| Andrew Perna. 5th March, 2008 - 2:17 pm
 I stand before you, at least my words do, a writer both nostalgic and humbled. I have never claimed to be all-knowing, I know that a majority of my words never even reach their subject, and I realize that even the most talented, well-versed scribes are wrong and even embarrassed on occasion.
In January of 2006 with Brett Favre seriously considering retiring from the game of football at the spry age of 36, I used this very space to publicly plead for the already-legendary NFL quarterback to call it quits.
At the time it made sense. The Packers had finished the 2005 season with a 4-12 record, and Favre had just completed the worst statistical year of his professional career. To be honest, I’d like to believe that I wasn’t alone in my thinking.
After all, Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay’s 2005 first round pick out of California, was waiting in the wings. Certainly the Packers would have been better off handing the ball to a promising rookie than being forced to start an aging star fresh off a twenty-nine interception campaign.
Boy, was I wrong.
Favre picked up the pieces in 2006, leading the Packers to an 8-8 record. Overall it was an average season in Green Bay with Brett tossing the ball for 3,885 yards, eighteen touchdowns, and as many interceptions. His completion percentage, 56.0, was the worst of his career, but all-and-all returning for another campaign wasn’t a glaring mistake.
I was feeling a little bad about what I pleaded with the Gulfport, Miss. native to do, but I hadn’t thrown myself under the bus just yet. Little did I know that Favre was about to make me look like a first-rate idiot.
We all know the story. The Packers soared to a 13-3 record behind breath-taking play from Favre last season. Brett set career-highs in completion percentage (66.5) and average (7.8), in addition to posting numbers across the board that made many feel as though it were the mid-nineties and not the age of Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
Ultimately, had it not been for Brady, Favre may have taken home his fourth NFL MVP in 2007.
He performed so well this past season, and the Packers are so young and talented, that I began to consider it an absolute certainty that Favre would return to the field this fall. After all, there’s always the chance that he could have made me look even dumber. Like say, if Favre and the Packers achieved the one thing they didn’t in 2007, and reached the Super Bowl next February.
It had gotten to the point where I was grateful to have been wrong. Favre began his legendary NFL career during my childhood and like millions of people across the country, I didn’t want to let go of something that bridged my adolescence to my adulthood.
So when I heard the news on Tuesday morning that Favre had made the decision to hang up his golden arm, I was left void of words but full of emotion.
Knowing that the sight of Favre throwing a lame duck into the arms of Corey Webster in overtime against the Giants was the last time we will ever see him throw an NFL pass just doesn’t seem right.
However, at least his final goodbye isn’t as depressing as seeing a slightly-bloated Michael Jordan in a Wizards’ jersey or watching Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens discussed more on Dateline than on RealGM or Sportscenter.
"I know I can still play, but it's like I told my wife, I'm just tired mentally. I'm just tired," Favre told Chris Mortensen of ESPN on Tuesday.
Brett may be exhausted, at least mentally, but I know for a fact that the NFL and its fans would have never gotten tired of watching No. 4 play the game of football. Two years ago I may have made it known that I felt his legacy and the Packers would have been better off if he stepped away, but those comments were never meant as any type of disrespect to the first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Before sitting down to put together this column, I thought about “asking” Favre to take his helmet off the shelf just hours after he finally decided to hang it up. Thankfully, I thought better of it this time around.
Maybe I’ve grown over the last 25 months (since I authored the Jan. 31, 2006 article entitled “Time To Say Goodbye Favre”), or maybe it’s just too plain to see that Favre is content with where his one-of-a-kind career stands.
Over the last seventeen years Favre was one of the few professional athletes that always seemed as though he was just like the average American. He has retired as anything but average, atop a majority of the NFL’s passing records, but now he gets the chance to really kick up his aching feet and enjoy his family. Something too many average Americans often take for granted.
Andrew Perna is a Senior Writer for RealGM.com. Please feel free to contact him via e-mail (Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com) with comments or questions. |
