LEFTOVERS

Turn on ESPN radio, and it's Brett Favre all the time.

Same with ESPN television. Brett Favre, Brett Favre, Brett Favre.

Enough already!

ESPN executives apparently don't realize it, but a backlash has begun against the incessant coverage of the future Hall of Fame quarterback who retired from the Green Bay Packers but wants to come back even if it means playing for another team.

"The Favre soap opera may be an entertaining diversion at a point on the sports calendar when little else is going on, but it's clear that the longer it goes on, the more fallout there's going to be," wrote Bill Ordine of The Baltimore Sun. "I don't know what the resolution is, but the Favre matter will have a resolution at some point. The sooner it happens, the better."

SI.com's Don Banks wrote if Favre returns and plays two more years, he will receive the same fanfare that greeted his retirement announcement in March.

"Maybe by then, all this will seem long ago, far away, and much ado about nothing," Banks wrote. "But in mid-July 2008, a case of Favre Fatigue prevails."

• STANDING UP TO MANNY -- The Boston Red Sox and their "Just Manny being Manny" fans have been an incredible enablers of quirky star outfielder Manny Ramirez.

But after Ramirez blasted management for a lack of communication regarding his long-term future in Boston, Red Sox owner John Henry called the player's comments "personally offensive."

The Boston Herald's Steve Buckley wrote the Red Sox should reward Ramirez only if he finishes the season strong.

"Ramirez should limit his hardball to the game being played on the field," Buckley wrote. "The hardball he is playing with the Red Sox makes no sense, and the club shouldn't take the bait."

• AND IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST -- If Favre forever will be identified with Green Bay and Ramirez with Boston, Ichiro Suzuki never truly can be separated from Seattle. But Jim Moore of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote it's time for the Mariners to part ways with the outfielder.

"When you blow things up, you don't hang on to your best player, especially one who will be 35 in October," Moore wrote. "You don't let the player's popularity get in the way. If you're truly serious about winning, you forget about the marketing consequences, understanding that a successful team is more essential to long-term fan appeal."

• CYBERSUIT -- Nutty comments are posted on Internet message boards all over the country by people who hide behind identity-protecting screen names and seldom face consequences.

But that could change thanks to a grand American tradition -- litigation.

A Nebraska fan who works for the University of Texas used The Oklahoman template to post a fabricated story about two Oklahoma quarterbacks. The publisher and one of the newspaper's sportswriters, Jake Trotter, sued James Conradt. Trotter's byline was used on the fake story.

Maybe this will cause other fans to be more cautious about what they post. Then again, probably not.

COMPILED BY MARK ANDERSON REVIEW-JOURNAL