To the best of our knowledge, ESPN had the following people tracking the Brett Favre story as if it were a Presidential campaign: Wendi Nix, Rachel Nichols, Chris Mortensen, Ed Werder, Sal Paolantonio, Kevin Seifert (NFC North “blogger”), and maybe even John Clayton.

And Jay Glazer still got the story for Fox Sports. What we’re hearing (rumor, innuendo, speculation from several media types who covered the story): ESPN made the decision early on to hitch its wagon to Brett Favre because he’s the ‘draw.’ He sells on TV and on the web. Text messages from Ed Werder and hanging out with Rachel Nichols on the tarmac made it look as if ESPN owned the story. However, there are two sides to every story … and ESPN was on the wrong side.

We hear Green Bay GM Ted Thompson was controlling the show, and he was none-too-thrilled that ESPN was taking its cues from Favre and his pesky agent, Bus Cook (read: All the Favre-to-Minnesota pie-in-the-sky junk that was nowhere close to happening). During Sportscenter or any other NFL programming, how many talking heads did you hear call Brett Favre selfish for holding the franchise hostage? Perhaps none of them think he was being selfish … or it’s because ESPN was collectively in Favre’s corner. Throughout this saga, Thompson, McCarthy and the Packers were being painted as the bad guys by the largest sports entity.

How many times did you hear ESPN talk about Favre and the Jets prior to late last night after the deal was done? Very few. ESPN’s reports centered around Tampa Bay. Why? Because Favre and his agent preferred Tampa - a playoff team last year - to the moribund Jets. The Tampa Tribune’s “report” that things were “likely to be finalized in 24 hours?” Peter King is saying the Bucs had zero interest in parting with a first-rounder, even if that meant a trip to the Super Bowl. Maybe that’s the case.