GoPackGo226

There are certain plays in every legendary career that you remember because they were big plays on the big stage. Favre has his share of those notably the 54 yarder to Rison in the Super Bowl and the pass to Sharpe in the final minute of his first playoff game.  However there are many things you remember about Favre that aren't spectacular plays but they are things that separate him from any other QB the game has ever seen.  I remember when Chidi Ahonutu of the Bucs gave Favre a viscious lick and thought there was no way Favre would get up.  Not only did Favre get up, he got in Ahonutu's face screaming "Is that all you got!" and that took Ahonutu aback and most everyone watching.  I remember a play in the NFC Championship game in January of 1997 in which the defender has him wrapped up and is taking him to the ground.  Favre shovels the ball forward towards Levens.  It was only a 3 yard play but significant in that game.  It is Favre doing his rendition of Elway warming up while on the Tonight Show.  It is Favre throwing a snowball at Driver in the playoff game this past season against Seattle.  One word that sums Favre up best is "Fun"  He always made sure he and his teammates had fun on the field and never lost sight that this indeed is a game and it is meant to be fun.  For all of Favre's accomplishments, this might be his most significant.  The fact that he never forgot that it was indeed a game.

Even since the latter days of George H.W. Bush's presdidency one thing has been certain in the sporting world and that is that when the Packers took the field, Brett Favre would be under center.  This fall, that won't be the case.  We won't see the world's oldest kid whooping and hollering like a 12 year old when he completed one of his NFL record 442 TD passes.  There will be no snowball's flung from good ol Number 4.  This indeed is a sad day, but also a day in which we can marvel in his greatness, in his excellence, and in his love for the game.  Brett Favre symbolized something that is seldom seen in professional sports these days.  In the era of 8 and 9 figure contracts, Brett Favre was never about the money, he still was about the love of the game, the jubilation of victory and the agony of defeat.  We have seen Brett battle through addiction to painkillers, we have seen him lose a father, seen his wife battle through breast cancer and seen his childhood home destroyed by Hurrincane Katrina.  In many ways, Brett Favre is like an adopted family member to Packer fans.  I still remember crying during that game the day after his father died.  That was the most incredible performance under such circumstance I have ever seen.  It compares with the Michael Jordan flu game and Willis Reed in the finals.  We will see you in Canton in 5 years.