Spring Loaded

Enough already about Brett Favre.

And Michael Vick.

Enough with the critics.

Enough with the mockery and the moralizing.

Let them play if they want. Let them both play.

Okay, so Favre should learn to keep his mouth shut while his options are still open.

And yes, Vick was guilty of despicable behavior.

But if Favre, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, wants to go through the pain of shoulder surgery, if necessary, and the inevitable pain resulting from a grueling training camp at age 39, why begrudge him the chance to continue doing what he has long done better than all but a few who have ever played the game?

There’s no question Favre has been guilty of premature press conferences and embarrassing tears. He tends to react emotionally in winter, declaring his career over, only to melt in spring and summer, the siren of training camp proving too difficult to shut off.

And if he had reached the point of embarrassment – see Johnny Unitas with the San Diego Chargers, Joe Namath with the L.A. Rams – I’d be first in a picket line to protest his return.

As a kid, I loved Unitas. Loved what he did as a Baltimore Colt. Loved how he won the greatest game ever played and turned a nation on to pro football.

But I hated his fleeting snaps as a Charger, seeing him throw three touchdown passes and seven interceptions in five games with San Diego at the age of 40. Namath was similarly pitiful in four games with the Rams, (three touchdown passes overshadowed by five interceptions) before calling it a career.

If I was just judging Favre on his last five games with the New York Jets last season, I’d feel the same way. After all, the team went 1-4, Favre throwing nine interceptions counterbalanced by only two touchdown passes.

But, it turned out, Favre had a torn biceps tendon that severely hampered his throwing arm. Before then, he had gotten the Jets off to an 8-3 start.

Was it age or was it injury that caused him to break down?

If the Minnesota Vikings or some other team is willing to sign him to find out, why rob ourselves of the opportunity to watch this daredevil stage more of his trademark performances, scrambling and fighting his way through defenders, sometimes throwing his patented bombs downfield, other times ad-libbing with an off-balance, stumbling shovel pass.

Win or lose, he’s never boring.

Yet to read or hear Favre’s detractors, you would think he has forfeited his right to compete because he had the audacity to announce his retirement.

Alright, so he did it twice, this being the second offseason in a row.

Some day, he’ll mean it, but why hurry that day along?

Get off his back and leave it to the defenders to pile on.

Vick, of course, is a far different story. His best days on the field might still be ahead, but should he be allowed to find out?

Vick has been released from prison after 19 months of incarceration for financing a vicious dog-fighting ring. He still has several months of home confinement ahead in Virginia, but, after that, he’ll have paid his debt to society.

No one can condone what he did, but he has certainly been punished, his crime costing him his job, his fortune and his reputation.

Vick won’t be back with the Atlanta Falcons, who have found an able replacement in Matt Ryan.

If NFL commissioner Roger Goodell lifts Vick’s indefinite suspension and another team signs him, be assured the protesters from animal rights groups will be out in force.

Should Vick, at 29, be denied a chance to return to the NFL? Precedent would argue against that. St. Louis Ram defensive end Leonard Little was allowed back after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in 1998. Little, while legally drunk, caused an auto accident that killed a woman.

That’s a man who should have been suspended for life instead of half a season as he was.

But should all those convicted of a felony be barred for eternity from the NFL?

In Vick’s case, he will undoubtedly miss this upcoming season as well, meaning he will have been suspended for three years. The judicial system has also exacted its punishment. He has done his time.

Let him play.

Let them both play.