Not that I want to constantly harp on the whole Minnesota Vikings-Brett Favre issue, but I had to take issue with a side story to all of that.

Once Favre finally reported to the Vikes' practices — since training camp had already ended — it seemed like things would get back to normal.

Then, an unnamed Vikings player was quoted as saying that Favre and head coach Brad Childress were not on the best of terms.

In a nutshell, the idea was that Favre didn't trust Childress and didn't have a clue about running an offense. That's the kind of teammate you want floating around the locker room, someone trying to stir the pot.

I'm not one into a lot of professional sports lingo or unwritten rules or silly decorum, but one thing I've always valued from professional athletes is their ability to keep problems in-house.

Flare-ups between teammates. Take care of it behind closed doors. Hash it out behind the spotlight. That's the best way and things are usually resolved quickly.

The same goes for a rift between a player and a coach. Ironically, the coach should always have an open-door policy for his players and handle things that way.

Not anymore. Not today.

As a player, if anyone spoke out and lead to a lot of unnecessary problems and distractions, I would personally find him on the field and see to it that player suffer a little extra on the field.

Airing problems out to the media for everyone to scrutinize, especially with YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. is tough enough.

Doesn't anyone keep these things to himself anymore?

Remember earlier this summer when two Seattle Mariners' players, who were never named, accused teammate Ken Griffey Jr. of leaving a game in the sixth inning and was found sleeping in the locker room during the seventh inning?

I never heard if anything happen to those two players or if their identities were ever discovered, but it left a negative imprint of Griffey, a friendly, sure Hall-of-Famer, who retired a week later.

Everyone seems to hide behind the unnamed source — including the reporter, who will keep that players' name out of it for the scoop, then say he can't reveal his sources.

Such a cop-out. A player is willing to speak out, as long as no one finds out it was him.

The idea of behind closed doors eroded back in 1970, when Jim Bouton wrote about his exploits of the 1969 season with the Seattle Pilots and Houston Astros, the two squads he played for that season.

He revealed secrets of drinking, drugs, womanizing, everything.

Things haven't been the same since, but have gotten worse the past several years. Childress and Favre downplayed the rift, saying whatever they can to keep things out of the public.

That's something any good teammate should try to do.