With all the media attention that Brett Favre has been receiving lately, you would think that this guy, even at 39, is hands-down the best player in the National Football League. Every time I turn on ESPN, I hope and pray that they have found something else to talk about besides Favre, but at this point I’m just kidding myself.

ESPN has essentially turned into the Brett Favre network. Remember "Panda Watch" from “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy,” in which the news team reported every little detail about the pregnancy of a panda at a local San Diego Zoo?

Here’s a brief reminder from the man who reported Panda Watch, the one and only Brian Fantana: "Panda Watch. The mood is tense; I have been on some serious, serious reports, but nothing quite like this. I uh... Ching... King is inside right now. I tried to get an interview with him, but they said no, you can't do that he's a live bear, he will literally rip your face off."

For those of you who haven’t seen “Anchorman,” I apologize, but the correlations between Panda Watch and the Favre Watch had to be brought up. It’s essentially the same thing, except Ching King, the panda, has been replaced by Brett Favre, the football player.

The extent to which the Favre story has been covered is absurd. If Favre stubs his toe when he rolls out of bed in the morning, Ed Werder reports it on “SportsCenter” and it then becomes the main topic of discussion on “First and 10,” “Rome is Burning,” “Around the Horn,” “PTI,” you name it.

Matthew Berry may even break down how his stubbed toe may affect his fantasy football draft position for the following season. It wouldn’t surprise me at this point. It really wouldn’t.

However,  regardless of how played out the Favre story has become, the thing that’s even harder to understand about all this media attention surrounding Favre is why a player of his caliber is receiving so much attention.

Obviously, Favre is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. No one disputes that. He holds a number of NFL records for quarterbacks (most career touchdown passes, most career passing yards, most career victories), he is the only three-time league MVP, he’s a Super Bowl champion, and the accolades go on and on. The man has had a fantastic career. But honestly, how good is he at the age of 39?

Before the Packers shocked everyone by going 13-3 last year and making it to the NFC Championship, you might recall a lot of people saying that Favre was finished. After all he did have two very mediocre seasons prior to last year in which he seemed to adopt the strategy of routinely throwing the ball up for grabs and seeing if his receivers could come down with it.

In 2005, he threw for 20 TD’s and a league-leading 29 picks. The following year, he actually showed an improvement by throwing 18 TD’s and 18 interceptions. Rex Grossman could put up those numbers, ladies and gentleman.

So why is the media acting as if this guy, who has been a middle of the pack quarterback two out of the last three years, is such a big deal?

Well, for one thing, it is Brett Favre and people want him to keep playing. But once you get past the name on the back of his jersey and look at his on-field production over the last few years, you have to wonder why the national media has become so engrossed with his comeback. Is he really going to impact the 2008 NFL season all that much?

Maybe ESPN, SI.com, and local sports radio stations have simply recognized that the Favre comeback story has garnered a tremendous interest among fans, and that is why they are reporting on it so frequently. However, speaking strictly from a talent perspective, Favre’s abilities at this point in his career are not nearly deserving of the amount of media attention he has received since word of his desire to comeback leaked.

Favre is not going to light the league on fire this year. He may have another good season like he did last year. He may revert to his Grossman-like numbers. Who knows? But for a player of his ability, the Favre Watch has become entirely too big of a story.