ESPN NFL

	AP Photo/Morry Gash
	Chuck Perock of Sussex, Wis., shows his support for Brett Favre at a rally Monday in Milwaukee.

MILWAUKEE - Harold Epright did the math quickly. His 16-year-old son was born in 1992. As a result, he has known only one quarterback on his favorite football team: Brett Favre.

"He likes to say that he has never known a world without Brett Favre and microwaves," Epright was saying Monday evening. "All of a sudden here, it feels like we're at a fork in the road. I wish it wasn't that way."

ESPN.com put 313 miles on a rental car today, trying to gauge the state of Green Bay Packer fans as the agonizing separation continues between the team and its icon. What would we find? Rage? Despair?

Mostly, what we found was fatigue and a bit of disorientation.

As it turned out, we ended up in a State Fair parking lot, talking to Epright and hanging out with about 30 of his closest friends. Yes, that's a rough count of Monday night's turnout for a rally to "Bring back Brett." (That total doesn't count the dozen or so media members, four satellite trucks and one news helicopter that must have thought it had the wrong parking lot.)

Those in attendance mostly milled about as if in some kind of football purgatory. They drank free root beer provided by a local radio station. One fan wore a traditional Cheesehead hat and another threw on a green wig. A few put on a half-hearted "Bring back Brett" cheer when a television photographer approached.

But instead of pressuring the team to re-consider its position on Favre, this rally revealed a certain weariness and what must be an out-of-body experience for many Packer fans: Not only has Favre been their icon for most of the past two decades, but rarely has their team been engulfed in such off-field turmoil.

"It is jarring," Epright said. "We like to think we're above all this kind of stuff. There's the whole mystique about the fans owning the team. This is just different for us."

Two brothers, Adam and Erick Rolfson, have gained national attention after creating a Web site -- bringbackbrettfavre.com -- that received more than 100,000 hits in its first 48 hours. But that online traffic failed to translate into the kind of burn-down-the-building emotions they had hoped for.

"The big thing is that we're trying to give people the opportunity to have their voices heard," Erick Rolfson said. "You might want Brett back, or you might not. There are two sides to every issue. But what's different about the Packers, and I'm hearing this from a lot of people, is that the fans' voice should be heard."

But while vocal minorities are being heard from both sides, it appears a cross-section of Packer fans are flummoxed and simply out of sorts. Consider Chuck Perock, who stood in the parking lot holding a Packers flag and wearing a "Favre for President" t-shirt.

Perock said he hoped Favre would ultimately return to the Packers but made clear he won't be rallying for him next year.

"I'd like him back, but I'd also like a commitment from him on how long he'll play and when he'll be done," Perock said. "Enough of this back-and-forth already."

Change, it seems, is tough.

"I was in serious denial for a long time that he was retired," Epright said. "I guess there was a part of me that hoped he would decide to come back. I never thought the Packers might not take him back. I think the thing is repairable, and we'll always be Packer fans.

"But I just never thought it would go like this."

HERE AND THERE IN THE GREAT STATE OF WISCONSIN -- A bright, blue sky hung high Monday over the town of Menomonie, on the western side of Wisconsin. The sky had very definitely not fallen, we can report to you with first-hand knowledge. (Trust us, we saw it.)

Down the road in Mauston, a lunchtime crowd of Wisconsinites -- and a few itinerants -- chowed down at the local Culver's. They smiled while ingesting butter burgers (a Wisconsin treat!), custard and the new mango-flavored smoothie. There was no audible bawling.

A few minutes away, the regionally-famous Wisconsin Dells remained open for business. Children rode water slides that were mysteriously similar to the ones back home, but somehow more fun.

We zigzagged the Badger state, looking for tangible evidence that Favregate '08 had engulfed the region. From the best we could tell on our (very) quick tour, life is moving quite normally here.

It's never fair to paint a populace with a broad brush, and so it's more than fair to say that most of the citizens of Wisconsin are minimally affected by the standoff between the Green Bay Packers and quarterback Brett Favre. What seems clear, though, is that the team's segment of zealot fans have mobilized in an unprecedented way to force a resolution.

About 200 people showed up Sunday for a Lambeau Field rally, and we have ended our trek this afternoon in Milwaukee to check out another rally. Erick Rolfson, one of two brothers organizing the events, has not given up hope that Favre will return as the team's starter. Rolfson believes the team -- which is owned by individual shareholders -- has an obligation to listen.

"The fans and shareholders of this team have a right to be heard," Rolfson said Monday morning. He and his brother, Adam, started a web site Saturday (bringbackbrettfavre.com) that received more than 100,000 hits in its first 48 hours. Another site, savebrett.net has created an online petition to force the Packers into taking Favre back.

Of course, the Favre-is-God-sect has also drawn the We've-Had-Enough-Already contingent out from hiding. In previous years, it has been rare that a cross word was mentioned in the same sentence with "Brett" or "Favre." But we heard caller after caller hammer Favre during the afternoon radio show of Homer, who bills himself as the host of the "world's greatest sports talk show," on ESPN 540. One caller rather impolitely suggested Favre undergo counseling for his inability to make a decision.

We're hoping to see and hear both sides of the story at the Milwaukee rally, and we'll be back with you soon to give you a feel for what transpires.

Just spoke with Erick Rolfson, one of the organizers of Sunday's rally of Packers fans at Lambeau Field. About 200 people showed up for the rally on 24 hours notice, and as of Sunday evening, Rolfson's Web site -- bringbackbrettfavre.com -- had been visited about 50,000 times.

"Just overwhelming," said Rolfson, who created the Web site along with his brother, Adam. "Some of the messages we've gotten, it's actually been emotional."

WDJT in Milwaukee has video of today's rally. Another is scheduled for Monday evening in suburban Milwaukee. (It starts at 5 p.m. at the State Fair Park and Ride, for those interested in the details.)

Perhaps it is because the Packers are owned by individual shareholders, but it's hard to find a more passionate fan base.

kevinseifert.espn@gmail.com