Favre Trade Fuels Jersey Sales Records, Creates Big Buzz In N.Y.

Favre's Jets Jersey Setting Sales Records Online

Reebok Selling Jets T-Shirts Feature Favre On Web Site

TRADING UP: Donruss in its Playoff Absolute Memorabilia product, set to hit stores next month, will include a trading card featuring a photo of Favre holding up his No. 4 Jets jersey at Thursday's press conference. The card will be exclusively available in retail boxes, which have already been packed and are ready for distribution. Favre's card will replace the one for Jets QB Kellen Clemens (Donruss).

Estimated Crowd Of 10,500 Attend Favre's First Jets Practice Saturday

TOO INVOLVED? In K.C., Jason Whitlock wrote, "No one thinks it's odd that arguably the NFL's No. 1 TV draw will spend his final year or two in New York? This deal isn't conveniently good for the NFL? ... I can't figure out how [NFL Commissioner] Roger Goodell is skating on this issue. He's obviously the Brett Favre of sports commissioners." NBA Commissioner David Stern, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman "routinely get pounded by the media" (K.C. STAR, 8/10). In N.Y., Rich Cimini wrote during Favre trade talks, Johnson, a "background owner for most of his eight seasons, stepped out of character and got more involved than most people think." Johnson paid $630M to acquire the Jets in '00, and "he has the right to ask, 'Why aren't we in the Favre mix.'" Cimini wrote from a "business standpoint, it's easy to see why Johnson wanted Favre," as he "immediately improves his name brand" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 8/10).

HOLE IN THE COVERAGE? NEWSDAY's Best in a separate piece wrote ESPN's coverage of the Favre saga last week was a "remarkable stretch," and ESPN Senior VP & Dir of News Vince Doria "was aware of the charges of ESPN overkill." But Doria said, "It's easy to sit back and laugh about it, but at some point you have to accept what it is and try to keep people as informed as we can, even if the information is incremental." Best: "So was ESPN at fault? Yes and no. It is not fair to expect the network to show the restraint of channels not devoted to sports, and it's not fair to assume everyone watches everything." The "biggest problem with the blanket coverage by ESPN was not the tonnage per se, but the fact that filling that much time with that many journalists inevitably leads to confusing, at times conflicting, information in the fog of bore." Fox Sports' Jay Glazer, who broke the news of the Favre trade, said of the overall coverage of Favre last week, "Last year, we all covered Michael Vick perfectly; I think it was terrible how this was covered. So much misinformation was reported as information, and it drove me crazy" (NEWSDAY, 8/10).

Print This Article