MINNESOTA // At 39 his skills may be waning, but Brett Favre's popularity has never been higher.
Despite the negative publicity generated by his summer-long retirement saga, fans have flocked to watch him in action and buy merchandise with his name on it.
From April 1-August 28, Favre's Minnesota No 4 jersey was the top seller on the NFL's website, a remarkable statistic considering he did not join the Vikings until August 19.
The Chicago Bears' new quarterback Jay Cutler ranked second and the yet-to-play Philadelphia Eagles passer Michael Vick was fourth.
Troy Polamalu and Ben Roethlisberger of the Super Bowl champions Pittsburgh Steelers ranked third and fifth, respectively. But while Favre-mania seems to be sweeping the league, his popularity still came as a surprise to his most prominent teammate.
"I think I'm more popular than Brett Favre," said the running back Adrian Peterson. "But he's got an advantage. I think what gets him over the top is the [Green Bay] Packer fans that live here also."
Favre spent 16 years with the Packers before playing last season with the New York Jets. Asked if he had one of his own jerseys, Favre joked: "I don't think you can get any.
"They're real hard to find right now. I only say that because friends and family have asked if I can get one. The only ones I have are the ones I play in."
On the field, Favre has brought stability and a record-setting resume to the most important position on Minnesota's offence.
Off the field, the wow factor of having Favre on the team has helped take some of the attention away from the other players such as Peterson. "Normally people come up to me and ask me to get this and get that," Peterson said.
"Now it's not all on me, so that's cool."
The Vikings are not among the top 10 selling teams on NFLShop.com, one sign of how popular Favre truly is.
"It is normal for sales of a player's jersey to jump significantly when he changes teams. However, we're witnessing the Favre factor. Favre has sold more jerseys than anyone in NFL history," said the NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy.
"He was a perennial top 10 seller for the Packers, was No 1 last season with the [New York] Jets and is anticipated to be among the top sellers this season with the Vikings. Meanwhile, the New York Jets and their former coach Eric Mangini have been punished for failing to report an injury to Favre last season. The Jets were fined US$75,000 (Dh275,482) and Mangini, now with the Cleveland Browns, $25,000.
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Sarfira
Director: Sudha Kongara Prasad
Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
TCL INFO
Teams:
Punjabi Legends Owners: Inzamam-ul-Haq and Intizar-ul-Haq; Key player: Misbah-ul-Haq
Pakhtoons Owners: Habib Khan and Tajuddin Khan; Key player: Shahid Afridi
Maratha Arabians Owners: Sohail Khan, Ali Tumbi, Parvez Khan; Key player: Virender Sehwag
Bangla Tigers Owners: Shirajuddin Alam, Yasin Choudhary, Neelesh Bhatnager, Anis and Rizwan Sajan; Key player: TBC
Colombo Lions Owners: Sri Lanka Cricket; Key player: TBC
Kerala Kings Owners: Hussain Adam Ali and Shafi Ul Mulk; Key player: Eoin Morgan
Venue Sharjah Cricket Stadium
Format 10 overs per side, matches last for 90 minutes
Timeline October 25: Around 120 players to be entered into a draft, to be held in Dubai; December 21: Matches start; December 24: Finals
WWE Evolution results
- Trish Stratus and Lita beat Alicia Fox and Mickie James in a tag match
- Nia Jax won a battle royal, eliminating Ember Moon last to win
- Toni Storm beat Io Shirai to win the Mae Young Classic
- Natalya, Sasha Banks and Bayley beat The Riott Squad in a six-woman tag match
- Shayna Baszler won the NXT Women’s title by defeating Kairi Sane
- Becky Lynch retained the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair in a Last Woman Standing match
- Ronda Rousey retained the Raw Women’s title by beating Nikki Bella
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Company%20profile
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BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
The specs
Engine: Long-range single or dual motor with 200kW or 400kW battery
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 620km / 590km
Price: From Dh250,000 (estimated)
If you go
The flights Etihad (www.etihad.com) and Spice Jet (www.spicejet.com) fly direct from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to Pune respectively from Dh1,000 return including taxes. Pune airport is 90 minutes away by road.
The hotels A stay at Atmantan Wellness Resort (www.atmantan.com) costs from Rs24,000 (Dh1,235) per night, including taxes, consultations, meals and a treatment package.
