Welcome to Saturday Scorecard, where we cheerfully remind you to stock up on aspirin now because there are only four weeks left until the Brewers home opener hangover.

So... did anything important happen this week?

Just kidding. On to the notes.

Fitting ending: In some ways, Brett Favre's retirement press conference Thursday at Lambeau Field resembled many of his more memorable plays as quarterback of the Packers. It was unscripted. It was emotional. It was gutsy. He didn't appear to hold anything back. And, he managed to salvage a shaky situation and create something special.

It was partially his fault, of course, but Favre's first few hours of retirement were anything but graceful. Shortly after the news leaked through Fox Sports reporter Jay Glazer and onto the pothole-pocked information superhighway, rumors circulated that Favre was upset by the Packers' failure to pursue free agent wide receiver Randy Moss and felt the team hadn't made enough of an effort to coax him into returning for another season.

The fact that these rumors came from Favre's agent, Bus Cook, and brother, Scott - coupled with his absence from the initial "official" press conference with general manager Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy -- served to fan the flames. Favre doused them early in his opening statement.

As he fought tears during his remarks, you began to sense that outside forces -- whether plausible (relationship with the front office) or preposterous (the Moss aspect) -- had nothing to do with his decision to ride his tractor into the sunset.

It's easy to forget, given the way Favre played last season, that he agonized about whether to come back in 2007, just as he apparently had in 2006 and some years prior. Though he was in the spotlight for about 70 minutes, speaking emotionally and eloquently, Favre summed up his decision in a single paragraph:

"I've given everything I possibly can give to this organization, to the game of football, and I don't think I've got anything left to give, and that's it. I know I can play, but I don't think I want to."

Conspiracy theorists can scour the grassy knoll for more clues, but odds are strong that the search will come up empty. Brett Favre was the most determined, competitive, driven athlete of his generation. If he wanted to keep playing, he wouldn't have retired. After much soul searching, he discovered that the only thing stronger than his drive to keep playing was his aversion to playing at a substandard level that would diminish the legacy of his immense talents and enormous accomplishments.

The same football intuition, instilled from being a coach's son and honed to a level that will take him to the Hall of Fame, told him it was time to leave the stage.

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