By Drew Olson Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Mar 01, 2008 at 5:27 AM

Welcome to Saturday Scorecard. It's the first day of March, so we'll be in like a lion and out like a lamb, all in about 7 minutes. (If you're reading this before noon, it'll give you time to try to procure a ticket to the Marquette-Georgetown game).

The Neverending Story: Raise your hand if you're tired of the Brett Favre retirement story.

Just as we thought ... it's unanimous.

The sixth annual "will or won't he" feeding frenzy took a turn toward the absurd this week when the Packers official Web site posted a story -- albeit only for a few minutes -- that Favre was going to retire.

The story, which included some "dummy" type, was quickly removed from the site and retracted by the team.

Most reasonable people, including Packers team president Mark Murphy, look at the way Favre and the Packers played last season, consider the fact that he is due to make about $12 million and come to the conclusion that Favre will return.

If he announces his retirement in the next week, it's going to be difficult to believe that the Web site snafu was an honest mistake.

We're not exactly sure what's going to happen (though we think Favre is going to return), but here is what we'd LIKE to see happen:

Favre steps to the podium (or issues a statement through Al Jones of the Biloxi Sun-Herald) and says that he is coming back to play one final season. The farewell tour would end all the mental gymnastics he goes through and allow him to smell the roses throughout his final year and walk away no matter how the team fares in 2008. It would also let the Packers implement a plan of succession.

Will that happen? As the philosopher Jagger once said, "You can't always get what you want."

Presidential address: Watching Murphy hold court at the Milwaukee Press Club Newsmakers Luncheon a few days ago, it was easy to see why he was tabbed to replace Bob Harlan.

Murphy came across as intelligent, articulate, honest and very comfortable in the public setting (his background as a lawyer and former radio guy obviously helped prepare him for Packers questions).

Most new presidents take over sinking ships. The Packers don't need a major overhaul, so Murphy can focus on league matters. As a former player and former assistant executive director of the NFL Players Association, he has a unique perspective about what some feel is a looming labor crisis.

"There's a level, a sense that the (current collective bargaining) agreement is costing the clubs a lot more than they would like, more than the previous agreements have cost them, but I think it's all part of negotiation," he said.

The General: Did you hear that Bob Knight is going to do studio work for ESPN during the NCAA Tournament? Doesn't that make you think that some people in a very warm plays waaaay down south are wearing parkas today?

Captain Courageous: Wave forward Michael King announced Thursday that he will retire at the end of the season, a move that will rob the city of one its iconic sports figures. King, the Wave's all-time leading scorer, is wrapping up his 15th season with the team.

"The decision was made a few weeks ago," King said. "The last three or four weeks, I don't think I've had a confrontation with anybody on the field. I'm just enjoying every moment I have before it does come to and end, which hopefully will be April 26."

That is the date of the MISL championship game, which will be played in Milwaukee whether the Wave is involved or not.

"We'd like nothing more than to watch Michael run around with that (championship) trophy," Wave coach Keith Tozer said.

Hours before the press conference announcing King's decision, Tozer was reading a newspaper story about the veteran in a local coffee shop and had to step out so that people wouldn't see him with tears in his eyes.

"I sat there and reflected on what Michael King meant to me," Tozer said. "He's old school as I am, he's not only been a great player on the field he's taught me so much off the field how to be a gentleman and how to be a professional ... guys like him only come around every so often."

King, a native of London, isn't sure what he'll do when his playing days end. But, he knows where he'll be.

"Milwaukee is my home; I do plan on staying here," he said. "I have children in school and my wife works in town. I consider Milwaukee my home."

Senior salutes: UW-Milwaukee closes out the regular season with a game tonight against Illinois-Chicago. Despite early-season adversity and an injury to Marcus Skinner, the Panthers clinched a home game in the Horizon League tournament.

Tonight, seniors Paige Paulsen, Allan Hanson and Skinner will be honored. That group, along their younger teammates, has been through a lot this season and deserves recognition and admiration for perseverance.

Wednesday night in Madison, the Badgers will pay tribute to Tanner Bronson, Brian Butch, Michael Flowers and Greg Stiemsma at the home finale against Penn State.

Stingy squad: The Badgers committed just one turnover during a victory over Michigan State Thursday night at the Kohl Center. That matched the lowest total since Southern University played a miscue-free game against Grambling on March 6, 2001.

Throwing heat: Former big-league pitcher (and one-time Brewers pitching coach) Dave Stewart had an interesting reaction to Roger Clemens' performance on Capitol Hill.

"He threw everybody under the bus. Everybody's dirty but Roger," Stewart told the San Francisco Chronicle, referring to the hearing. "Baseball has something to do with that, too. Baseball let him get away with crap so long. When he threw the bat at (Mike) Piazza in the (2000) World Series, that should've been punishable by a suspension, and nothing happened.

"Now we see Roger actually buying what he's saying. He has dealt with an unrealistic situation so long and has a hard time thinking he really did anything wrong. He could probably pass a lie-detector test."

It's hard to disagree with Stewart on that one.

Drew Olson Special to OnMilwaukee.com

Host of “The Drew Olson Show,” which airs 1-3 p.m. weekdays on The Big 902. Sidekick on “The Mike Heller Show,” airing weekdays on The Big 920 and a statewide network including stations in Madison, Appleton and Wausau. Co-author of Bill Schroeder’s “If These Walls Could Talk: Milwaukee Brewers” on Triumph Books. Co-host of “Big 12 Sports Saturday,” which airs Saturdays during football season on WISN-12. Former senior editor at OnMilwaukee.com. Former reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.