Brett Favre has a tough decision to make, but it appears as if commentators and reporters want to make it for him. At the end of his fifteenth season in the NFL, Favre must decide if he will hang up his helmet and cleats or continue a career that has been nothing short of remarkable. However, the question about whether Favre will retire has not been raised by the quarterback himself, but the media who have watched him take the field on Sundays.

 Still Kicking.

Each year, star athletes who are nearing the end of their careers are nagged by reporters about their futures. As a result, a private, personal decision concerning retirement becomes public. In many cases, these athletes are pressured into putting away their jerseys and waving good bye to the fields, courts, stadiums and arenas they once called home. And that is wrong. Players who are past their primes are constantly reminded of Willie Mays dropping a fly ball with the Mets, Johnny Unitas playing out his last days in a Chargers uniform or Rickey Henderson struggling in the minors.

They are told by reporters that they wouldn't want to go out like that. But most of the media and commentators have never been in their shoes. They don't know what it is like to be in their positions or how much these guys really have left in the tank. For every Arnold Palmer, there is a Julio Franco or Roger Clemens. Clemens, who was was believed by former Red Sox General Manager Dan Duquette to be nearing the end of his career in the mid-90s, led the majors in ERA last season. He is hardly a pity case.

Neither is Favre. Favre did not have a good year this season, but it is hard for a quarterback to have success when he has a weak offensive line and an unstable backfield with a group of running backs who keep going down with injuries. Not many signal callers in the NFL would be thriving in that situation, especially some of the younger quarterbacks in the league. Joey Harrington has been nothing short of terrible in his four-year stint with the Detroit Lions. Kyle Boller hasn't been much better with the Balimore Ravens. Nobody is calling for them to retire, even though they have not even come close to reaching the level of success that Favre has.

The only reason why Favre is being forced to answer questions about his future is that he is a veteran and is regarded as one of the best at his position. If Favre's skills have really diminished to the point that he can no longer effectively run the offense, Green Bay would find a way to bench him. It's that simple. Even Knicks center Patrick Ewing was run out of New York. The fact is that Favre is capable of playing and making up his own mind. He does not need outsiders deciding for him. But that is what happens to players who have made an impact on their sport. It is the price they pay for getting old while still being considered great.

On Wednesday, Red Sox fans whined and complained about Johnny Damon's blasphemous signing with the Yankees, calling their former centerfielder a turncoat and questioning his character. But they fail to realize the concept of loyalty in the free agency era is a two-way street. In order for a player to remain committed to the organization, the front office must demonstrate to the player that he is wanted by team.

As the news came out about Damon's four-year, $52 million deal, most people failed to see that Bernie Williams had re-signed with the Yankees. In what was a magnanimous move by an organization commonly referred to as the Evil Empire, the Yankees offered Williams a one-year, $1.5 million contract to stay with the team he has been with since his major league career began in 1991.

Many thought Williams had played his last game with New York in the Division Series against the Angels last October. Each time Williams stepped to the plate he received a standing ovation from the fans who watched him patrol centerfield for 15 years. They figured he wouldn't be playing in New York next year, because his career was nearing an end, and the Yankees would find a better replacement for him. But the Yankees valued Williams' leadership in the clubhouse, his introspective nature off the field and most importantly his outstanding service.

Ironically, Williams almost left for the Red Sox after the 1998 season, when Boston began courting him during the winter. But he chose to remain with the Yankees after New York offered him a seven-year, $87.5 million contract. The Yankees wanted Williams to remain in pinstripes and demonstrated their commitment to him.

The Red Sox did not do the same for Damon, even though team president Larry Lucchino acknowledged that he will be irreplaceable. "He was an offensive force," Lucchino said yesterday in an AP article. "He was a clubhouse leader. He was a bit of a cult figure who was enormously popular with the women of Red Sox nation and generally a good guy. We urged Johnny that Boston is a great place for him, that he was a beloved figure here. But in the end he was free to make his decision."

But Boston helped make the decision for him. The Red Sox dealt with Damon in a way that resembled their treatment of former Boston icons Wade Boggs and Roger Clemens, who both later played for the Yankees. They shunned him. On the same day New York reached out to Williams when it didn't have to, the Yankees also taught Boston a lesson about loyalty: When you have somebody good who means a lot to the organization, hold on to him. Otherwise, you won't know how much he will be missed until you lose him.

It's been quite a while since the New York Yankees have had a good offseason. But this winter, while Omar Minaya and the New York Mets were stealing the back pages of the tabloids with their high-profile acquisitions, Brian Cashman was quietly addressing the weaknesses for a team that has floundered in the postseason the last four years.

On Tuesday, news got out that Johnny Damon was going to sign on to play centerfield for the Yankees. It's been the first major move Cashman has made since the Yankees were eliminated by the Angels in the Division Series and it has made waves through baseball. Not only has New York found a solid centerfielder and leadoff hitter, but it has also dealt a blow to rival Boston, the team that gave Damon the opportunity to be a star. In previous winters, the Yankees made similarly big acquisitions.

 Got it right.

However, they didn't really address team needs. Jason Giambi was supposed to make the lineup stronger when he signed with the Yankees in 2002, but by inking the slugging first baseman to a contract Cashman and Steinbrenner were forced to say goodbye to Tino Martinez, one of the key players on the team that won the World Series four out of five years between 1996 and 2000. By trading to get stars like Randy Johnson, New York depleted a once-rich farm system. Catcher Dionner Navarro and pitcher Brad Halsey were shipped off to get the tall, lanky left-hander and prospects were part of the trade that landed Alex Rodriguez in New York. The Yankees even re-acquired draft bust Drew Henson and gave away current Reds outfielder Willy Mo Pena. Meanwhile, ill-advised signings like Tony Wommack and Steve Karsay, became routine in the post-championship winters.

This year has been different. The Yankees have shown some restraint while tinkering with their roster. They didn't sign Nomar Garciaparra, who would have been an unnecessary cog in the wheel for the Yankees. Instead, they acquired Kyle Farnsworth and Mike Myers, who were signed to fortify the bullpen. The Yankees were also able to pick up set-up man Ron Villone from Florida for scraps. These are moves that make sense, and they are reminiscent of the transactions made in a more prosperous time.

Perhaps New York has seen the light again after watching the profitability of its enterprise vanish. The Yankees lost $80 million in 2005 despite drawing more than four million people to the ballpark. Maybe the sudden change in approach has to do with the fact  both the Tampa and New York offices finally realized they can't keep acquiring old stars who are past their prime. Whatever the reason is for New York's best winter in years, the Yankees have finally gotten it right. They are looking at the future instead of focusing on the present.

That doesn't mean they have to surrender the back pages. Instead, when the Yankees steal the headlines in the coming years they will be doing it for the right reasons. And signing Johnny Damon is proof of that.

Peter Angelos has not had many great moments as owner of the Baltimore Orioles. But he did leave his imprint on baseball when he brokered a deal that allowed the Cuban national team to come to the United States and compete against his club in an exhibition game six years ago as part of a two-game series with Fidel Castro's crew. Since the United States Treasury Department told Major League Baseball officials Tuesday that Cuba would be prohibited from playing in the World Baseball Classic due to the ongoing embargo against the island nation, Angelos has been con####uously absent from the news, only offering his reaction to the decision in Friday's edition of the New York Times.

It would seem that if Major League Baseball really wanted to convince the government to reconsider the ban it would be wise for Commissioner Bud Selig to seek Angelos' counsel. Angelos spent three years trying to persuade the Clinton administration to hold a game with Cuba and he repeatedly stayed in touch with the State Department and White House to ensure that it would become a reality. He believed that baseball could help bridge the divide between the two nations, and he became committed to his mission.

Of course, his success in making it all happen was likely due in part to the fact he was a Democratic Party supporter and was working with a president who had eased some restrictions against Cuba. But even Clinton was wary of violating the long-standing policy against Cuba, and Angelos was forced to make some concessions along the way, like donating all proceeds from the 1999 game in Baltimore to athletic programs.

Major League Baseball could make a similar arrangement with this government, and it appears that officials are willing to do so in order to restore legitimacy to the tournament. But it could be harder to convince the Bush administration, which has curried favor with the anti-Castro Republican expatriates who now reside in Florida. Regardless, Angelos should be involved in the process of trying to bring the Cuban national team to the U.S. He was able to walk the diplomatic tightrope before and he could do it again.

Alex Rodriguez was born in New York and lives in the United States. He plays a game that is still considered the national pastime and has taken full advantage of the country's free market economic system by signing the largest contract in sports history. So why would Rodriguez want to play for the Domincan Republic, a country he called home for only a small part of his childhood?

The inaugural World Baseball Classic, which is scheduled to start in March, has raised some questions about the national identities of some of the game's greatest players. Is Mike Piazza really Italian? Is Doug Mirabelli, for that matter? International competitions historically have created some strange bed fellows between athlete and country.

David Regis, a former defender for the U.S. national soccer team, became an American citizen only weeks before the 1998 World Cup. Born in Martinique, Regis grew up in France and had lived there his entire life. However, because he was married to an American, he was able to exploit a loophole and gain citizenship in an unusually speedy fashion.  He then became eligible to play for the U.S. and eventually suffered through three embarassing losses in the 1998 tournament. 

Khalid Khannouchi, one of the world's best marathon runners, had competed for Morocco in international meets before deciding he wanted to run for the U.S. in the 2000 Olympics. He had lived in the U.S. since 1993 and married an American in 1998. But after bungling several attempts to gain citizenship, Khannouchi's efforts were successful after he also took advantage of the system. Finally, it appeared the U.S. had a shot at the gold medal in the marathon. But before the Olympic trials, Khannouchi injured himself and could not run, leaving U.S.A. Track and Field back where it started -- without an elite long distance runner. Khannouchi's efforts to change citizenship, nevertheless, seemed pure.

But a lot of athletes like Regis appear to change nationalities so they can play in elite competitions because they're not good enough to be selected by their own country's national team. Alex, a defender for the Japanese national team, was born in Brazil and gained citizenship in his adopted homeland in 2001, just a year before he took the field  in the 2002 World Cup with players named Nakata and Inamoto. It's somewhat understandable why Alex would feel compelled to switch national allegiances in order to chase a dream, especially when a team like Brazil is loaded with talent. However, his actions should also be recognized as selfish, because national teams should not be viewed as clubs. Furthermore, national sport federations should not woo athletes like free agents.

And that is why it is difficult to understand the motives of Alex Rodriguez, a player who would be one of the leaders for the U.S. squad. The same is true for Mike Piazza. While Piazza could help baseball by attracting a new market to the game, he would be better served suiting up for the U.S, even if he is the second-string catcher behind Jason Varitek. He is American, after all.

And so is Alex Rodriguez, a superstar who many are counting on to make the right decision.