Doing the happy dance

Well, this officially gets the weekend off to a dandy start:


GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - Brett Favre will return for his 17th NFL season, undeterred by his injuries and hoping to lead the Green Bay Packers back to the playoffs.

"I am so excited about coming back," the 37-year-old quarterback said Friday on website of the Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss. "We have a good nucleus of young players. We were 8-8 last year, and that's encouraging. "My offensive line looks good, the defence played good down the stretch. I'm excited about playing for a talented young football team." The team had no immediate comment on the report.

As he has done in the past several off-seasons, Favre returned to his home in Mississippi after the season to deliberate about his future. Last year, Favre waited until late April to tell the team he was returning.

The league's only three-time MVP, Favre, left the field in an emotional scene in Chicago after leading the Packers to a victory over the Bears to finish the season 8-8.

Favre has started 257 consecutive games including the playoffs, an NFL record for quarterbacks. He broke Dan Marino's record for career completions (4,967) in 2006 and is closing in on Marino's marks for career touchdown passes (420) and yards passing (61,361).

Favre complained about nagging injuries and the drudgery of practice toward the end of last season, then choked back tears as he talked about missing the game and missing his teammates in a television interview immediately after the regular-season finale in Chicago - leading many to believe he intended to retire.

Apparently, he couldn't resist one more chance to try to lead the Packers back to the playoffs after the Packers won their final four games and was in playoff contention until the final weekend of the regular season.

Favre has led the Packers to 10 post-season appearances, six division titles, three NFC Championship games, two Super Bowls and one championship following the 1996 season. Favre, traded to Green Bay after one season as a backup in Atlanta in 1991, has had just one losing season in his career.