It only took me 18 months before I broke down and wrote about Brett Favre. I joined Jersey Al’s team in August of 2012 and until recently, it was pretty easy to avoid the topic altogether.
Over the past year, however, Favre’s name has been tied more closely with the Green Bay Packers and a return to Titletown is not far off for old #4. During that span, our team has penned a few pieces about Favre, most recently of which was done by Kris Burke last year in June.
Favre retired after the 2010 season and three seasons removed from being the Packers starting quarterback. For many fans, those three years seemed like a decade. The year in New York with the Jets was kind of like being at a preseason game. The game is going on and it looks like football, but who really cares? The last two years of Favre’s career were a much different story.
For those with some time to spare, about an hour and twenty minutes, to be exact, here is a link to the film “Last Day at Lambeau“. It chronicles the time between Favre’s first retirement from the NFL and the Packers to his last game at Lambeau Field as a member of the Minnesota Vikings in 2010.
I remember Favre’s signing with the Vikings in August of 2009. Whether he orchestrated his departure from New York in order to land in Minnesota or if the stars just aligned that way, I hated the football Gods. It wasn’t that I was worried about Favre beating up on the Packers, because I honestly didn’t think he could. I just didn’t want to deal with all of the attention and build up.
2009 came and went and the Vikings got the best of the Packers in both games that season. Favre and the gang were within his merely falling forward to give themselves a chance to go to a Super Bowl that year. But in true Favre fashion and almost as if it were scripted, a vintage interception ended the Vikings’ run and 2010 would turn out to be a disaster (literally, as Mall of America Field was rendered inoperable by massive snow build up).
When Favre announced that he was done with the game, I could almost hear “what took you so long?”. And let’s be honest, who didn’t think there was a chance that he was going to turn up at a training camp somewhere in August of 2011? Cats and their nine lives were envious of Favre.
So here we are, over three calendar years since Favre took a NFL snap. The Packers have won a Super Bowl in that time along with three straight division titles. They’re set at the quarterback position, likely for at least another five years. They have seen over two decades of top-flight quarterback play and have barely skipped a beat of the success that returned to Green Bay when Favre came to town in 1992.
Packers president Mark Murphy has said that he wants to retire Favre’s #4 before he is enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016. That would mean that the Packers plan to do just that at some point this season or perhaps during next year’s offseason.
For a player of Favre’s magnitude, I would be utterly shocked if the ceremony didn’t take place at Lambeau Field during a game. It’s there that Favre forged a career and his legend. It is there that Favre nearly single-handedly brought glory back where it belonged: 1265 Lombardi Avenue.
The question is, how ready are fans for that moment? Jason Wilde and Bill Johnson somewhat asked that question to their listeners on Green and Gold Today show earlier this week, although in a different context. They asked if fans expected Favre to receive the same type of ovation and support as Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun did in his first game back from suspension this week.
The replies were the same as they have been over the past few years. Divided. There will always be those who love Favre and never held a grudge for a single second. There will always be those who disliked Favre for leaving the Packers but are now ready to accept him back and there will always be those who will never forgive Favre and will turn off their TV sets when he takes to the Lambeau turf someday soon.
With just five months until the 2014 season begins and the potential that Favre’s return happens before this year’s end, are you ready? Where do you stand and what are likely to be your emotions when that day comes?
While Wilde and Johnson’s question involved both Favre and Braun, the situations are obviously not very comparable. Let’s keep the commentary about Favre and your sentiments towards him.
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Jason Perone is an independent sports blogger writing about the Packers on AllGreenBayPackers.com
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He deserves it. Fans whom hate should be respectful. And let’s get this thing over.
When was I little and still to this day,I could never tolerate amusement park rides.But,there were and had been times when I needed to simply take it for the enjoyment of participation with my parents and siblings then and my own children later on and there was one thing I always reminded myself of……
when some things are needed or made inevitable…sit back and get as much enjoyment from it as possible,because the time will come when you can say,I’m glad I was part of it..good and bad.
Very well said Taryn! In the end, would most of us have traded what we got from Favre for 16 years, even in hindsight? I know I wouldn’t.
Thank you Jason, Favre was a huge reason, the main reason football began to matter in Green Bay again.
At one point I was a big fan, but he turned me off a long time ago. Don’t like him now and never will again. However, he was one of the Packers greats without a doubt and had many great moments, which I can appreciate. Does he deserve this? Yes. Should he be celebrated during a game? Yes. Should he be booed during the ceremony. No.
I commend your attitude even though I don’t share it. I always saw the Favre/Vikings thing through the lens of $25MM. If someone offered me that much money to play for them, I wouldn’t care what color the uniform was or if the owner stepped on baby chicks for fun.
AMEN brother, fans are too quick to forget that until Favre was traded to Packers, we fans had to suffer 25 years of a second tier team most of those years. Only 5 winning seasons, one playoff appearance and TWO division winners before Brett Favre won a division title with Packers in 1995 in a remarkable run of 11 PLAYOFF appearances in his 16 years as a Packers QB. For most of his career, the NFL revolved around #4 and his accomplishments on the field. Packers won with him, lost with him–but they wouldn’t have gotten there without him. He was a dominating QB for defenses to prepare for, as long as he was on the field and Pack was in the game, Favre’s ability to create magic was always there.
I was a 14 year old boy recently immigrated to Canada when I watched my first ever packer game on local TV in Toronto in 1997. It was a preseason game between a team with ‘G’ on their helmets and another team with buffalo on their helmets. My uncle was explaining the rules of American football to me and for some reason I liked the ‘G’ team better than the ‘buffalo’ team. In hindsight, boy am I lucky to have like the G team better back then. Little did I know that the G team had won the superbowl only a few months earlier. When I started to become a packer fan in 1997, I haven’t been through many miserable years that most ‘older’ packer fans have been through in the 70s and 80s. Neither have I been through the amazing playoff trips of early 90s and finally winning it all in 1997. What I remember of Favre are mostly awesome regular season games together with terrible ways to end each and every season by throwing a disastrous interception (in the case of Rams in 2000 interceptionS! all six of them)in the playoffs. I understand that many of you don’t like him because of the whole minny fiasco! And to be honest, watching him kick our asses in 2009 (twice) and losing in the playoffs to the Card (in that fashion) was unbearable! I truly hated his guts for the whole drama of trying to come back in 2008 and kicking our ass in 2009. But one thing I’ve learned in life is that you take the good with the bad. I’m sure he had his reasons for doing what he did. Hell I truly understand why he did what he did when he did it. Let’s put ourselves in his shoes. You are at the end of your career and despite being to the playoffs many times and shattering every single QB record there is, you have ‘only’ won one superbowl. We all know QBs are judged by the number of SBs they win. Now, after many terrible teams, you finally have a young hungry team ready to win it all and there is a possibility of getting a WR that would instantly better the team (MOSS), you lobby for him but the general manager (right or wrong) doesn’t care, you feel like the team doesn’t respect you no more and they are ready to move on despite all you’ve done for the team and the community. If I was in his shoes too, I’d probably wanted to go to a team that I could kick TT’s ass for a couple of seasons when they didn’t want me. Again you live by what you do (right or wrong), but all you packer fans that hate him for what he did, imagine the company you have devoted 20 years of your life all of a sudden doesn’t want you and are ready to hand your job to a new kid (sound business decision for sure and I applaud TT for doing it), but wouldn’t you be disrespected by the company? wouldn’t you want to go to a rival company and kick the old company’s ass in sales or whatever the first chance you get? I know I would! Sorry for the long essay, but I guess my point is, the many good things he has done for the pack definitely outweight his departure and going to minny for a couple of seasons. We already won a superbowl without him, Aaron has moved on, the team seems to have moved on, I think we as fans should all be also moving on. There is nothing to be gained by hatred and resentment! who can forget that Monday night miracle in Oakland or the OT winner in Denver in 2007? I still can hear Mike Tirico say “play action for the 18….. won it all …… deep the down the field ….. HAULED IN BY JENNINGS! PACKERS WIN IN OVERTIME!!!” the dude brought us all those memories! let him have his moment!
you went on and on like the cold winds in winter in canada. point is when he was here he was one of the best qb but not the best. like everything else when some one we know moves on we wish we could also. but we can’t and as time moves on we move on. his move did not hurt the pack but made us become better and we did. now we welcome him back and thank him for just that. making us good with him and better without him.
Askon: you forget that brett retired and said “I have given all I have to this organisation”
Noone is denying he was a great player and did great things for the Packer organisation! But let me remind you again he retired how many times?,,,the TT and the rest of management had to “Move on” as you say! Then when he wanted to come back still a 3rd time they said ok but you wove to “Compete” for your job! Well if I was sooo good and knew i couold win the job i had why would you refuse to come back to compete for that job after telling everyone in a teardropping press conference “I’m done I have given all I can to this organization and that TT and MC and the whole organization has been great to me and my whole family! And to the greatest fans in the world I say thank you!” ,,,then leaves the team and seeks employement elsewhere [which is his right] but is unable to go directly “TO THE TEAM’S THE TEAM AS AN UNIT” best ryval and goes to another team for one year [again fine]he ends up going to minnesota and mouth’s off about the Packers then yes I’m very upset and he can wait one or two more years be fore I and may other Packer fan’s mand Owners welcome him back!!
Duhawk I hear ya buddy! It’s been a horrible winter up here! Scott, I completely understand your frustration and as a fan, I can’t tell you how frustrated I was also with all the drama that went on in 2008. I don’t think there’s a packer fan out there that was happy about the whole situation. But all I’m trying to say is this, TT did the right thing (there’s no disputing that) but there is a right way of doing things and there is a wrong way. In hindsight, I don’t think anyone thinks the way packers and brett got divorced was the right way. Could there be a better way for the organization to move on from brett to aaron? I’m not sure but all I’m saying is I understand the frustration of Favre with the packers management. Not saying what he did was right but not saying it was wrong either.
Here’s the thing, if the Packers beat the Giants and go on to the Super Bowl in 2007 and defeat NE, there is no way TT moves Favre out for Rodgers. Especially if Favre was the SB MVP, a real possibility. That OT pick ended it badly for everyone. What Favre does after he leaves GB, I don’t care. For the 16 years he was here he played great and gave the Packers a chance to win in every game. That’s all I ask for. All this stuff about retiring and then going to play for the Vikings is sour grapes. Who cares. When you get a chance at the end of your career to make enough money so that no one in your family ever has to work including your children, grandchildren and beyond, you do it. That’s the legacy you leave to your family and it’s all that matters. $25 million from the Vikings, why not? Thanks, Since ’61
I’m with you bubba–all these naysayers out there consider this–IF your boss laid you off from a job you LOVED, had spent majority of your life doing and a competing company offered you a similar job making as much or more money, would you sit home and whine or would you go to the competitor? YOU’D be Favre junior, working for the other man. This is BULL, all these fans not willing to welcome #4 back home–ya’ll gonna turn your back on Rodgers if he should decide to take a bigger contract elsewhere when he’s 35-36 and Pack won’t pony up the bucks he wants?
Did anyone actually read all that!
meh. Sure. Why not. He was a great player for the green and gold. And lots of great players were grade 1 DBags.
My initial hurt is gone. The 2009 Pick in the NFCGG and the 2010 Karma (there’s no other way to put it) that put the Vikes in the dumpster (from which they have yet to recover) and gave GB a Lombardi and 3 straight NFCN titles…
Yeah.. Those things made me less angry. 🙂
Advice to my two sons: Avoid drama queens and Prima donnas. They are thin-skinned, can’t let go of a grudge and are high maintenance. More advice: don’t be that way yourself: try to find the good in a person; look at the whole person in assessing that person.
Applied to Favre, he was a great player who deserves induction into the Packer HOF, deserves a standing ovation on his day that should be held on Lambeau field. Let bygones be bygones as to the other stuff. Its a closer call as to whether his # should be retired, as there are some surprising players whose numbers have not been retired, but on the whole I support it.
Farve kept Green Bay alive for so many years and he was the best entertainer we could have hoped for. Everybody falls down at the end attempting to hold the door open. Walk in his shoes and tell me you would not have done the same thing. Sure in hindsight it is easy to say he let us down, but when he was our QB he fought like hell to win. To boo him on that day is selfish.
Farve kept Green Bay alive for so many years and he was the best entertainer we could have hoped for. Everybody falls down at the end attempting to hold the door open. Walk in his shoes and tell me you would not have done the same thing. Sure in hindsight it is easy to say he let us down, but when he was our QB he fought like hell to win. To boo him on that day is selfish.
Favre was one of the best qbs period. Let him ride off into the sunset with dignity. You would swear he took a picture of his junk and sent it to your daughters. Let the legend go down as one.
You could make an argument that Favre is the greatest Packer of all time. I watched him throw every pass he ever threw as a Packer. And what I believed about him then and what I believe about him now, is that he gave us everything he had every time he stepped out of the field. He made some poor decisions on the field that led to too many picks but he was always playing to win and when he was young he was absolutely fearless. He played with pain and injuries that would have kept most people in a bed or even a hospital. He never quit. In that way he reminded of all the greats of the game. Nitschke, Starr, Robinson, from GB. Unitas and Namath and Montana and I could go on. His departure was not handled well by either by side. But on the field, for the Packers, I wish that we had 22 guys on the current team with his guts, his heart, his love of the game and his will to win. If we did, we would never come off the field second. He deserves his day and his number retired. Thanks, Since ’61
I think it’s time to forgive Favre and have the big ceremony. I’ll never look at him quite the same as I once did, but I can’t think of many heroes I’ve had who were perfect at all times and on all levels. Favre brought us many great years and many lasting memories.
One bone I have to pick is with the “he always gave it his all” argument, though. Many players always give their all on the field. I’m more impressed with the guy who also gives 100% in practice and in film study. I can’t say whether or not Favre did that. None of us really can know that.
And playing through injuries isn’t always the best thing for a team (see RGIII, or even Favre with the Jets. I’d add Jim McMahon to the list but I don’t think he had much of a brain to begin with).
Favre was a tough s.o.b., though, and I’m glad he was ours for all those years.
AMEN, brother–IF this Packers team had half the drive to win Favre had, Clay Matthews wouldn’t be the only Pro-Bowl caliber player on defense, Aaron Rodgers and Eddie Lacy wouldn’t be the two most visible players on offense.
Ambivalent would describe my feelings. It’ll happen sooner than later, when it does i’ll hardly cheer, nor will I boo him.
Get it over with…
Growing up in western Wisconsin and later moving to Minnesota I have been fighting the good fight against the darn dirty Vikes. I can not and will not forgive what he did to the Pack.
WHAT did he do? He took MONEY to play football instead of going home and watching less qualified players get all the glory playing a game he had participated in for most of his life. I’d took the money and continued playing-whether it was in division, conference or league—there is NO loyalty in professional sports except to dead presidents in the bank account.
He is a jack you know what. He was spoiled when he played and should take his junk pictures and fade into the dust. Maybe they can make a big deal of him in Minnesota but he acted like a spoiled brat here with poor morals. He became a trader when he signed with Minnesota and should be treated as such.
Favre’s TO’s made the Packers very inconsistent and mediocre (one SB win and a 10-10 playoff record).
He quit on us and then acted like a prima donna when told we had moved on.
He dissed AROD.
He told others to beat the Packers.
He joined the Vikes for a reason.
He’s a pervert.
Lots of reasons above for Packer fans to move on. Give me Bart Starr or AROD any day, or Lynn Dickey or Majik Man, etc.
Brett Favre helped football matter again in Green Bay, plain and simple. After watching 20 years of bumbling and stumbling football from the Packers in the 70’s and 80’s, the combination of Wolf, Holmgren, and Favre were a welcome relief.
The drama at the end was a bit much, but the only season Favre failed to finish at 500 or above was 2005. So what if he went to Minnesota, they still have never won a SB.. The memories of Brett Farve winning the SB, playing the game like a school boy kid who truly loved the game, and playing no matter what, 3 MVP trophies far outweigh the way it all ended. Damn, let it go and move on. Retire his number and cheer like madmen the day it’s done. I know I will.
Well said Nick. I’ll be cheering as well.
He gave us some great days as Packers fans. Thanks, Since ’61
The 70’s, 80’s and into the 90’s were dreadful, dark football days. A generation of knowing the Packers would stink. Then Favre came along and everything about Green Bay football turned around. In the end he proved to be not quite invincible, and of course no one is. But what joy the old Huckleberry quarterback brought to Green Bay. In the football world, Green Bay matters again thanks to the turn around built by Wolf, Holmgren, and Bret Favre.
My idea would be to inviite him for the ceremony. Then cancel. Then think it over and invite him again, or maybe not. Then talk it over , think some more and decide it’s not the right time. Then reconsider and invite him. Finally I would have the ceremony ….in about 5 minutes before the start of the second half of the most meaningless preseason game on the schedule.
Yes ,in the end he was human.It’s not easy leaving the team or the career you love.The greatest compliment to the game and the Pack was his crying and indecision. What a great player with heart,grit,and determination.Playing and thriving in the frozen tundra is very difficult,but he NEVER MISSED A GAME. Of the great QBs only Favre and Elway played under such difficult conditions with mediocre talent.
No one should ever wear the 4 again.The greatest Packer ever, and I have been a fan since 1965.
Most true packet fans no the REAL story regarding Favre. Thompson and company wanted him gone after he drafted his guy Rodgers. Problem was Brett still had it. Following the NYC Championship loss to Giants(a loos that was NOT Brett’s fault despite overtime int – it was horrible defense – a familiar plight – that kept Brett and the offense off the field for nearly the entire 2nd half in subzero temps!) TT and MM pushed Brett to retire. In the aftermath of that heartbreaking loss an emotionally drained Favre, having felt like he may indeed of missed his last chance for a Super Bowl win, retired. Then after realizing he still had the fire and certainly the talent! He wanted to come back. He would have competed with Rodgers (and would have undoubtedly proven he was better – as he did when he returned as a viqueen and made the Pack eat crow beating them 2 times in 2009) but TT and MM wouldn’t even let him in the locker room and shipped him off to NFL Siberia ‘ the Jets. That’s the real deal behind what went down. I still believe Favre is the hands down better WB over Rodgerd. I am a Rodgers fan and he is sn rlite WB today. But he is NOT and I don”t believe ever will a legend like Favre. I certainly hope Rodgers will prove me wrong but compared to the guy who still holds so many of the NFL’s all-time WB records Rodgers has a long, long way to. I say give Favre his proper due. He is an all-time Packer great. People will long remember his name verses Ted Thompson’s!
I thought it was Reggie White that turned the Pack around?
To compare Favre and Braun in any way, shape or form is a ridiculous premise to start. As for those GB fans who are opposed to a welcome back ceremony…just dont attend and let fans who appreciated his grit, strength and endurance say a proper farewell.
Brett Farve gave so many Great times! We need to Honor him for it!It will always be with me what happened. But, for the most part, know players really have any idea how a fan feels. Everything is a Business for all parties, but not for the fan.The fun Brett gave us, will always be with us!
Brett Farve gave so many Great times! We need to Honor him for it!It will always be with me what happened. But, for the most part, know players really have any idea how a fan feels. Everything is a Business for all parties, but not for the fan.The fun Brett gave us, will always be with us!
Induct Farve AFTER the Packers win another SB with Rodgers. If this doesn’t happen, then after Rodgers retires. I know his number will be retired but I’m not certain he deserves it any more than Rodgers does. The gold standard for retiring a Packers quarterback’s number, IMO, is how his record compares to Bart Starr (coaching time excluded).
That’s idiotic and ridiculous–do you have any idea how pathetic that would look to the rest of the league and their fans for people with your attitude NOT to give Favre his recognition for accomplishments BEFORE the NFL Hall of Fame does? Favre literally brought Packers out of 25 years of ineptitude and disappointment. Yeah, there were 3-4 years of excitement packed inside those 25 years of disappointment–Lynn Dickey, Scott Hunter’s workman like play to get Pack to ONE playoff game, the Majik Man Majkowski, and various stars who shined but it was mostly team without many shiny pieces until the ole gunslinger came to GB.