I obviously won’t believe it until the season starts next year, but the news of Brett Favre’s retirement has me positively giddy today. I’m excited for several reasons:

1. I don’t need to see a guy erode his legacy in front of our eyes when it is in his control to not do so. There is enough legacy-eroding going on in baseball these days that Favre doesn’t need to do his part any more.

2. I’m just thrilled that he made the decision when he did. Last year’s prolonged dance with destiny was quite possibly the most annoying, overplayed, inescapable story in the entire history of sports. Ending it reasonably early this time around lets us move onto other stories that don’t drive me nearly as crazy.

3. It makes the Jets potentially bettable. I didn’t even dream of betting on or against that team last year. You never knew what you were going to get. If he decided he wanted to stick to the playbook and respect his teammates then there was a very good chance that they could win or cover against pretty much anyone. If Favre was bored, or sore, or in a bad mood, or any one of another hundred things, though, then they could lose any game at any time. Favre’s ego is so ridiculously out of control that he can’t be trusted as a team player, and you can’t assume that he will put the team ahead of himself. That makes the team entirely untrustworthy. The replacement might not be better than Favre, but at least they aren’t Favre.

4. Rex Ryan stands a chance of success now. I like Ryan. I think he’s been an exceptional coordinator, and I have high hopes for him as a coach. No coach stood a chance of making progress in his first year in the job while they had to deal with a situation likeFavre, though. Coaching him at this point in his career is a no-win situation. Just ask Eric Mangini . Now Ryan can build the team he wants to build without having to worry so much about the incredible ego and how to appease it. He can also build his team with a QB who will actually attend mini-camps and workout with the team.

5. Favre just isn’t good enough anymore for all this fuss. He’s unquestionably one of the best players of his era, but his era has past him by. He had a good year his last year in Green Bay, buteven then he threw too many interceptions. He took too many risks, and too many of them didn’t pay off any more. And his mobility was becoming a real problem. He’s not a top ten quarterback anymore, and an average guy isn’t worth this much attention.