It's not me, it's you.

That's the unmistakable message Brett Favre has sent to the Packers. The time to deny it is over. At some point after last year's painful loss in the NFC Championship game, Favre decided in his own mind that he was simply done being a Packer.

The how, the why, the reasons he constructed for it to all make sense only to him.

At least now we know.

All the retirement tears, all the psycho-babble with Greta, all the posturing leading up to training camp with Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy -- we know now.

It was all just a show.

Did he have it planned out exactly? Probably not. I'm sure there was plenty of Favre's patented improvisation in there. But he's finally at the square on the chessboard he wanted to occupy all along.

The Packers door slammed shut. The chance to play for somebody else remains alive.

Why not just ask for a trade?

Because that would have been charged to his football legacy credit card of goodwill. Better to stick Thompson and McCarthy for the tab. Make them look like fools.

I'm Brett Favre. Don't you get it?

Like a lot of athletes, Brett Favre once again confirmed that the fawning adoration of the fans is a one-way street. Packers fans' worship of Favre was always unhealthy, and now I'm sure many of you feel a little bit stupid for erecting shrines to a man who could so casually toss you under his lawn mower just to slip out of town.

Years from now, when your kids are asking "Why did Brett Favre leave the Packers, Daddy?" you'll hummina, hummina trying to find an answer that is vaguely coherent.

"Well son, it's all because Ted Thompson didn't interview Steve Mariucci. Or ... well, something else. I'm not sure, exactly."

What do you do now if you are the Packers?

Trade his ass, that's what. And do it quickly. If you don't get more than a mid-round pick, fine. If you have to send him to the Vikings, go ahead.

The biggest assumption in this whole saga that has gone mostly unchallenged is the notion that Favre will be "plug-n-play" wherever he lands.

Oh, really? In a month? With almost lesser-skilled receivers?

There's an assumption that Favre won't revert to his interception-prone ways of two years ago. Last year's incredible numbers may well have just been a convergence of McCarthy's constant harping on Favre not to wing it all the time and the emergence of Driver, Jennings, et. al.

Since when are Packers fans afraid of the Minnesota Vikings? Other than a season or two of torment with Randy Moss at full power, in what significant games have the Vikings ever broken the Packers hearts?

Let Favre put on his the purple No. 4 jersey. Let Favre cram his way through August with Brad Childress. Let Favre do interviews in Minnesota with every TV station, newspaper, and blogger in sight. Let Favre try to get instant chemistry with Bobby Wade and Bernard Berrian. Hey, at least he'll be familiar with all the things Robert Ferguson can't do.

Then let him roll into Lambeau Field on opening weekend. Retire his Packers jersey in grand fashion, without a trace of bitterness.

Then beat his ass. And don't look back.