GREEN BAY, Wis. — Vince Lombardi himself could not have arisen to deliver a more perfect Tuesday morning. The sun was shining, but not too harshly, on Ray Nitschke Field. Seventy degrees, trifling humidity, a soft breeze and bodies flying around the practice pitch.

It was about the time — when all those ringer-silenced cell phones started making sideline noise — that you asked yourself, “What can possibly go weird on a day like this?”
Then came word from Minnesota:
The Ego has landed.
That’s one small misstep for the Vikings, yet another giant leap into silliness for everyone else.
“We’ve all been down this road before,” Charles Woodson said from inside the Green Bay locker room.
So many times, in fact, that the rolled-over odometer has finally revealed the truth:
The Vikings — they of the Onterrio Smith Whizzinator, the Lake Minnetonka Love Boat, the four failed Super Bowls and that pup tent of a stadium they play in — and Brett Farce, uh, Favre deserve each other. A match made in Mankato, don’t you think?
If there isn’t a Waffle House in the Twin Cities, our man Brett is missing out on Tiger-type endorsement money.
Let’s see . . . Another private plane, another SUV to greet the royal party, but this time Vikings fans actually chased the thing like it was the Beatles at JFK all over again. Don’t these people know what they’re getting themselves into?
The head coach chauffeuring the truck was subservient enough, but how much more are the Vikings willing to kowtow to Favre before their logo is replaced with His Likeness atop Winter Park?
@Tab0: Yes, sir, Mr. Favre, you want to wait until we’ve moved out of those ratty college dorms so you may skip tr


fall-on-their-horn realization that Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson would’ve thrown half the interceptions for 1/6th the coin.
As evident from the tenor of Woodson’s thought, the Packers put on their nonchalant faces between practices.
“To be honest, I don’t really care who he plays for, the Minnesota Vikings or the Alaska Huskies,” Nick Barnett said. “If he wants to play football, let him play football. I don’t care if (Brad) Childress comes out there and plays quarterback.”
And you’re absolutely right, Nick, except that Favre’s primary motivation clearly is not playing football, but sticking it to the Packers and thereby enraging the locals with his association with Provolone Enemy No. 1. And this is the NFC North, not the Iditarod.
Al Harris mentioned that he was happy that Favre would be able to continue to take care of his family, at least until someone reminded Harris about the size of Favre’s house.
Of course, the Packers could shield themselves behind the absolute defense that they’re getting ready for Buffalo, blah, blah, and Chicago, blah, blah. But come the first Monday night in October, when the big-top element will overwhelm anything to do with football, it will occur to these guys that they might get a free shot at a QB they couldn’t touch all those years.
“The red jersey will be off,” Aaron Kampman said.
So, yes, bring it on.