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It may not rival his obsessive quest for revenge against the Packers as the leading factor driving his likely return to the NFL, but don't overlook the motivating role money is playing on both sides of the Brett Favre-Vikings courtship. That's right, after the chance to stick it to the green and gold, the pursuit of the long green might just be Favre's second-best reason to un-retire once again and join rival Minnesota. As one prominent Wisconsin-based Favre observer recently told me: "Brett likes his money now. Don't underestimate how hard it would be for him to ever leave $8 million to $10 million -- or whatever the Vikings wind up offering him -- on the table. He talks about staying home and riding his lawn mower around, but he likes to get paid.'' nother league source told me that while Favre has long enjoyed his reputation as a guy who plays for "the love of the game,'' money has always been one sure way to get Favre's attention. "His coming back and playing every year is not all about his love of competition,'' the source said.

SI.com

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While former Patriots linebacker Willie McGinest has made it clear that he would be open to a return to the Patriots and told Albert Breer of Sporting News that he's talked to Tom Brady and Richard Seymour, nothing has changed since April, when McGinest expressed similar sentiments in an NFL.com chat. A source close to McGinest said today that the veteran linebacker would like to return for a 16th season and maintains a relationship with Patriots coach Bill Belichick, but there have been no formal talks aimed at bringing McGinest back to New England and no offer from the Patriots. Of course that could change, especially with the Patriots' perceived weakness at outside linebacker. McGinest would like to play next season and with more teams switching to the 3-4 he's likely to draw some interest, at which point he'll have to decide if the system and situation suit him well enough to postpone his burgeoning broadcast career.

Boston Globe

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Archie Manning, Drew Brees and coach Sean Payton are among more than two dozen people with ties to the Saints who together put nearly $2 million into an Elmwood film studio that has failed to return their investments as promised. Manning and an attorney for one of the players said Wednesday that they thought they were taking part in a routine tax credit program offered through Louisiana's motion picture studio incentives until they discovered that the studio project never received state authorization for the credits and that their money was at risk. Manning said he had received a telephone call from an FBI agent seeking information about the studio's investment plan.

New Orleans Times-Picayune

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LenDale White has come too far to blow it now -- he promises. Since the end of last season, the Titans running back has remained on a strict diet and been loyal to the team's offseason conditioning program. The results have shown up in his shrinking waistline, as well as on the scale -- he weighed in at 229 pounds last week. But with minicamps now a thing of the past and training camp not set to begin until July 31, there's plenty of time for him to balloon, of course. Heaping barbecue plates will certainly be calling his name at Fourth of July cookouts. "It's not going to happen,'' White said.

Tennessean

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Longtime former NFL head coach Dennis Green went on Sirius national radio this week and said the following: ``I have a hard time believing that Michael Vick is not going to wind up with Bill Parcells, simply because [Parcells] has that creativeness that says no matter what it takes, he's going to find a way to get Michael Vick." Be assured, Vick to Miami will never happen. Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland said before the NFL Draft in April that Miami has no interest in Vick ''right now.'' Coach Tony Sparano avoids the subject as if it were a charging pit bull. The inscrutable Parcells has not weighed in, and when I asked Tuesday for a comment from him on what Green said, club vice president Harvey Greene declined to bother Big Tuna on vacation, noting that Parcells would ''look at me like I had three eyes'' if asked to respond to such speculation. think Parcells and Sparano would never admit they are intrigued by the idea of having Vick for the Wildcat -- it's why they spent a second-round draft pick on a poor man's Vick -- but simply think the overriding distraction would be too great.

Miami Herald

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