Monday, February 23, 2009

Brett Favre is Great for Football


Isn't it amazing how America, as a country, has alzheimer's disease. When dealing with certain people and topics, all we seem to care about is "what's happening now" and completely forget about the past, especially when it comes to the entertainment industry. Things like music, movies, tv shows, electronics, and sports all flow in the direction of what the masses want. These five categories pretty much control how the economy works and ironically, it is the American people who completely control how these five categories work. But I digress.. I merely brought this theory up to explain another: Brett Favre is great for football, yet the media tends to piss on his name and legacy.

Sport talk shows trying to one-side Brett's latest story on retirement has became nothing short of comical. However, it is this negative gibber gabber that is bringing down his image, not his actions. But what is the source of this gibber gabber? Was it the majority's opinions which reached its way up to the sports writers and inturn, re-fed the public what it already wanted to hear? Or, was it the coporate executives that dictated what the public should think and believe? A classic "What came first? The chicken or the egg?"

I, however, see past the flow of things and strongly voice my own opinion. Brett Favre is one of the greatest players who ever stepped onto the gridiron; and football is a better sport because of him, regardless of the past year and a half. Saying that, the past off-season and sixteen games have been anything but picture-perfect, nonethelesss, it only makes up one eighteenth of his career. People quickly forget about his glory days in Green Bay lined up behind center, shotgun formation, hike! "Favre pulls back, looks to his right, pump fakes, Oh Sapp's got'em, wait! He spun out of it, he's on foot, scrambling, sees Freeman, launches... Touchdown Packers!" I made that one up for you Buc' fans. 

How about the Freeman catch against the Vikings in overtime, or when he passed Marino in touchdown and yards (records no one thought could be broken), or that Monday night after his father's death, and let's not forget Suber Bowl XXXI. What about the 269 consecutive games he has played through. That's sixteen plus years in a row.. How many people can say they have worked more than sixteen years without missing a day? Not too many. But, I can talk on and on about his great moments that ever football fan has already heard. These stories are not going to change the opinions of those who think he's a sale-out, overrated players, who also owns the interception record, as well. It is the stories behind the glamour, however, is it what made me a Favre fan in the first place and will hopefully change the point of view of others.

Besides football, Brett has a similar background to the average Joe. Born in a small town in Mississippi where he mainly played football and baseball. Only an average quarterback at the time, Favre received one scholarship to Southern Miss, a mediocre school at best. After college, Brett was drafted in the second round by the Atlanta Falcons where he was later traded to the Green Bay Packers in '92. It was through his early years in Wisconsin where Favre started his legacy. It was also through these years where Brett developed an addiction to pain killers and alcohol. Fortunately for Brett and his family, he sought help by entering in the league's substance-abuse program where he gave up his addiction for pain killers and later, alcohol entirely. Like I've stated earlier, Favre's father, Irwin Favre died early in 2004 and later that same year, his wife, Deanne was diagnosed with breast cancer. 



All of these stories are similiar to the average Joe. He battled against drug and alchohol, married his high school sweet-heat, stuck to his roots that so many people forget about after success, and dealt with death and sickness in the family. But, the story that has stuck out the most about Brett Favre is his passion for the game. Some people think Favre acts childish when celebrating touchdowns or big plays. And I couldn't agree more. That same childish intensity is what has drove him year after year, play after play. He is one of the few people that plays this game with a competitor's edge and at the same time, haves fun doing it. However, he is a different man after a loss, though he will be the first to take blame. Reversely, after a win, he'll be the first to say it was the great play of the team and good plays called by the coaches. A true player on and off the field. Speaking of off the the field, Brett is also very open to his fans, as well. He let's the people know of his faults and failures as a player and a person, and also his feelings towards the game. A good example of this was during his retirement speech after the 07' season. 


Like I said earlier, Favre would be the first to admit his mistakes which he did on how he handled his retirement. But, I do not believe that he should take all the blame. Ted Tompson, the General Manager of the Packers, pressured Favre to make a decision just weeks after the Giants loss in the NFC Championship game. Favre was feeling tired, old, and inadequate at the time so he made a decision best as he could. He felt he lost his passion, the passion that drove him all those years. Brett did not want to cheat himself or his teammates if he came back the following year as uncommitted. That was his monumental mistake in life? Denying his love for football? So what if he wanted to come back the next year, big deal. I'm sure Favre and everyone else on this planet has made a worse mistake than that. His just happened to be broadcasted on television. 

So, before the media and the trash talkers out there decide that Brett has no integrity and is a sham, just remember that Brett is just a regular guy who is prone to make a mistake from time to time. More importantly than that, remember all the good things he has done as a player and as a person. And instead of overlooking the past sixteen years of his career and focusing on the last one, let's try and do the opposite. Between you and me, I hope he comes out of retirement again.      

  


 

1 comment:

  1. I always found Favre the most entertaining quarterback to watch. His performance against the Raiders after the passing of his father was one of the most emotional moments I can remember as a sports fan.

    But the gunslinger image that made him so entertaining to watch might have been his downfall. I was always glad, after Holmgren left Green Bay, that Favre didn't play for my team. He makes mistakes on the field--plenty of them. Without Holmgren, Brett never had a coach bigger than he was, a coach who could keep him in line. He turned into a turnover machine--usually at the worst possible times. He tried to live up to that image.

    In some ways, I wish he didn't play this last season. I would have liked for him to walk away after making the NFC championship. I think John Elway got it right--walk away a winner, walk away at the top of your game. Dan Marino did the opposite, we watched him disintegrate, and I think it does tarnish his legacy.

    Favre is infinitely more likable than Marino, and we love him for his mistakes. But now his teammates seem to be hesitant about his return. Its time to lay the helmet down.

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