In this fight between the Packers and Brett Favre, I'm paid to be neutral. Report both sides, and despite what certain members of the Packers organization believe, they don't sign my paychecks...so I'm not paid to wave pom-poms for the team. But in the first step in life post-Favre in Green Bay, clearly number four won the battle. First, Favre got a little dig in on the Packers PR spin by using one of their favorite lines. Saying "I'll use one of their terms, moving forward." Favre saying, "I'm not a traitor?" That seemed like a dig at the fact that after things went south, Favre expressed a desire to play for the Vikings. Meanwhile, again the Packers left themselves open for as many questions as answers. Packers President Mark Murphy admitted that he would have done things differently after he went to Mississippi and offered Favre the $20 million marketing agreement, which looked clumsy at the least and a bribe at the worst to stay retired. Ted Thompson appeared genuine when saying he didn't want to be known as the guy who traded Brett Favre, honestly shared that he didn't want to sign the trade papers and that he has no fear about Favre playing well and making this whole mess appear worse, even wishing Favre well...but then followed it up with some spin about how things could have been worked out, even though everyone knew that wasn't possible. And after Mike McCarthy said all offseason that Aaron Rodgers was the starter, and Aaron Rodgers said he was told he's the starter, for the first time McCarthy admitted that he, Thompson and Murphy agreed to let there be an open competition. Only one problem....it never happened. It still seems strange that when you want to put the best team possible on the field, you don't allow competition for the most important position on the field. Score the first victory for Favre. Emails at lallan@todaystmj4.com