Ted Thompson Speaks

Ted Thompson broke his silence today.

At the noontime press conference, Ted Thompson, Mark Murphy, and Mike McCarthy presented their case to the public.

How could they trade Brett Favre?

12:11 p.m.
They've taken the stage -- McCarthy in a black shirt, Thompson in a tan pullover, Murphy in a dark suit with a green tie. Murphy starts with introductory comments: "This is really a bittersweet time for the organization. I think we're all sad to see Brett Favre's career as a Packer end, but we are glad that this matter has come to closure in a manner that's good for the team and good for Brett." Also thanks Favre for contributions to state and league. Says do want to have a long-term relationship with Favre. Murphy stresses he, Thompson and McCarthy have been in "complete agreement" throughout the process. Thompson has been "a true professional" and has "no ego." He thinks Thompson's handling of the situation was "masterful" in concert with Russ Ball and John Schneider. McCarthy has been "solid like a rock" through the process, and his honest conversations with Favre helped achieve closure. Murphy acknowledges fans are split on this. "We will come through this process, a very difficult process, as a stornger, more unified organization."

12:14 p.m.
First question is for Thompson, on whether he's comfortable with being the man who traded Favre: "No. I don't think anyone would be comfortable with that." Says in many ways this is sad, but all parties thought this was the best solution.

12:15 p.m.
Thompson says when trade papers came, he almost wanted someone else to sign it.

12:16 p.m.
Thompson on whether he could have done anything differently: Always go back and do thorough study on how things went. In this case, doesn't have all the answers. Will go back and do study. "My first blush guess is probably, communications breakdowns, when one group of people are in Wisconsin and another group of people are down in Mississippi, you think everyone understands where everyone is" but sometimes communication starts going through media, and that leads to breakdowns. Says it's his responsibility.

12:19 p.m.
Thompson on why changing course in June or July would have been prohibitively different: "You make certain commitments, that this is what you're going to do. ... I do think you make commitments and you say, 'OK, we're going to try to do this.' ..." It was McCarthy's role to find out how this could work going forward, and in the end, everyone felt "the only solution going forward would be to, quote unquote, part ways."

12:20 p.m.
Thompson get same feeling from Favre as did through Favre's remarks in media? No, never has when spoken directly. "I think there was some feelings there that he felt like were hard to let go, that somewhere during the course of the past little bit, that maybe he perceived (something)." Thompson says he could have moved past things, even if Favre couldn't. Different for a player.

This is a nightmare, very surreal.

I couldn't help but notice how often Thompson smiled as he spoke. That's probably because I don't recall ever seeing him smile.

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Press conference highlights, from JSOnline.