Seventy-four percent of Green Bay residents responding to perhaps the most pointless telephone survey in the history of mankind want the Packers to retain Brett Favre and not trade him, though only 33 percent said he should start.

Just under 20 percent said they want him to return as a backup while another 15 percent support making him a player/coach, a position not seen in the NFL since cavemen were still seeking spouses while grunting and wielding clubs. The Packers have said Favre is welcome to rejoin the team, though it appears as though the Packers plan to stick with Aaron Rodgers as their starter, at least heading into camp. That has prompted Favre to ask the team to release him – a move the Packers are declining to make.

The poll was commissioned by Serafin & Associates Inc., a Chicago-based communications firm. It was conducted by a division of XPS called “We Ask America”.

“These results are much more meaningful than a poll, which takes a sample of opinion,” says Thom M. Serafin, founder of Serafin, in a statement. “Every telephone number listed in the Green Bay white pages was called, and more than 21,000 people picked up the phone. The survey was conducted between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Sunday. Of 49,721 calls that were made, 21,377 answered the phone and 9,995 took the survey, which according to Greg Durham of We Ask America means the margin of error is virtually nil.

What else is nil? The weight with which this survey should and will carry with a Packers organization that one would hope is smart enough not to let some goofball opinion poll determine what direction they are going to take the organization. Glad to see there aren’t more important issues out there to be conducting polls about, such as how to fix health care or what color M&M should be added to the package.

Crisis communications is among the specialties of Serafin & Associates, according to the statement, but apparently  Serafin’s reasons for commissioning the poll were more personal – he is a shareholder and a  Favre fan.

In another sign of how bizarre this case has gotten, Fox News reporter Greta Van Susteren apparently gets the first crack at doing a live interview with Favre. Details on the Web site are sparse, but apparently he’s the feature on her show tonight.

Good Lord.