The End of an Era

March 4, 2008, 10:59 PM | 1 Comment

Today my favourite football player, nay, my favourite professional athlete of all time decided to call it a career after an amazing 17-year run in the NFL. Brett Favre has retired.

Like most Packers fans, the news came as a bit of a shock to me this morning, and even though we all knew it was going to happen eventually, I didn’t think that after the season that just passed that we’d be saying goodbye yet.

A lot will be said of Favre’s decision to hang ‘em up and the debate will surely rage on about whether or not he made the right decision. The truth of the matter is that he has made the right decision, because the decision is his alone. How can you say that someone who is making the decision to spend more time with his family is the right or wrong one? That is why, even though Favre clearly has more left in the tank, his decision is the right one for him to make.

What’s incredible is that he’s leaving the NFL on his terms, and after having one of the best statistical seasons he’s ever had, he’s leaving while at the top of his game. There really aren’t many athletes in any professional sport that can lay claim to that statement.

A lot will also be made of the fact that if Favre stays retired, the final pass of his NFL career will be that interception he threw in overtime during the NFC Championship game. Honestly, I think that’s irrelevant. I personally never thought that the outcome of that game, and more specifically how it ended for Favre, would have any effect on his decision to retire or return. The truth of the matter is that his decision-making on that fatal play was spot-on. WR Donald Driver ran a perfect route and Favre made the correct decision but just under-threw the ball. It’s happened many times to many quarterbacks before, it just so happened that this time, the stakes were higher for Favre and the Pack.

During Favre’s career, there was no greater entertainer in the NFL. The same passion, enthusiasm and never-say-die mentality with which Favre played the game which sometimes got him into trouble and made Packers fans scratch their heads was also the same force that kept us on the edge of our seats waiting for the next crazy play that Favre could come up with.

This entertainer quality became more apparent to me during the last 2 seasons of Favre’s career. At a time when guys like Terrell Owens and Chad Johnson were trying their hardest to manufacture entertainment, Favre just went out and played like he’d always played and blew their acts out of the water by just being himself.

I’ll never forget his falling pass to Donald Lee in the 2008 NFC Divisional round against Seattle, and the way he’d run up and down the field after each touchdown pass like it was his first time. Favre played the game like a kid, and it was that wide-eyed enthusiasm and genuine love for that game that we as NFL fans are going to be missing now that Favre is gone.

Favre leaves the NFL holding almost every major passing record in NFL history. Most wins (160), most touchdown passes (442), most yards (61,655), most attempts (8,758), most completions (5,377), and yes, most interceptions (288) - and that’s just a few of the records he’s established. Perhaps the most impressive record though was his string of consecutive starts which ends and an unheard of 253. And none of those numbers include his playoff totals, which if included raise his consecutive starts streak rise to an even more staggering 275. If there’s any record that may stand the test of time, most believe it’ll be the consecutive starts streak.

Brett Favre’s legend and legacy are secure, and he didn’t need another season to prove anything else. 2007 proved to everyone including Favre’s staunchest critics that he can still play at a very high level as he led the youngest team in the NFL to the NFC Championship. It is perhaps that very fact that makes today’s announcement so surprising. He’s a sure first ballot hall-of-famer and the NFL and its fans will truly miss him.

There are definitely a lot of memories that are conjured up when thinking about Favre’s career. My most vivid memory was that epic December 2003 game he played on Monday Night Football in Oakland the day after his father passed away. That may have been the best single-game performance of Favre’s career and I’ve never been more inspired by any sporting event in history.

Sadly, an era is over for the Green Bay Packers, the NFL, and its fans. Thank you for the memories Brett, we’ll miss you.

Elsewhere:

• ESPN: Wright Thompson - Brett, we miss you already
• ESPN: Gene Wojciechowski - No matter what, Favre was always worth watching
• Packers.com: Quotes From Around The League On Favre’s Retirement
• ESPN: Mike Sando - Gunslinger mentality defined Favre

Posted in: Sports