With all that he has accomplished, Brett Favre could simply sit back, cash his huge paychecks and let Packers fans continue to worship as they have for a generation.

But, where is the fun in that?

Why just ride the wave when you can challenge and chastise the front office, confuse the fans and conflagrate an entire state?

If you're still recovering from Mother's Day brunch, here is the deal. At his charity golf tournament on Saturday, Favre made some pointed comments to hand-picked members of the media (others were told not to come, not that anyone was dying to cover it after his hurry-up-and-wait-for-nothing act last year) that he was unhappy that the Packers didn't swing a deal for Randy Moss.

"Our offense struggled last season," Favre told Biloxi Sun-Herald reporter Al Jones, expounding on comments made earlier to a Memphis TV station. "If it were not for our defense, we would not have won eight games. Right now, it's hard to be optimistic. I'm not getting any younger, and I think everyone knows that. I don't have five years to rebuild. No one in Green Bay is saying rebuild, but it's hard to look at where we are going and say, 'How can they not be rebuilding?'

"I don't know if I've lost faith, and I think everyone in the organization wants to win. I just don't know if it includes me. If it's going to be five years from now, I'm not going to be here. This is 17 years for me, and I want to win."

Sunday afternoon, FoxSports.com reporter Jay Glazer wrote a story saying that Favre was so upset about the Moss situation that he had his agent, Bus Cook, call the team and demand a trade. Favre apparently then refused to return coach Mike McCarthy's phone calls for a week.

Former Packers tight end Mark Chmura, citing sources close to the situation, had reported Favre's disappointment a week earlier on "The Miller Lite Football Show with Mark Chmura" on Milwaukee's ESPN Radio 1510 Days / 1290 Nights.

This time, the story had "legs."

As is usually the case, the Favre story received heavy TV attention (it is, after all, sweeps month). The news reporters went to various places around the city and asked random people for their random thoughts.

Packers management, which seemed ready to exit the bunker after what was viewed by many as a disappointing draft, slipped immediately into damage control mode. General manager Ted Thompson issued a statement through the team's Web site that said:

"I think it's natural for a player to be frustrated from time to time - that's simply being human, Everyone knows that Brett Favre is all about winning. As an organization, we share that commitment. And we want to win now."

Nowhere in the story that contained the statement did Thompson or anyone from the Packers deny that Favre made the request. Nobody could contact Favre, who makes himself invisible to state media during the off-season. One station spoke by phone to his brother. In the coming days, representatives from the local TV stations tripping over themselves to get to Kiln so they can stand outside local landmarks to file meaningless reports.

At some point in the coming weeks, though probably not at the first minicamp next weekend, Favre will step before the microphones and clarify his feelings and express surprise over the furor he caused. Like Boston pitcher Curt Schilling, Favre has an uncanny ability to drop a tiki torch into a pool of gasoline and then stand back and wonder why the fire trucks are rumbling into the neighborhood.

Favre doesn't want to be traded any more than the Packers want to trade him. They need each other, because Favre can't bring himself to walk away from the game and has no desire to go somewhere else and deal with unbearable hype and the headache of learning a new system. The Packers want him around because most fans adore him, (though that crowd is getting smaller), and they aren't sure they have a viable replacement who gives them a better chance of winning than No. 4.

Where does all this leave us?

Nowhere, really. The Packers still have holes to fill and a tough schedule in front of them. The Favre story will percolate until Favre steps in front of the cameras and clarifies himself. Fans who hate Favre will be enraged.

Fans who love him will continue to do so and fence-sitters will sit back and wait for the next development in the soap opera.

In the meantime, many will follow Favre's advice from last spring, when he was debating his future.
"Enjoy baseball."