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Let Brett Favre Do Whatever the Hell He Wants To Do, People!
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So Brett Favre has un-retired; So I guess I have to 'un-retire', also... (yeah, these jokes NEVER get old...)
"Hello! helloooo... helloooo... Echooo, echo, echo... Now pinch hitting for the Dodgers... Manny Mota, Mota... Mota..."
Hmmm... It seems a little 'dead' around the 'chair lately. With all that's happening in the World of Sports these days there's no logical reason behind it. A guy suffers a little medical issue in his family jewels, goes away for ten days and whammo... What's wrong here? Oh yeah... No fun!?!?!
Anyhoo; let's get a little convo started!
Afterall...
The REST of the internet and general media is BUZZING
Heeeeee's back!
And a lot of people simply don't like it.
And Uncle Manny doesn't "get" what's wrong with you people... so let's get to it!
Why can't we let Brett Favre do whatever the hell he wants to?
Look. I used to be a pretty hardcore Packers fan. Sterling Sharpe is my favorite football player of all time - by far. Even though I was a Don Majkowski supporter I have thoroughly enjoyed Brett Favre's career. I enjoyed his blunders and his triumphs. I enjoyed his moments of heroism and his willingness to accept responsibility for his utter human-ness. Even though he's not the first QB to love the game, I love that he loves the game. I reference his cameo in "There's Something About Mary" as often as possible. I even like hearing John Madden gush about him. Really, I do! Who would Frank Caliendo be without Brett Favre?
But I'm also a realist. I don't think Brett Favre is the best QB of all-time. Hell, I don't even think he's in the top ten. If I had a choice of any QB in his prime, I can easily rattle off 20 or more guys I'd rather have as my QB if I had to win on a Particularly Given Sunday... And most people would be surprised by who would be on my list... Yes, I'd probably even take Tom Brady over him.
BUT...
I love Brett Favre, the football player. Always will. If I had the chance to meet and hang out with Brett Favre, the man... I'd probably love him too.
I don't know why people line up around the block to hate him when they should only blame themselves for paying attention to this story FAR TOO CLOSELY.
Seriously. Can I say "seriously" enough times?
Can't we let the guy live his freekin' life without being raked over the proverbial and literal coals?
If Brett Favre wants to keep playing football, WHY should WE (the people who don't have to live with his decisions the rest of our lives) care enough to loathe or hate him for it??
Seriously... this guy has played a game for pretty much all of his life and has made some pretty sweet coin doing it. He has his legacy, he has a ring and he has the motivation and - be honest - enough skill left in the tank to do the job somewhere.
WHY do we care how, where, who, when or any parameter that he is making his own decisions?
Let the man play!!!
If he wants to take a shot at sticking it to the Packers - LET HIM.
If he wants to hand the ball off to "All-Day" Petersen All-damned-Day long - LET HIM.
If he wants to retire every night before he goes to bed and unretire every morning at the breakfast table - LET HIM!
His Legacy is Set
You know why the media is in love with Brett Favre? Because he's proved them wrong so many times before.
He wasn't a NFL prototype QB, couldn't handle running the pro system, couldn't the play in the clutch, played too wild, didn't work hard enough, didn't play the game seriously enough, threw too many interceptions, forced too many throws, couldn't beat the Cowboys, couldn't handle success, couldn't handle his painkiller addiction, couldn't handle the new young players, his career was on the downside, he was only playing for the consecutive games streak, couldn't get over the personal miff with Green Bay's front office, couldn't handle the pressure in New York, couldn't stay retired, couldn't accept John Madden retiring, couldn't handle bicep surgery, couldn't make up his mind, couldn't keep Rachel Nichols away, couldn't spell his name correctly; etc. and so forth...
But his numbers are there; they don't lie. Hey, I thought he was toast back in 2005 and he proved me wrong! Hell, he was still productive last season despite playing through injury on a so-so team in a tough division and fierce conference and nearly made the playoffs. The guy is not the best QB ever - not even close, but he's a guaranteed first ballot Hall of Fame football player any way you slice it.
The media loves a guy who is constantly overcoming their creations and definitions of what and who Brett Aloysius Favre is supposed to be according to the moster that created him in the first place (the Favre-loving media)...
And when it boils down to it... people genuinely like Brett Favre. He's a very likable guy who is open, eager and honest - to a glaring fault - so he makes for interesting copy.
Because I've always wondered this=
Side Note: How does 'the man, the myth, the legend' known as Brett Favre not have a kickass nickname? I clearly remember "Joe Montana" being spoken of in reverence the way "GOD" gets spoken about in church, but even Montana had a well-known nickname among teammates; "Chicken legs".
Am I missing or forgetting something?
Favre's "Legacy" can't be ruined.
No matter what happens with Brett Favre from this day forward, he can't erase the past. If he gets sacked and dies on the first snap of the season, you may remember him differently but he's still the guy who did what Brett Favre did on the field of play.
OJ Simpson killed two people and hired lawyers that made a mockery of DNA evidence in the California court system and it will never take away from his football legacy.
Ted Williams is frozen in a metal container in Scottsdale, Arizona and that still doesn't change the fact he was the greatest pure hitter ever to wear stirrups.
How they finish the last chapter doesn't take away from the book.
Hank Aaron played for the Milwaukee Brewers. Willie Mays was a New York Met as was Yogi Berra. Babe Ruth played for the Boston Braves. Jerry Rice was cut by the Denver Broncos. Wayne Gretzky coaches the Phoenix Coyotes. Michael Jordan played for the Birmingham Barons and runs the Charlotte Bobcats!
No matter how hard athletes have tried, they simply can't ruin their legacies once they have a legacy. Pete Rose blatently committed the ULTIMATE sin in baseball, lied about it for years and years, finally admitted he lied - without any contriteness - and STILL gets supported because of his legacy on the field... people are willing to forgive Pete for gambling on baseball - meanwhile disregarding his tax crimes, his cocaine abuse and his shitty parenting and horrible social skills -because he is the All-Time Hit King! And let me throw this at you - if you were starting a baseball team to win JUST ONE GAME and could pick any player from all-time in their prime - would Pete Rose be a starter? Would he be on your team? Would he even be in the first 50, 75, maybe even 100 guys you'd think of??? Most likely... HELL to the NO!
It's ok to accept Brett Favre making his own decisions. He's a big boy now!
Numbers are numbers. Legends aren't defined by numbers. Some day, all of Brett Favre's numbers will be made irrelevant in one form or another but his legacy -the fact that he dominated the team game as an individual playing by his own rules during his time on the field - does not and cannot get skewed or altered in the fires of time.
Legends can't erase the past. They can only live in the present.
Brett Favre is a competitor, an athlete. He doesn't want to be 50 years old and think "I should have played a couple more years" because - speaking as a former athlete myself - THAT is a feeling that is worse than failure.
Brett Favre knows what he is doing; and I thoroughly applaud him!
I wish him super amounts of luck. Despite my newly-found Detroit Lions fanship, I am rooting for him. I hope the Vikings beat the piss out of the Packers both times they play. I hope Brett Favre wins another MVP award. I hope he wins the Super Bowl.
I want him to shove it in every hater's face and cram it down every doubter's throat (even mine) because - dammit - he deserves the chance to try! And I hope he retires and comes back for another season and another season after that! I hope he plays for two or three more teams. Hell, I hope he plays so long that one of his grandkids ends up as a teammate! I hope he becomes a coach after he's done playing and I hope he retires from coaching and un-retires every season until he's 95 years old. I hope he comes back to life after being declared dead by medical professionals - several times and I hope his zombie corpse eats the brains of every writer who doubted his dead body.
I hope he plays well in Minnesota this season (losing only two games - both to my new favorite team, the Lions), the media chokes on it and I hope the critics do too.
The funny thing - if he does succeed - it will be the feelgood story of the decade and the media will spin it so no one remembers how much "we" loathed him in 2009. The haters will run and hide and I will be laughing gleefully. Because the collective consciousness of people - especially when it comes to sports is very predictable - runs quickly and quite shallow.
More than likely, Brett Favre will not be the top story for the season. Things happen. Things always happen. Even if everything goes perfect for the Vikings it will have as much (or more) to do with the other 52 guys wearing purple, the coaching staff, the video guys, the trainers, the secretaries, ticket sales people, stadium security, the cheerleaders, etc. and - oh yeah - the fans as much as because of Mr. Favre.
And if he fails miserably, I'll still applaud him for giving the effort. Let the man do what he wants! Let the man live his life.
Brett Favre has the rest of his life to live. He's a football player through and through. He isn't going out quietly. He isn't riding off into the sunset on a white stallion.
He is not going quietly into the night...He is rage, rage, RAGING against the dying of the light.
