We (read: I) speculated a few weeks ago that news of a marriage between Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings would break in the late afternoon of Friday, July 3, which would be the ideal time to drop a bombshell with the smallest possible media reaction. (Given that another fairly significant bombshell has been dropped in the late afternoon of Friday, July 3, the media reaction to a Favre announcement might have been even smaller.)
The fact that we (read: I) were under the impression that single-game tickets went on sale July 9 only fueled our (read: my) belief.
But our latest arrival, Tom Curran, learned on Thursday, single-game tickets actually go on sale July 20. And this means that the announcement likely will come closer in time to the date on which Vikings fans will be able to ensure that the entire slate of 2009 games will be sold out, a proposition that was hardly a no-brainer a year ago, especially in the postseason.
Then again, it might be impossible to determine Favre’s intentions with any degree of certainty. As Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune correctly observes, "[I]f Favre has proven to be predictable in one area, it’s that he’s completely unpredictable. Thus, trying to guess the date of Favre’s announcement that he’s coming back -- or the potential surprise that he’s not going to return -- is nearly impossible.”
But that won’t stop us from trying. Our new target date is Thursday, July 16 for the word to break, and Friday, July 17 for the announcement and press conference.
Then again, July 3 isn’t over yet.