The luckiest man in sports right now has to be Green Bay defensive tackle Johnny Jolly. The guy got arrested in Houston and no one noticed because of the all-eclipsing saga rocking Wisconsin.

Moral is, if you’re going to get into trouble, do it when “The Dark Knight” is playing at a theater near you.

Oh, yeah, there’s the Brett Favre epic, too.

Is that thing still dragging on? Apparently it will as long as Favre and James “(Missed The) Bus” Cook hang around Hattiesburg, Miss., strategizing and waiting for the Packers to make the next move. We can only speculate what else Favre has for them, given his last two schemes, in the grand backfiring Ralph Kramden tradition, were the equivalent of throwing into quintuple coverage.

The Greta Van Susteren interview didn’t exactly get Favre into the public-relations end zone, did it? Hey, if you can no longer scramble, ramble.

Favre’s main points of contention with Ted Thompson were that the general manager didn’t take his advice on Randy Moss, didn’t consult him on the decisions to let Mike Wahle and Marco Rivera go and didn’t listen to him when Favre wanted Thompson to interview pal Steve Mariucci for the job Mike McCarthy received.

Beyond the given that it’s not a player’s place to do the GM’s job, it only feeds the growing anti-Favre sentiment that a diva-like quarterback demanded preferential treatment.

Then there was the Inspector Clouseau episode with the Minnesota Vikings. If Favre was using a Packers-issued cell phone to ring Brad Childress and Darrell Bevell, you don’t want Favre back on the grounds that he can no longer disguise his calls. Furthermore, it would be the worst Childress-Bevell move since Bevell under-threw a ball at Northwestern and blamed it on his University of Wisconsin receiver.

Really, you hate to see it come to this for Favre, the man tarnishing the legacy he worked all those years to establish. There is, however, no other conclusion to draw except that most of the blemishing is self-inflicted.

A case has been made here and elsewhere that the Packers did the right thing, but Tony Dungy put real credibility to the issue when the Indianapolis coach was asked last week what he might do if Peyton Manning had retired and then wanted to un-retire. Dungy said he would move on with Jim Sorgi – Jim Sorgi! – and we’re pretty sure he meant it.

To the question of whether Favre must be freed by the Packers, Dungy told The New York Times, “Brett put himself in prison.”

Of course, that’s establishment backing establishment, and the Packers, like the Colts and every other team, will viciously turn the screws when it’s in the franchise’s best interests.

Maybe Favre thinks he can win this sad conflict, but he can’t. Anyone with a heart, though, wants the best possible outcome for him. While Favre has given the Packers no incentive to accommodate him, they should trade him to a favorable situation as soon as possible.

That way, everyone wins and the Packers could actually begin this season of great expectations in relative peace.