Semi-weird story unfolding here, and I have a hunch it’s going to leave everyone involved not quite happy about the way it turns out. “Tragedy” is too strong a word for a sports event, but what should have been a happy ending to Brett Favre’s career now looks like it may leave unhappy fans — and teams and Favre himself — in its wake.

You’ve heard the outline of this, yes? After announcing his retirement, back in March, an event that got enormous play and generated an outpouring of praise … Favre decided he wasn’t done with football, after all.

And that has created a series of problems.

1. The Packers, who may or may not have broadly hinted to Favre that it was time to move on, spent the spring preparing Aaron Rodgers to play quarterback. So, were they supposed to just hand the job back to Favre and put Rodgers back on the bench?

2. Packers fans seem conflicted. They love Brett (doesn’t everyone), but is it time for a change? What we thought would be a surge of Favre support from the cheeseheads … has been quite muted.

3. The Packers don’t want Favre in camp, but he says he is going to report, anyway.

4. The Packers have Favre under contract through the 2010 season, limiting his options. He may want to play for another team, but until the Packers waive him — or trade him — he’s a Green Bay backup. And an unwelcome one. How well is Brett being spurned by the Packers staff going to go over?

5. Favre is beginning to look pushy (as well as indecisive) by forcing the Packers’ hands.

So, how will this turn out?

The Packers will waive or trade Favre. He will go to another team, perhaps the Jets or Buccaneers, and play. And the upshot will be along these lines:

–Every move Aaron Rodgers makes will be second-guessed by fans — who know that could be Brett out there. Steve Young went through this, when Joe Montana left. “Joe would have completed that pass. … Joe wouldn’t have taken that sack.”

–Favre will arrive at wherever with huge expectations, and he probably will not live up to them. The man is going to be 39 in October, and even though he played well most of last season … he had shaky statistics the previous two seasons, and was awful in the second half of the Packers’ stunning, 23-20 home playoffs defeat to the Giants. He looked old and feeble; I can remember a trainer wiping his nose on the sideline. And that interception at the end was the sort of brain-dead chuck and old and freezing quarterback makes.

–Favre’s legacy thus will be besmirched. Those 255 consecutive games with the Packers, from 1992-2007 … and then he tags on this little graceless coda with some other team, at the end, looking entirely wrong in some uniform that isn’t green and gold. Willie Mays never should have played for the Mets. Montana shouldn’t have played for the Chiefs. Favre shouldn’t play for anyone after the Packers.

–The Packers will be distracted by the Favre situation, and it will hurt the team. And if Rodgers struggles or gets hurt, the hue and cry about “how did we let Brett go?” will well up.

I just see this ending badly. The Packers bitter that Favre made them look bad. Favre bitter that the Packers didn’t welcome him back and then actually impeded his move. The team that signs Favre looking bad for signing a short-term, end-of-career former hero.

It won’t be pretty.

–The Packers’ tidy history with Favre