A Huge Mistake for Brett Favre

Back in March, I posted an entry about how much I admired Brett Favre for the classy way that he retired from football. You can see the entry here. I take it ALL back. In March, the man talked at great length about how tired he was and that he was going to take the year off. Not just from football, but everything public including charity events. Now, just over four months later, he is on TV explaining how he talked with the Packers coach last month about coming back to the team and was told that they don’t want him back and they don’t want to trade him.

He retired and the team moved on. They had to because he quit. I don’t blame them for saying that they don’t want him back. They have made plans and strategies to work with their new quarterback. I also don’t blame them for not wanting to trade him. With all his knowledge of their team, would you want to play against him? I wouldn’t.

I think he should stay retired from football. He had a great run and he went out on top. He was league MVP three times, he went to the Superbowl twice, and won it once. He set every NFL record that a quarterback could set. If he goes back now, he’ll become one of those over-the-hill players that stayed too long. He is young enough, rich enough, and popular enough that he could do anything he wants and do it successfully. He could start his own company, go into broadcast journalism, or become a coach; anything but playing quarterback.

All right, now let’s move on.

Brett Favre, A Class Act

I have to preface my comments by saying that I am not a huge football fan in general. I watch the Packers on any given Sunday assuming I don’t have something to do with my family. I enjoy the Packers and I cheer for them when I can but I am not the type of guy that sits in front of the TV all day Sunday to watch all the NFL football I can. Also, I am not a fan of all the hype the local Wisconsin news stations have been creating around the retirement of Brett Favre. On Wednesday morning, the local morning news show dedicated 10 minutes out of the first 20 minutes to talk about the issue.

During lunchtime today, while running on the treadmill at work, I got to watch part of the question and answer period of the Brett Favre retirement press conference. There was nothing better on and to be honest I was curious as to what he would say. I was truly amazed with what I saw. Even though every reporter in the room was trying to outdo the other with the question that would stump Brett, he was polite, humble, gracious, and well-spoken. He clearly did not want to be telling the world how great he is (like a lot of professional athletes). He explained that is was just tired and didn’t want to play anymore. And he wanted to leave the game before people started saying that he had been there too long. I think I would be tired after 275 consecutive professional football games as the main ball handler. I can’t imagine taking all of that abuse for 16 years straight.

The coolest part of the interview was that when he was asked what he planned to do next he said “Nothing!” For at least the next year, he, his wife, and family don’t want to do anything. If you make $101 million over 16 years, you can probably afford to do absolutely nothing for a year. To borrow a quote from my friend, Jeff, “…he has time to be Brett Favre the person instead of Brett Favre the Legend.” He sure is a regular guy underneath the Favre legend. I wish him all the best in his retirement.