Retired? Yeah right. –

I’ll believe it when Aaron Rodgers is under center for the Packers during Week 1.

The fact is, we’ve all heard this song and dance before. For years now we’ve heard Brett wax poetic about how mentally tired he is, how he just wants Randy Moss, how he’d come back if he knew he’d win a Super Bowl, yada, yada, yada, only for him to take the first snap of the Packers season year after year.

Formally announcing his retirement yesterday, Favre claims he just doesn’t have the get-up-and-go to endure the physical, mental and emotional tolls of another long, long season. That is, unless he was guaranteed a Super Bowl.

I don’t doubt that Brett is tired. After 17 storied seasons in which he’s never missed a game, he’s certainly entitled. But don’t think that his exhaustion is the real reason he’s calling it quits. Not for one second.

You see, Bus Cook, Favre’s agent, told ESPN’s Chris Mortensen that the Packers didn’t exactly try to talk their quarterback out of retirement. Said Cook: “I talked to Brett this morning and I told him, ‘Nobody forced you to make this decision to retire, but the flip side is nobody encouraged you to play.’ ”

For as prolific of a career as Brett has had, which include three Most Valuable Player awards, 61,665 yards, 442 career touchdowns and one Super Bowl ring, Favre is, for all intents and purposes, a fragile baby.

Brett needs his ego stroked. He needs people to need him.

Does anyone really believe that a month from now, three months from now, five months from now, he’ll be at home enjoying life after football and quietly reflect on his career with satisfaction?

He’ll look back at how his last season ended. He’ll think about how he was that close to another Super Bowl. How his final pass was an interception. How he was upstaged by Eli Manning as the Giants celebrated an NFC title on Lambeau Field.

He’ll look at the current crop of NFL QB’s on any given Sunday; the Romos, the Mannings, the Bradys, and he’ll say to himself ,“I can still play with them.”

By his own admission, Favre even left a message on Mortensen’s voicemail proclaiming “I’m tired…but, I mean, I can still play!…”

That doesn’t sound like a man who’s realized he doesn’t have it anymore, it doesn’t sound like someone satisfied with being one of the best to ever play the position, and it certainly doesn’t sound like someone who is ready to hang his cleats.

It just sounds like someone waiting to be needed.