MOORE — In Los Angeles this week, a $578 million school was unveiled to the world. Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools, which will open next month, now goes down as the most expensive public school in American history. Or at least it will be until the next cash-strapped school district tries to one-up it by a few million.
Which is exactly what RFK did to LA’s Edward R. Roybal Learning Center, which was built in 2008 for $377 million. The Visual and Performing Arts High School was opened in 2009 for a paltry $232 million.
But that’s the way we work in this country. We have to outdo the next man year after year until at some point the price tag gets out of hand.
I thought the Minnesota Vikings had reached this point last year in their dealings with star quarterback Brett Favre. When they waited until training camp was over for him to decide he would sign with the NFC North team and then had their head coach Brad Childress pick him up from the airport, most of us thought it couldn’t get any more ridiculous.
We were wrong. The Favre saga not only went to another level, it skyrocketed to another dimension.
It was less than three weeks ago that the football world went crazy with Favre mania after 40-year-old supposedly sent his Viking teammates a text telling them he was retiring. ESPN dedicated nearly an entire day of broadcasting just toward whether he was retiring or not.
However, a day later, Favre announced he had not made up his mind and his return would be determined strictly by how his surgically repaired ankle felt.
Minnesota thought like the rest of us and knew that his ankle had little to do with whether he would suit up again this year. They just hadn’t produced the right amount of incentive. First they added $3 million to his contract to push his salary to $17 million. With another $3 million incentives, Favre could walk away with $20 this year.
But even then, that was enough. While money does seem to be important to Favre, that isn’t what feeds his soul. It’s not what gets him out of bed every day.
Nope, for Favre, its being needed by grown men. Like any narcissistic, he’s fueled entirely by people stroking his ego.
Which leads us to Aug. 18 when the Minnesota Vikings sent three players to Mississippi to beg Favre to come back for another year. Not just any players, they had to send players with the stature of All-Pro Steve Hutchinson, All-Pro Jared Allen and his best friend on the team, Kicker Ryan Longwell.
The trio spent the night at Favre’s house seemingly massaging his ankle and his ego. Because in the morning, Favre hopped on plane bound for Minnesota to join the rest of the team at training camp. I guess it was just a coincidence that two days were over and the season was set to start.
Instead of talking about other NFL teams preparing for the season, the race for the postseason in baseball or college football cranking up, ESPN and other media outlets sent reporters to an airport to wait on Favre to arrive. Then followed his black SUV in helicopters as he cruised to camp.
I don’t understand their fascination with a quarterback who has won one Super Bowl and is the all-time leader in interceptions. Especially when they have a player of the caliber of Andrian Peterson who carried the Vikings before Favre arrived. Yet, when he missed one day of mini camp to attended Adrian Peterson Day in his home town of Palestine, TX., Childress acted as if AD stole his car.
Childress has long lost the respect of many NFL fans, but this latest episode was even more embarrassing.
They say all will be forgotten when the Vikings go on to win the Super Bowl. Which they seem to feel is guaranteed now that Favre is on board.
But to me the bigger question is what is going to happen next year when the Vikings come knocking on Favre’s door. He has already said this is the last season for him. This time it may take a combination of another pay raise, the entire team singing “I need a Hero” and the Vikings owner giving him his own private jet. That should last him one more season.
