It must be that time of year, because Brett Favre has retired once again after failing to reach the Super Bowl.  This is Favre’s third time “retiring” from the NFL.

Favre was originally drafted in 1991 by the Atlanta Falcons.  He was traded to Green Bay for a first round draft pick in 1992.  While in Green Bay, Favre won Super Bowl XXXI and three MVP Awards.  He was a legend there until he announced his retirement after the 2007 season.

However, Favre decided that he wasn’t finished.  He came back to football and was traded by Green Bay to the New York Jets for a fourth round draft pick.  The decision to return was covered almost constantly by ESPN, and I’m sure that everyone got tired of hearing about it, just like I did.

After the 2008 season, Favre decided he was going to retire again.  Once again, however, he decided to come back, this time with Green Bay’s archrival, the Minnesota Vikings.  Favre was repeatedly covered religiously by ESPN, and he was all that was talked about during the week of his return to Green Bay to play against them for the first time with the Vikings.  It was very tiresome hearing all about Favre whenever I wanted to see the highlights of the previous day in sports.

Favre discussed retiring again after the 2009 season, but never officially retired.  In the off season, a scandal broke with Favre being accused of sending “inappropriate pictures” to a woman on the Jets’ training staff.  It now began to seem that Favre had his own segment on ESPN.

This past season, the Vikings finished 6-10, and Favre was nowhere near his goal of reaching the Super Bowl again.  He has decided to retire, but instead of retiring in glory like he did in 2007, he will retire with a tarnished reputation.  Only time will tell if he decides to come back again. But if he does, I’m sure ESPN will cover it with a passion.

Several Ravens players are on the verge of retirement as well.  Ray Lewis, Derrick Mason, and Ed Reed are all considering leaving the game behind.  The question now is whether or not they should stay and try to get to the Super Bowl or just retire now at the top of their game.

Personally, I think Mason will retire.  He’s had a long career, and probably does not see the value in another season.  I believe that Lewis and Reed will retire at the same time.  However, I think that they’ll be mad after getting knocked out of the playoffs by Pittsburgh, and will come back one more year for revenge.

I just hope that they don’t take the Favre route and make everyone listen to their entire life story on ESPN 10 times every day until they finally make a decision.

Brian Reid is a reporter for “The Patriot” and jcpatriot.com