “retire,” he means “play football.”

Remember the Favre-a-thon from last year? He told the Vikings he was not going to play shortly before camp opened. But that didn’t last long – he changed his mind a few weeks later. What happened then was nothing short of amazing. With less than three weeks to get ready, he went on to record one of the best seasons of his career throwing for over 4,200 yards with 33 touchdowns (and just seven interceptions) leading the Vikings to a 12-4 record, the NFC North title and their first NFC title game since 2001.

This year all football eyes, especially at ESPN, have been on Hattiesburg, Miss., where Favre’s been rehabbing a surgically repaired ankle that was injured in Minnesota’s overtime loss to the New Orleans Saints in that NFC title game.

He waited until May to have that operation, so he wouldn’t have been ready to go when camps opened regardless. A few weeks back Vikings head coach Brad Childress mosied on down to see what was what with his starting QB and only reported the rehab was on schedule.

Except, apparently it was not. Sighting his 40-year old body and that wonky ankle, Favre sent the message that he’s not coming back this time, the same message he’s sent every year prior to training camp since 2006 by the way.

Childress isn’t buying it – yet. “I’m not a hearsay person,” he said. “I’m a horse-say person. I got to hear it from the horse’s mouth.” And even then with Favre, you have to wait a bit more.

It’s weird, considering what he’s done on the field that this endless indecision off the field is turning into his legacy.

Already considered one of greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, he holds numerous NFL records, including most career touchdown passes, most career passing yards, most career pass completions and most career victories as a starting quarterback.

But what’s most astounding about the guy is his consistency and his durability. Dating back to Sept. 27th, 1992, he’s started 285 consecutive games during the regular season. To put that into perspective, Payton Manning is the only other active quarterback who has more than 100 consecutive starts.

Now he’s saying his body is broken down and he can’t give it another year – which is, of course, nonsense.

He’s going to play. This year.

The Vikings know it, as there are reports that they are willing to increase his $13-million per salary.

The fans know it as they’ve been through all this before – time and time again.

And the media knows it for the same reason.

The only one who doesn’t know its Favre. For whatever reason, one of the quickest thinking on-the-field generals is completely in the weeds when he’s away from it.

He’ll have to be talked into playing again. He’ll need that Sally Field, “they really, really like me” moment to convince himself that he is sufficiently wanted to return to play the game that he loves (for a few dollars more.)

We can only hope that when he does, he’ll do it LIVE on ESPN.

“The Decision II – Now he’s Serious”

Cheers – Gavin McDougald – AKA Couch