Should Brett Favre come out of retirement…again?

lthough NFL training camps are still weeks away, each passing day brings new reports suggesting that Brett Favre is about to come out of retirement for a second time in as many years. The Vikings have openly admitted their interest and Favre has done the same.
While the New York Jets and Green Bay Packers are trying to rebuild around younger quarterbacks, the Minnesota Vikings appear to be willing to throw a proverbial Hail Mary pass to an aging quarterback in the hopes he can take them to the Promised Land.
During an appearance on HBO’s Joe Buck Live, his first since retiring from the New York Jets last February, the three-time NFL MVP said he had surgery a couple of weeks ago on his throwing arm. He said the doctor who performed the surgery on his biceps told him it would take four to five weeks to find out if the procedure was a success.
As long as his right arm is healthy, it looks like Favre is coming back to the NFC where he’s spent almost his entire career. The Cajun may not be able to part the river that runs through the Twin Cities, but his eye-popping statistics cannot be overlooked so easily: he won Super Bowl XXXI, was voted Associated Press MVP three years in a row (last one shared with Barry Sanders), selected 10 times to play in the Pro Bowl and he holds NFL record for the most touchdown passes.
Last year, Favre’s season with the Jets started well; in week four he threw six touchdowns against the Arizona Cardinals, a personal best and one fewer than the NFL record. By week 12, the Jets had compiled an 8-3 record, including a win over the previously undefeated Tennessee Titans. However, the Jets lost four out of the last five games of the season including the final game against the Miami Dolphins, who had acquired Chad Pennington after he was released from the Jets to make room for Favre.
In a recent interview, the NFL’s all-time leader in touchdowns, receptions and receiving yards, Jerry Rice didn’t show a lot of confidence in Favre. Rice said the stress of a 16-game season might be too much for a 39-year-old. “Brett is a competitor. But I know towards the latter part of my career, even though I still wanted to be out on that football field, it was like things became a little bit more difficult,” Rice told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Should Brett Favre come out of retirement…again?
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PHOTO: New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre leaves the field after throwing an interception against the Miami Dolphins during the fourth quarter of their NFL football game in East Rutherford, New Jersey, December 28, 2008. REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine

Watson leads Golden Oldie march at Turnberry

TURNBERRY, Scotland (Reuters) - Tom Watson rolled back the years to grab an early one-shot lead in Thursday's first round of the British Open as a bunch of veterans took advantage of ideal scoring conditions.
With hardly a breath of wind at the spectacular Ailsa Course, the 59-year-old American fired a flawless five-under-par 65 to set the pace in the season's third major.
Thirty-two years after outduelling Jack Nicklaus to win the first Open staged at Turnberry, Watson upstaged his Spanish playing partner Sergio Garcia who opened with a 70.
"I played very well in the practice round and thought I would do well this week," Watson told BBC television after covering the back nine in three under.
Asked if he drew on memories of his 1977 triumph dubbed the 'Duel in the Sun', the eight-times major winner replied: "I don't dwell in the past.
"Certainly it has been at the forefront of conversations this week. A lot of kids playing in this tournament were not even born in 1977," five-times Open champion Watson added with a smile.
Australian John Senden, a late addition to the field after the withdrawal of Indian Jeev Milkha Singh on Tuesday due to a rib injury, birdied four of the last six holes for a 66.
Also at four under was in-form American Steve Stricker, who has won twice on the PGA Tour in his last four starts.
Much of the early running, however, was dominated by senior players with former winners Mark Calcavecchia, 49, and Mark O'Meara, 52, and Vijay Singh, 46, carding matching 67s.
Calcavecchia, who teed off in the first group of the day on a sun-splashed morning, made the most of the conditions.
PERFECT WEATHER
"The weather was perfect," the 1989 winner told reporters. "There was no wind and the early start doesn't bother me. I played well.
"I hate to say Turnberry was easy, because it's a really hard course, but if you're going to shoot a good score out there, today was the day to do it."
Calcavecchia tied for 11th when the Open was last held at Turnberry in 1994 and he felt the layout, stretched by 247 yards since then, now posed a tougher challenge.
"The fairways are narrower, there are more bunkers and it is longer," he said. "A lot of the holes are three-woods off the tee and I don't remember the rough ever being as thick.
"Thankfully I only hit it in there once today."
World number one Tiger Woods, a heavy favorite to win his 15th major title, was one over after 16 holes.
Watched by huge galleries in a high-profile grouping with Briton Lee Westwood and Japanese teen sensation Ryo Ishikawa, Woods offset a birdie at the second with a bogey at the third.
He then birdied the par-five seventh to reach the turn in one-under 34 before following another bogey at the 10th with a birdie at the par-three 11th. He aso bogeyed the 15th after hitting a poor chip and the 16th.
Title holder Padraig Harrington of Ireland, who is seeking a rare British Open hat-trick, was among the late starters.

Obama prods Congress on healthcare; Senate panel acts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Saying it was "time to get this done," President Barack Obama pressed on Wednesday for swift congressional action on healthcare after a Senate panel approved a bill to overhaul the $2.5 trillion industry.
Panels led by his Democratic Party have stepped up activity on legislation that would meet Obama's goal of guaranteeing all Americans healthcare coverage, but they remain far from resolving the thorniest issue -- how to come up with about $1 trillion over 10 years in new taxes or savings to pay for it.
The first of five congressional panels to act, the Senate Health Committee approved legislation by a 13-10 vote that would set up a government-run insurance program to compete with private insurers. No Republicans voted for the measure.
The vote came a day after House Democratic leaders introduced a sweeping healthcare reform bill that included a government insurance option and is partially paid for with a planned tax on the wealthy. It would require employers to offer health coverage or pay into a government fund.
Obama praised the Senate panel's action, but appealed to Americans to get involved, saying at the White House, "It's time for us to buck up Congress, this administration, the entire federal government, to be clear that we've got to get this done."
The full Senate must vote on healthcare legislation and reconcile its bill with the House proposal before it goes to the White House.
Health insurance reform is considered central to Obama's administration, building on his campaign pledge to expand coverage and control skyrocketing medical expenses, which are a burden on the federal government, businesses and individuals.
The Senate bill would require most Americans to obtain health insurance and require employers of more than 25 workers to provide coverage or face a $750-per-worker penalty. Insurers could no longer bar people with pre-existing conditions. But, no one with insurance would be required to change insurers.
In a renewed push for Congress to complete work on healthcare reform before it recesses in August, Obama met with four Republican senators at the White House on Wednesday afternoon. They discussed ways the healthcare delivery system could be reformed to eliminate waste and lower costs while improving the quality of care.
They agreed it was a top priority to fix what is broken in the healthcare system, while building on what works, an administration official said.
In a series of network television interviews on healthcare, Obama said he now supported a requirement that all Americans have health insurance.
TAX PROPOSALS CONTROVERSIAL
"I'm now in favor of some sort of individual mandate as long as there's a hardship exemption," Obama told the "CBS Evening News," saying he had changed his mind since his statements during the presidential campaign opposing a mandate. [nN15375456]
Most Americans have health insurance that is partially paid by their employers, but an estimated 46 million have no coverage.
The National Federation of Independent Business, which worked to derail President Bill Clinton's reform push in the early 1990s, warned lawmakers the House bill would harm U.S. jobs and that it failed to meaningfully curb costs

Capitol police say suspect killed near Capitol

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Capitol Police said one suspect was killed and two officers injured in a shooting near the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday in an incident police said was not related to Capitol security.
Police briefly closed a road adjacent to the Senate side of the complex, home to the U.S. Congress, and entrances to the Capitol building were temporarily locked on its North side.
The shooting occurred after a Capitol police officer tried to make a routine traffic stop near Union Station, a police spokeswoman said. Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said the driver fled, nearly ran over two officers, struck a parked and then crashed into a police cruiser.
"The subject disregarded repeated demands by police officers to put down the weapon that the suspect had. He began shooting a weapon at several U.S. Capitol Police officers. U.S. Capitol Police returned fire, hitting the suspect," Schneider said in statement.
Schneider said the suspect, who was not identified, had died. She said the shooting was an isolated incident and no one else was involved.
Robert Drumm, visiting Washington from Edmond, Oklahoma said he was walking near the Capitol when he saw police cars engaged in a high speech chase with a white Mercedes.
There was a crash and then "boom, boom, boom, boom. A pause and then a bunch more," Drumm added, estimating he heard more than a dozen gunshots.
The incident was the second shooting in just over a month near a popular tourist attraction in Washington.
On June 10, an elderly gunman linked to an anti-Jewish website shot and killed a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, a short distance from the Capitol.

Foreclosures at record high in first half 2009 despite aid

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. home foreclosure activity galloped to a record in the first half of the year, overwhelming broad efforts to remedy failing loans while job losses escalated.
Foreclosure filings jumped to a record 1.9 million on more than 1.5 million properties in the first six months of the year, RealtyTrac said on Thursday.
The number of properties drawing filings, which include notices of default and auctions, jumped 9.0 percent from the second half of 2008 and almost 15 percent from the first half of last year.
"Despite everybody's best efforts to date we're not really making any headway against the problem," Rick Sharga, senior vice president at RealtyTrac in Irvine, California, said in an interview.
Loans that were temporarily frozen by various state and federal programs, which mostly ended in March, started pushing through the process in the past three months.
One in every 84 households with loans got at least one foreclosure filing in the first half of this year.
"I don't think this suggests the economy is any worse than anyone expected but I certainly don't think it shows by itself any signs of improvement," Sharga said.
President Obama's housing rescue is gaining momentum in refinancing troubled borrowers with higher-rate loans and modifying untenable terms for others.
But the programs have been off to a slow start and in some cases will be too late or not enough to help severely struggling homeowners, industry analysts agree.
Private sector efforts to alter loans terms have made headway but are facing an uphill battle as the unemployment rate heads to double digits.
Problems emanating from loans made when standards were much looser have taken a back seat to defaults stemming from job losses and wage cuts.
"Unemployment-related foreclosures account for much of this increased activity, and the high number of borrowers who find themselves owing more on their mortgages than their homes are now worth represent a potentially significant future risk," James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac chief executive, in a statement.
In June, as home prices continued to fall, albeit more slowly, foreclosure filings rose 5.0 percent from May and 33 percent from a year earlier.
June's foreclosure activity was the third highest on record, and the fourth straight month of filings on more than 300,000 properties.
"If we're really going to slow down the inflow of new foreclosure activity we are probably going to need to see more aggressive and more integrated activity between the lending community and the government," Sharga said.

he Treasury Department asked the largest 25 mortgage servicers last week to appoint a special liaison to work directly with government officials aiming to thwart defaults.
RealtyTrac forecasts about 4 million total filings this year on 3.2 million households with loans, which means little improvement from the first-half performance. The prior record was 3.1 million filings last year, up from a more typical year when about 800,000 foreclosure actions would be made.
The highest unemployment rate in nearly 26 years is the biggest factor keeping homeowners from staying current on monthly payments, Sharga said.
But there could also be a whiplash caused by "the big white elephant in the middle of the room" -- option ARMs, or adjustable rate mortgages with the option to make minimum payments. "A lot of them are going to be seriously upside down, probably at least 40 percent upside down."
That would mean a borrower owes at least 40 percent more on the mortgage than the home is worth.
A new U.S. program enabling borrowers are up to 25 percent upside down to refinance their loans would not be enough to help most option option ARM holders, Sharga said.
States where sales and prices soared most in the five-year housing boom early this decade stayed hardest hit in the first half of 2009.
Nevada remained the state with the highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 16 housing units with a loan getting a foreclosure filing. Arizona, Florida and California followed.
Other states in the top 10 were Utah, Georgia, Michigan, Illinois, Idaho and Colorado.
California was the state with the highest total number of foreclosure filings in the first half, with actions taken on 391,611 properties, or one in every 34 housing units with mortgages.

GM exits bankruptcy

DETROIT (Reuters) - A new General Motors emerged from bankruptcy protection on Friday -- far more quickly than most industry watchers had expected -- as a leaner automaker pledging to win back American consumers and pay back taxpayers.
A whirlwind 40-day bankruptcy for GM concluded with the closing of a deal that sold key operations to a new company majority-owned by the U.S. Treasury.
The development, which follows a similar fast-track reorganization of Chrysler, represented a victory for the Obama administration and its commitment to save jobs and prevent a liquidation of the largest U.S. automaker.
At the same time, the U.S. government has taken on substantial new risks as a 60 percent owner of the new GM with a $50 billion equity investment and $10 billion in debt and perpetual preferred shares.
Analysts said the government intervention had given GM a new chance and sharply lower operating costs, but left management facing deep challenges given the weak economy and GM's long-running slide in market share.
"I wouldn't really call it a new GM, it is just a smaller GM. That would be more of an apt description. They still have a lot of hurdles to jump," said Mirko Mikelic, portfolio manager at Fifth Third Bank. "Right now, they are in a survival mode."
Chief Executive Fritz Henderson said the new company would shed layers of management, make decisions faster and shed the bureaucracy that critics say contributed to the failure of the 100-year-old automaker.
The company's white-collar workforce will be cut by more than 20 percent by eliminating 6,000 jobs. Executive ranks will be cut 35 percent.
NO MORE BUSINESS AS USUAL
"The bottom line is that business as usual -- and as we have had it until today -- is over," Henderson told reporters at GM's Detroit headquarters. "Everyone associated with GM must be prepared to change -- and fast."
Bankruptcy slashed GM's debt and healthcare obligations and brought down labor costs to be on par with Japanese competitors led by Toyota Motor Corp.
The new GM will have slashed its debt and healthcare obligations by $48 billion, dropped almost 40 percent of the dealers from an unprofitable network and moved to sell laggard brands such as Saab, Saturn and Hummer.
Analysts said that gives GM a chance to deliver on its commitment to launch more fuel-efficient cars and to focus its resources on fewer brands, models and dealerships.
"The challenge in the future is how to approach a marketplace that has been burned by GM," said Pete Hastings, a fixed-income analyst at Morgan Keegan.
While key assets and the Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC brands were sold out of bankruptcy to form the new General Motors Company, other assets, including shuttered factories, remain in bankruptcy for a liquidation process

U.S. eyes possible goal increase for the Afghan army

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States and NATO may need to increase their goal for expanding Afghan forces significantly to better support President Obama's strategy for stabilizing the country, officials said on Friday.
The current goal is to boost the Afghan army to 134,000 soldiers and police to 86,000 by 2010 to ensure the U.S. and NATO security mission has what officials have described as "an Afghan face."
But officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said top defense and military officers have discussed plans to double the goal for Afghan soldiers to nearly 270,000 to better combat insurgents and avert the possibility that Western forces might come to be viewed by Afghans as foreign occupiers.
"All of that has been discussed," said one official.
Obama administration officials have examined the possibility of increasing the Afghan army and police to 400,000 personnel. But no decisions have been made.
The Washington Post reported on its Web site on Friday that the new U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Army General Stanley McChrystal, has told U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates that the target for Afghan security forces should be increased well beyond current targets.
U.S. defense and military officials had no immediate comment on the Post article.
(Reporting by David Morgan; editing by Todd Eastham)