The last Vikings player to be larger than the team was receiver Randy Moss. His remarkable talent was often offset by what an amateur psychologist insists was an adult version of oppositional defiant disorder.
The behaviors for ODD sufferers include "actively not following the requests" of authority figures and being "angry and resentful of others."
There are also a couple of behaviors on the ODD list that would fit quarterback Brett Favre, the current Vikings player to be larger than the team. Those are "spiteful or seeks revenge" and "touchy or easily annoyed."
Yet, it's not the diagnosis for ODD that reads like the behavioral profile for Favre, but rather Narcissistic Personality Disorder. There are nine qualifiers for NPD, and they cover what we've seen from Favre over the past week, and the past several years.
For instance:
An NPD sufferer has a grandiose sense of self-importance. He thinks of himself as special or privileged, and that he can only be understood by other special or high-status people. He demands excessive amounts of praise or admiration from others. He does not recognize or identify with others' feelings.
And here's the NPD kicker from last week's Favre-created feud with coach Brad Childress: He feels entitled to automatic deference, compliance or favorable treatment from others.
That trait also was on display this summer, when the Vikings started their relationship with Favre by signing on to a lie.
