Dissecting The Favre Ad, And The Fan Who Placed It

Well, we got our hands on the full-page ad one fan took out in the Hattiesburg American to implore Brett Favre to return (ginormous version below). And let me say, he is just the worst type of person.

A call to the American's sales department tells us that a full-pager in a Monday paper starts at $1719.90 for a color ad. (He could have saved $661.50 if that "Favre 4" wasn't in purple.) What kind of person spends that kind of money — "twice as much as season tickets," as he puts it — on an ultimately meaningless gesture? A diehard Favre fan? A diehard Vikings fan? Apparently none of the above.

Ben Nelms is the man who took out the ad, and Ben Nelms lives in Madison, Wisc. You might have noticed, but that's the heart of Packers country. Hell, it's closer to Soldier Field than it is the Metrodome. Nelms must not enjoy having friends who talk to him, or neighbors that don't leave burning trash on his lawn, because why else write something like this?

And when you guys beat GB, not once but twice, man-oh-man let me tell you how sweet it was!

But I'm willing to forgive a fan living in enemy territory, if indeed it's a diehard. But Nelms opens up his open letter to Favre by mentioning that his favorite team as a kid was the Houston Oilers. (Oh, he liked the Vikings too, because he had one of those two-inch plastic helmets from a vending machine.)

So, a sports bigamist? If we're to take him seriously, he'd better have a track record of supporting the Vikes, through good times and bad times, through Favre times and non-Favre times. From Michael Rand's story:

He hadn't attended a Vikings game in person for nearly 15 years before going to the Vikings/49ers game this past season that became famous for Favre's last-second hook-up with Greg Lewis.

Here is where I point out that instead of buying an ad in Favre's hometown paper, he could have gone to a few more Vikings games over the years.

So where do we stand with Ben Nelms? Traitor, bigamist, bandwagoner, and Favre fan. I think that last one might be the worst.

Ad in paper latest way to woo Favre [Star Tribune]