The View From Wisconsin

Let's get something completely and totally straight:

BRETT FAVRE IS NOT COMING BACK TO THE GREEN BAY PACKERS.

The Packers as an organization are not dumb. They aren't going to be held hostage by the wishful thinking of a few close compatriots and hangers-on of the former quarterback. Brett told them he was retiring, and that's what they've done their planning for 2008 believing was the case.

If Brett wants to do a Namath/Unitas/Montana routine and try to come back with another team (hello, Atlanta?) - hey, more power to him.

But no, the first snap under center of the regular season for the Pack will be done with Aaron Rogers - not with Favre.

On to other things:

• Who'da thunkit that the Yankees and Red Sox would be playing on the Fourth of July - and neither one would be in first place? If you'd have told anyone - ANYONE - that the Tampa Bay Rays would be in first place in the AL East on July 4, you'd have been laughed off to the insane asylum.
• Lance Berkman is having one of those years for the Astros. He's on a projected pace to for a Standardized Runs total of 174.76. That'd put him in the top 70 all-time single season totals, and in the top 50 among players since 1901. Any time you're doing something that only 50 players have done over 100 years' time, you're doing something special.
  
• Disturbing thought of the week: Back in 2003, Amy Grant released her 19th album, entitled Simple Things. It was her first major release after remarrying Vince Gill, and was pretty much panned as a commercial success. However, it's a small note about one of the songs that makes the list this week: on the song "Eye To Eye", Amy's vocals are "echoed" by a techno-style warble, in the style of Cher's "Life After Love". The vocals aren't hers, though; they're that of an aspiring young gospel music singer named Katy Hudson. She had just released her own self-titled album back in 2001 (where it got lost, a month after the September 11 attacks), and she was singing backup on this song. You'll notice in that Amazon link that some customers suggest another album - One of the Boys, by Katy Perry.
  
  Guess what? The two are one and the same.
  
  (pause) Think about that for a moment... then vow to put away the cherry Chapstick.