As a four-year-old kid in Maryland, I was always looking to learn and enjoy something new. My stepfather would introduce me to a game or at least the virtual aspect of it. A game for the Nintendo 64 titled Madden 98 and it would be my first introduction to the game of football. Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl in the previous year therefore as with all Madden Games they were one of the first two teams you can select in the game in the kickoff option. Safe to say I would pick them every single time.
A repetition with them started. I constantly chose them. I became familiar with the Packers. A love began. Then the season started and one game I see Brett Favre come out of the tunnel at Lambeau Field and something was reassured in me. This was real. They were real. The game was real. I was captivated by every Packers game that was shown on TV and at that time being in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia area we would normally get Redskins games on TV so the Packers would come on sometimes but not as often as I would like. However when they came on I was glued to the television.
The Packers were pretty good in my youth, therefore they were always in nationally televised games. They were also on often because of their quarterback. Favre was someone that everyone needed to watch. Favre was someone I saw who made something out of nothing so many times on the football field. It was like magic. Actually, with Favre it was magic. A scramble out of the pocket, linebackers chasing him for the sack, but somehow, someway Favre finds a receiver downfield covered by two players and the catch was almost always made. Favre made a play happen. It was a spectacle. Every touchdown the Packers made seemed because of Favre. Every magical moment was because of him.
Favre has had so many of those magical moments playing football. Game winning drives, jaw dropping game winners in OT to Freeman and Jennings and a Super Bowl victory. However, none of these moments will make me prouder to have been a Packers fan than his Monday night football game one day after the passing of his father. Many men and women would have called out of work the next day, however not Favre. He knew his father would have wanted him to play and as Favre has said his father would have had an issue if he didn’t play. Only Favre could have had a game like he did after a loss like he faced. Four touchdowns and nearly 400 yards passing, Number 4, Brett Favre was on a ride night that will be remembered forever. That night the emotion that the fans felt for him, his teammates competed for him but he competed for his father. Something that I will never forget.
Throughout his career, Favre taught me something else through watching him play. Perseverance. Favre has faced adversity through injury countless times. Broken bones, torn ligaments, bruised body parts, concussions and he still started the following week. 297 straight starts in the National Football League will probably be my favorite stat of his. It showcases his determination will, mental toughness,
Another record of his that showcases his mental toughness is his interception record. Yes, Brett Favre also holds the NFL record for the most interceptions thrown. That is taken with a grain of salt. He took a lot of chances when playing football. He made the throw that many wouldn’t make. He knew the team needed something and if they didn’t get it he was willing to take the fall for the team if they didn’t win. That record showed me that no many times to make a mistake you still have to go out there. You still have to compete. People were depending on him. He was that guy. He made the plays when his team needed him the most. All of this from a guy from a small town in Mississippi and a cannon for an arm.
Packers fans know he did not end his career in Green Bay and for the rival Vikings. His fallout with the Packers was not pretty as he waffled with retirement. But he knew he could still play. The Packers were ready to begin a new era with Aaron Rodgers. He knew he still had moments in him. He didn’t want any “What if’s” in his career. It shows his passion for the game that he loved. He worked to continue to play for 20 years. To be at a level to play in the NFL for two decades is remarkable enough. But when it was over for him it was an injury that put him out and led to his retirement for the final time. Ironic isn’t it? The man who withstood and played with so many was ousted by one final one.
They say time heals all wounds. For the Packers and Favre their relationship this would be the case. It seemed the relationship was on the way to becoming great again when Rodgers and Favre shared the stage at the 2013 NFL honors and crack jokes about retirement and coming back. It was needed for the Packers and their fans, and maybe more important to Favre. Some may have still had an awful taste in their mouths with him leaving Green Bay but the moment may have abolished some of those feelings. Now in 2016, Favre has his number retired and enshrined in the Packers ring of number last Thanksgiving. Bart Starr was in attendance and it was another moment that all Packers and their fans can enjoy and put any ill based feeling towards Favre away.
As Favre prepares to enter the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH, football fans, Packers fans, across the country will watch. As many have watched him for his 20-year career make countless plays, win multiple most valuable player awards, set countless records, go to multiple Super Bowl’s and win one, you can say his career deserves all of the praise that it gets. A four-second conversation on whether he is a Hall of Famer is all it took. Very fitting. So as the NFL commemorates Brett Favre as a Hall of Famer, Packers fans everywhere have already and will continue to commemorate Brett Favre in their hearts forever.
