Green Bay can’t believe it: Favre lives!

Ken Carriveau didn't think a master's degree in counseling would do him much good five years ago when he took over the Stadium Sports and Memorabilia store near Lambeau Field.

But now there are days when Carriveau feels more like a confidant to his customers than the proprietor of a Packers merchandise shop.

"I have regulars that come in, and it's where they come to vent and talk," he said. "I have guys that come in and don't even look to buy anything. They've never even thought about buying anything, but they'll come and spend three hours talking."

The subject is always Brett Favre.

The future Hall of Fame quarterback built his legend during 16 seasons as a Packer and will return today for the first time as a member of the archrival Vikings. Many grown Wisconsin men wrestle with that the same way a young girl might struggle with the fact that Kevin Jonas isn't waiting to marry her.

There was a mock funeral. Disparaging T-shirts are for sale all around town. The hooting about Favre will fill the air along with the smoke from grilled bratwurst today as the tailgaters crack open their beers in the festive atmosphere around the historic stadium.

This wasn't how things were supposed to work. Not for their quarterback. It was tough seeing him wear a New York Jets jersey last season ... but to see him run out of the visitor's tunnel at Lambeau Field in a Vikings uniform? Unthinkable.

So they bare their souls to Carriveau. And then they talk some more.

"Nobody knows who to get behind," said Carriveau, 63, a lifelong Packers fan and still a Favre supporter. "Everybody is so still enmeshed in the mix of, 'Who is to blame?'

"It's like, 'Get over it. The guy has been gone for 20 months.' ... I think they have to let go. It's like a bad divorce. They have to stop taking sides."

The blame game

Favre's separation from the Packers did play out like a celebrity divorce. Feeling pressured, Favre retired in March 2008 before changing his mind months later and deciding he wanted to return.

The Packers told him they had moved on with young quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Things escalated until Favre was traded to the Jets that August. His desire had been to play for the Vikings, but there was no way Packers General Manager Ted Thompson was going to let that happen.

Caught in the middle were Packers fans, many of whom couldn't remember another quarterback starting a game for the franchise.

The division on how people feel -- many are convinced he has committed football treason by joining the Vikings, while others will never forgive the Packers -- is why no one knows what to expect when he does take the field today. A cascade of boos and catcalls? A mix of boos and cheers? A polite ovation when he enters and boos once the game begins?

Angst is easy to spot

Brett Favre's Steakhouse is not far from Carriveau's store and is reached by turning from Holmgren Way -- named after Mike Holmgren, who coached Favre and the Packers to a Super Bowl victory after the 1996 season -- onto Brett Favre Pass. Only some enterprising soul turned the last word of the street into an off-color term by covering up a key letter. On the same day that bit of artistic work was spotted by a reporter, two women were taking pictures of each other in front of a Favre-related monument.

Then there is the radio station that sponsored a Funeral-4-Favre at a bar near Lambeau this weekend.

So what will happen today? That is anyone's guess.

But some simply won't be able to watch.

Bill Wenzel, the president of Fuzzy Thurston's Titletown Ticket and Tours, began buying tickets to this game after Favre signed with the Vikings in mid-August.

"A lot of Packers fans, I just think their stomach is turned by the fact that Brett Favre will be running around in our house in a purple uniform," said Wenzel, 53. "A lot of people come in and say they don't want to be any part of that."

Wenzel's office is adjacent to Fuzzy's Bar and Grill, a business named after the longtime Packers guard. Thurston's son, Mark, is the bar's general manager. He hasn't decided the proper way to greet Favre.

"I'm not going to boo," said Mark Thurston, 51. "I can't cheer for him, either. He's a Minnesota Viking, and I don't like the Vikings whether he was on the team or not. There's a lot of people like that, too."

Mark Thurston said that his parents were both "very disappointed" to see Favre join the Vikings and that his mom, Sue, has taken down photos of the quarterback that used to hang on the walls of his parents' home. "They didn't throw them away or anything like that," Mark said. "But she had some prominently displayed ones. I think they got moved."

Fuzzy's Bar and Grill is decorated with photos from yesteryear -- Fuzzy played for the Packers from 1959-67 -- and there are a few of Favre. There also are Favre shirts for sale, but none of them flattering. One says "We'll never forget you, BRENT." Another says "Thanks 4," on the front and "nothing" on the back.

Nothing like a little humor to dull the pain.

Purple preview?

Dave Pearson, a native of Hayward, Wis., and lifelong Packers fan, plans to watch today's game a few miles from Lambeau -- from the house in which Favre lived with his wife, Deanna, and daughters Brittany and Breleigh.

Pearson, an engineering supervisor at the Point Beach nuclear power plant southeast of Green Bay, closed on the house on Shady Lane last November when he, his wife, Sunny, and 7-year-old daughter Amanda returned to Wisconsin after 10 years in Virginia. Pearson never dealt with Brett, but he did get to meet Deanna -- the house was in her name -- and calls her a "wonderful lady."

Perhaps that's why Pearson is rooting for Favre to do his best today -- in a loss. "I would like to see him throw for over 400 yards and lose the game," Pearson said. "There's precedent there because the only other time he threw for over 400 yards was in '93. I believe it was against the Bears and the Packers lost 30-17."

Pearson, 45, said that when he first saw the house there was little that would have alerted anyone that one of the NFL's all-time great quarterbacks lived there. But a few months ago he did make an interesting discovery.

Pearson found two cans of paint in the basement. One was for a Wales Green mix. The other gallon is marked "potentially purple." In fact, Pearson provided a tour of the house and pointed out that Brittany's room was painted purple.

"It was funny," Pearson said of finding the paint.

Forgiveness? Forget it

But many don't have a sense of humor when it comes to Favre-related topics. One man's funny is another's proof that Favre turned out to be nothing more than a traitor.

Carriveau urges his patients, er, customers not to feel this way, but admits it can be difficult to know how to feel. He tells the story of a friend who is a Packers shareholder, yet has given his season tickets to others to use and has purchased Vikings season tickets.

"I feel like I've lost a family member, and it's almost like you need to go through a funeral or something," Carriveau said of the loss of Favre. "Some rite of passage that allows you to say, 'OK, it's done, it's over.'

"Packers fans haven't done that for the most part. There are a few of us that have and just said, 'Remember the best, forget the rest and move on.' "

A few. But not many. As Favre may find out today.