Favre in Minnesota

And Favre is back.

Brett Favre is back in Minnesota, right on schedule.

For the second straight year, the quarterback who spends his summers on the verge of retirement was driven to Vikings headquarters on the Tuesday after the team's first preseason game. Just like last August, news helicopters followed his vehicle from a local airport and dozens of fans and media gathered at the entrance to Winter Park to greet him.

"Circus in Winter Park," tight end Visanthe Shiancoe tweeted.

Nothing the Vikings haven't seen before.

...This time, the Vikings sent three of Favre's closest friends on the team - Jared Allen, Ryan Longwell and Steve Hutchinson - to Hattiesburg to bring him back for one more shot at a Super Bowl.

Longwell filled the role of Favre's chauffeur and three local television stations broke into programming to show the kicker's black BMW SUV rolling down the road.

"Helicopters acting like they are following O.J.," Shiancoe tweeted. "Where is the bronco."

Longwell pulled into the team complex as the fans cheered and photographers snapped pictures, whisking Favre to a back entrance.

"Brett Favre for President!!" receiver Bernard Berrian tweeted.

Favre's website posted a message earlier saying "stay tuned for breaking news from the Minnesota Vikings today on Brett Favre's possible return."

Seven months ago, Favre told the world not to expect to see him play in the NFL again.

From the New York Times:

On a white folding table in the Minnesota Vikings’ locker room lay the trappings of leisure: a stack of magazines, scattered dominoes and three compact disc jewel cases. One of the CDs, by the jazz artist Melody Gardot, may be the epitaph of Brett Favre’s one season with the Vikings, if he finally retires: “My One and Only Thrill.”

The morning after Minnesota’s 31-28 overtime loss to New Orleans in the National Football Conference championship game, a gimpy, battered Favre attended a team meeting at the Vikings’ Winter Park complex and received treatment on his sprained left ankle. He did not walk through the locker room while it was open to reporters.

One Vikings official said Favre “could barely walk.”

Now comes the wait. Will the 40-year-old Favre fulfill the final year of the two-year contract he signed last summer? Favre told ESPN on Sunday that his return was “highly unlikely.” But as the Green Bay Packers learned two years ago, there is final, and there is Favre. Even filing retirement papers with the N.F.L. may not mean Favre is finished.

Yes, Favre will be Favre.

Last January, Favre said it was "highly unlikely" that he would return.

Of course, his "highly unlikely" was meaningless and he did go back.

I'm used to seeing Favre wear a Vikings jersey now. He did the unthinkable last season but the world didn't spin off its axis. It's no big deal anymore. No drama on the field.

Off the field is another story. I wonder. Did Grandpa Favre pack his Crocs?