In case you didn’t hear, Brett Favre is retiring after seventeen years in the NFL. Obviously, I’m giddy about this.
I feel it’s important to clarify that, in spite of what you might think, I never thought Favre sucked. I know he’s one of the greatest players in NFL history; even as a lifelong Minnesota Vikings fan it was hard not to respect the guy. However, by the end of his career, he’d been deified to such an extent that he’d become, in spite of his obvious greatness, the most overrated athlete in the history of team sports. He was certainly good–but he was never gonna be as good as he was made out to be. Which wasn’t his fault, of course, but that didn’t make the Favre Mystique any easier to swallow. One assumes his announcement has Peter King and John Madden in varying stages of meltdown.
It’ll be weird having him gone; watching the Green Bay Packers with Aaron Rogers behind centre just won’t be the same, even if it’ll be a lot more tolerable (the inevitable Favre comparisons aside…actually, I’m already dreading Madden’s first post-Favre Packer broadcast). In the end, I’m glad I got to see him play (and that I got to share the experience with Irish Tim). And, as a Viking fan, I’m also glad I’ve got two overriding memories: his meltdown against Minnesota in the 2004 playoffs and the final pass of his NFL career…which was intercepted, and which ended the Packers’ hopes of a Super Bowl appearance. Good luck with retirement, Brett–but don’t let the door hit you on your way out.
Stuff and Nonsense 
lol you’re a douche.if he was in a different division and didn’t have to play the Vikings I suspect you’d have a ‘slightly’ less harsh view of him.But I know there’s not much point engaging in discussion about it.
Nope. I wouldn’t. I’ve got much the same opinion of Peyton Manning, actually; I’d imagine Madden & Co will ramp up their man-love for Manning now that Favre is gone.
apparently his last ever pass, was, fittingly, an interception – CPW
i now realize you noted that. of course you did. shouldn’t have doubted you
Not only that, it lead to his opponents making a game-winning field goal in overtime of a conference championship. It was, like, the ultimate career-ending indignity. Couldn’t be happier, really. 😀
I can only presume this entire entry was designed to anger me….in which case you succeeded…..but rather than launch into a full scale defence, I will simply ask you to look at numbers…..that should say it all
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” — Benjamin DisraeliStill awaiting your full-scale defence, Tim–although, to be fair, I did at least give Favre his due. I’ve never really done it before; surely you can give me that, if nothing else?
Numbers, Tim? Like the career record interceptions? (Just thought I’d throw some fuel on the fire… :))
Here’s another number: one, as in, “Favre won a single Super Bowl in his seventeen-year career, despite people talking about him like he was winning championships in alternating seasons.” Again, I’m not disputing his greatness. I’m just glad I don’t have to put up with the tongue-bathing anymore.
Yet Dan Marino won zero and he is considered by many to be the best of all time. I can’t even be bothered by this argument. The fact that Favre is all time interception leader can’t be argued with but it can hardly be surprising given the style of player that he was. But yet Steve, your mind has been made up on this for a long time and nothing I say will change that. Quite how you can say that “he was never gonna be as good as he was made out to be” when he broke essentially every NFL passing record….well I’ll not even go on. Just ask yourself one thing, can everyone else who talks about him so fondly really be wrong. Oh and “the most overrated athlete in the history of team sports”…….if ever there is a case for saying you are wrong there it is ……David Beckham
Here are a couple more numbers for you, Tim: 0-1, which is Favre’s all-time playoff record against Minnesota. 😀And I stand by my “never as good as we he was made out to be” statement. Again, he was great–but he was *never* gonna be as good as some people (i.e., the Peter Kings and John Maddens of the world) tried to make him. It became more and more nauseating the longer his career went on, and for me it essentially ruined any joy I might’ve gotten watching him play. Now that he’s gone, it’ll happen with Peyton Manning as well.On a related note: Tom Brady has won two more Super Bowls than Brett Favre. Yet the media will *never* tongue-bathing him the way they did Brett Favre, apparently because Brady doesn’t run around like a headless chicken and throw game-killing interceptions. But see, that was just “Favre having fun” out on the football field. I’m all about Horatio Alger mythologizing–I wrote a frigging undergrad thesis aobut it–but it gets to a point where enough is enough. Favre passed that point years ago, and as much as it’ll be weird having him gone it’ll be nice watching Packers games without hearing grown men fawning all over him.
Oh, and re: David Beckham, while I won’t concede you the point I certainly agree to a very large extent. Beckham was (is?) very good, but he was never one of the greats. Although he *did* have his moments…not to mention he’s got six more Premiership medals than Steven Gerrard (sorry, couldn’t resist ;)).