The latest round of Favre speculation kicked off last week, when ESPN reported that Favre had told McCarthy he was feeling the “itch” to play again. But the Packers don’t seem to be tripping over themselves to get Favre back in the fold, leading to speculation about rising tension between the quarterback and the team.

Favre hasn’t spoken publicly about the latest reports, beyond telling the Sun Herald that the speculation is “all rumor” and that there was “no reason” for a media circus.

As for young Miranda, sporting a green Care Bears T-shirt and black curly hair, she only asked McCarthy about Favre because her mom wanted to know.

“If Brett Favre comes back, that would be fine,” she said. “If he doesn’t come back, that would be all right, too.”

And she seemed to hope for a better answer than the one she got.

“Well, I was thinking that he had probably answered that, a yes or no question, or maybe called up Favre or something,” she said.

But Miranda’s best friend, 10-year-old Lexi Novitski, hopes for a return.

“I want Brett Favre to come back,” she said. “I’m excited for the football season to start.”

John Benberg, the club’s executive director, said he wasn’t surprised the children had such direct questions for the coach.

“Our kids are very bright, interesting, sometimes hard-core bunch,” Benberg said. “They don’t mince any words when they ask their questions — which is the way it ought to be, I think, when you’re 8 or 10.”

If only it were that simple for adults.

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