Reusse Thinks Favre-to-Vikings is a Done Deal

The venerable Patrick Reusse is convinced that Brett Favre will be coming to the Vikings.  In his mind, the Percy Harvin drafting indicates a desperation on Minnesota’s part to recapture the offensive sizzle – and enthusiasm among season ticket buyers – that has been lost since Randy Moss was traded away.  And the natural way to increase that sizzle even more would be, well, #4 in purple:

"Brad Childress appears satisfied to arrive in Mankato with Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson competing to start at quarterback. He probably figures bringing in Percy Harvin, by acclamation the No. 1 pain in the posterior in last weekend’s draft, will provide enough tension for a head coach.Heck, Childress might even tell Darrell Bevell, an alleged buddy of Favre’s, to not answer when the offensive coordinator gets the inevitable call from Mississippi.None of these things will matter once owner Zygi Wilf gets a whiff that bringing in Favre for the 2009 season is a possibility.The Vikings demonstrated on Saturday, when they made the strange decision to take the injury-prone, undersized, dope-smoking Harvin over Michael Oher, a starting offensive tackle for the next decade, that selling tickets is currently the team’s top priority.Thanks to Randy Moss, followers of the Purple have a greater fondness for explosive, defiant receivers than any fan base in football. The Vikings were reminded of this last week, when they let out word of an interest in Harvin and the public responded with enthusiasm."

So Reusse also buys the theory that the Vikings were on the fence about Harvin until they sent out their little feelers and found out the fans liked him.  But do fans really influence front-office decisions that much?  They might if the team is facing ticket-sales issues, and is trying to get a new stadium built despite lack of voter support.  Reusse’s argument is that, as much as Childress might love the plodding KAO, Zygi Wilf loves making money more, and nothing would generate more buzz, and the revenue that comes with buzz, than Favre in purple.  So, Wilf might shove Favre down Chilly’s throat the way he evidently shoved Harvin down it (Chilly reportedly liked Eben Britton, so I imagine he would’ve loved taking Oher, who unexpectedly was still available at #22).  One wonders how much of this shoving Chilly can take before he starts choking.