Greg Campbell / AP

Brett Favre jokes with the media about why they were present at a news conference before his celebrity golf tournament in Tunica, Miss. on Saturday.

Last year, he publicly criticized a teammate, wide receiver Javon Walker, for threatening to stay away from camp while trying to negotiate a new contract. Walker, who eventually came to camp, blew out a knee in the season’s first game.

So Favre is doing exactly what he found so reprehensible in Walker just a year ago. And not even a hero as great as Favre can have it both ways.

His ambivalence is understandable. At 36, he can still throw the ball better than all but a handful of quarterbacks in the league. Football has been his life, and, like any other athlete, he wants to keep playing as long as he can. But Favre doesn’t want to put in all the work it takes to get in shape and take all the pounding of another season if there’s no reward at the end of the year.

So he’s waiting to see what the Packers are going to do with a team that is several notches below championship caliber. If the team looks as if it can be competitive, he’ll play. If it looks like another rebuilding year, he won’t.

If that sounds selfish, it is. Bottom line is that this is another rebuilding season, and Favre knows it. There isn’t any reason to continue to string everyone along.

Green Bay has been great to Favre, and he’s been great to the team and its fans. He’s one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game, a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Yes, it would be great if he ended his career as a Packer. But he’s made this about him and not the team, and that’s wrong. The team needs to move on.

And if Favre wants to show his gratitude, the best thing for him to do is to let the Pack trade him to a team of his choice. That way, the Packers will get something — a draft choice — instead of nothing, which is what will happen if he retires, whether that’s this year or next.

It’s called giving something back. It’s really the only way out.

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