The Deification of Brett Favre

This is something I wrote a while back after watching a Wrangler Jeans ad featuring Brett Favre:

The average career for a player in the NFL is 3 years. Brett Favre has been a league staple for 17 years. Since 1991. Since I was 9.

As long as I have been able to reasonably comprehend what the NFL is, Brett Favre has been a part of it. He has started nearly 250 consecutive games, won 152 of them. He's thrown 424 touchdowns, won two Super Bowls, rushed for almost 2000 yards, and scored 40 touchdowns. He even has one reception. But for all of these things what separates Favre from every other player in the NFL is the intangibles. Not that he's smart on the field, which he is, not that he's confident on the field, which he is, not that he's a great on-field leader, which he is. It's that one intangible. That for someone who is 38 years old he plays the game more than any other player. Not only has he played more actual games than anyone else, but that he has more fun on the field than anyone else. For so many players the NFL is a job. Not for Favre. For him, football is pleasure, not business. He is the anti-Bonds.

For what feels like this entire millenium we have been calling Brett Favre overrated. Washed up. He's in it only for himself. He's just hanging around to break the touchdown record. He's slinging it too much. Throwing it into traffic. 29 ints in 2005. He's finished. Washed up. And for all the love we have for Brett it just became too much. Will he retire this year? I mean, he is old. He's got his rings. Why not turn the franchise over to Aaron Rogers? Let the city of Green Bay go? Let them move on. Maybe Brett could stay on as a coach or an adviser.

But while we said that, because we knew it was the logical thing to do, we always kind of hoped he'd stay. He brought something special to the game. If Brett left, who else would throw an 80-yard bomb for a score and then sprint down the field, arms above his head, fingers pointed skyward like a 10 year old and carry the receiver off the field on his shoulders in celebration? (And sure enough as I write this sentence Favre throws a 79 yard beaut right into the arms of rookie receiver James Jones and does the whole routine but hoist Jones onto his shoulders. Hmmm. Maybe he is getting old.)

On Monday Night Football ESPN did everything it could to somehow make Brett Favre a more transcendent figure than he already is. There is a palpable feeling that in a league with out of control contracts, out of control athletes, and out of control egotism, losing Brett Favre might mean losing the last truly pure entity the NFL has left. Because beneath that graying head of hair and aging facade we see a youthful exuberance for something that we all wish we had. It's hard to find someone who truly loves what he does every day, and in Brett Favre we see that and it's completely intoxicating.

All night long ESPN tried to everything they could to pull the thread of Jay Cutler being the next Favre. On the second play from scrimmage Cutler improvised a two-handed shovel pass to salvage what he could out of a broken play and before the pass could fall incomplete Tirico, Jaworski, and Kornheiser were falling over themselves to compare that kind of improvisation to Favre. The thought of a NFL without a Brett Favre is just too much for some people to take.

Until he retires we'll see plenty of pieces about the boy next door who guts it out with the best of them. The guy who went out and had the game of his life the day after his father died. Precious memories narrated by his wife. Everything they can to reinforce the image of the guy in the Wrangler commercial who plays backyard football and hangs around the pickup truck by the lake and who happens to be one of the most prolific passers of all-time. He's the everyman who made it in America's favorite sport on the most storied franchise ever and somehow never lost perspective. We've seen him celebrate, we've seen him suffer, we've seen him cry tears of joy and tears of pain. In a game where players are obscured by helmets and facemasks Brett Favre has let us in to see who he truly is. He is what we wish every team was made up of. Passion, excitement, gamesmanship. We need more Favres, not less. It's hard to think that in a league with 1696 players one could have such a profound impact, but Favre did something to America's collective consciousness with regards to the NFL that will never be forgotten.

So while people like me might be sick of hearing about how much fun he has and how great he's been for the game for so long, maybe we should just shut our traps and absorb it while we can. And I hope that we can get away from trying to crown someone the next Brett Favre. Sure Cutler is scrappy, has fun, and can throw it a ton. But there won't be anyone like Favre ever again. And that's the way it should be. Legendary players like Favre are one of a kind. We call them one of a kind for a reason, and with someone like Favre there's no expiration date on that title.