Brett Favre Retires; Like Everything Else, It's the Patriots Fault

It appears as though Brett Favre is retiring for what will likely be the final time. There seems to be no question why he retired. The Moss factor.

I find it less than coincidental that less than 24 hours after Randy Moss's deal to return to the Patriots was announced Favre's decision was made. Favre spent a good portion of last years offseason publicly asking that the Packers make the moves required to bring Moss to Green Bay. Green Bay apparently felt that Moss was not worth the 4th rounder that ended up pulling him out oh Oakland. (Hindsight is twenty-twenty, but that record setting season Moss put up in New England makes that 4th round pick look like a real bargain now.) With Moss leading the Free Agency market this offseason, Favre had to be hoping to see the Packers make the move they were to short sighted to see last season. Instead the Packers missed out on Moss and now, no matter what Aaron Rodgers does, they will miss the legend for years to come.


Though Favre has contemplated retirement during the past few offseasons, this time seems official. With a statement released by Packers GM Ted Thompson

Brett Favre has informed us of his intention to retire from the Green Bay
Packers and the NFL, he has had one of the greatest careers in the history of
the National Football League, and he is able to walk away from the game on his
own terms — not many players are able to do that.

The Brett Favre is the greatest thing since sliced bread comments continued from Thompson, but here at the Opinion that started a month ago with our letter that Brett must have missed. We can surely find some time to heap on more praise.

Favre gave the Packers the rare blessing of long running consistency of his 16 years in Green Bay, crushing the games-started streak and continuing it right up until the end of his career. The end of his career is certainly not the ride off into the sunset that one would dream up for a gritty legend. Favre ended a magical season by throwing an interception in overtime of the NFC Championship game. The teams season was a great one, made even more so by the fact it was unexpected. That interception being the final ball that Favre will wing down the field while scrambling under pressure is a little hard to swallow.

While it lacks the final moment Favre's Career was made up of those. Favre's overall numbers will lead to my kids likely, and their kids surely under appreciating him. But the moments , where he truly shined made up for the bad games and even the bad seasons. His greatness was not only so impressive but so fun to watch it made the hard times a little easier to swallow. (Note: I'm a Vikings fan so while I have enjoyed his magic, his hard times actually went down like bourbon for breakfast. In my world that's GRRRREAAAAT)

One of his finest moments wasn't that long ago. If you didn't have the pleasure of seeing the Monday Night Football game that Favre played against the Raiders mere hours after his father's passing, it was inspiring. He threw for 5 million yards and every thing he put up there was escorted by angels and the almighty himself to the hands of his receivers. Ok that might be a little grander than it actually was but the second most interesting thing in that game was listening to Madden call the game. He went nuclear-Fanboy about Favre. basically describing his play as divine he was gushing so much.

I have to say while the fans will be saddened I think Madden is going to be crushed, unless they get Favre in the booth which just might make his life. The saddest person though will be Frank Caliendo, since the only funny impersonation he does is Madden gushing about Favre.

Open letter from a Viking fan to Brett Favre

Dear Mr. Favre, (After all we've been through that feels a little formal)
Dear Brett,
I know things have been rocky for us. We've had our ups and downs. Most of the ups yours and most of the downs mine. But hey who doesn't. I am willing to look past all the last second throws, the barely slipping from John Randle's grasp. The tosses barely clearing Orlando Thomas fingers.
But our relationship improved. Everyone said you only thought of yourself but I knew you cared. You gave a little, there were some wins for me to savor as well. I know it was hard for you, I could see it on your face. Their you were watching Moss with jealousy from across the field.
Lately you have been back to your old ways. Everything for you and your boys and nothing to savor on my side. Your friends even went so far as to hurt my new 'mate Adrian .
Let me shout this clearly. I don't care, I want you back. I can't stand the idea of having the NFL without you. Trust me I am risking some serious alienation by my fellow Purple People Eater's.
Again I don't care. I am reasonable, I am not asking for 10 more years, not even 5.
Just give me, give all of us, one more season. To enjoy the magic and the mastery.

Looking back at the Favre deal

It’s always good to take a look back. It shows how much things can change. Some times we see that even the bad times will pass. Some times we look back and see how wrong we were. I mean look at former Atlanta Falcons GM, Ken Horecks quote at the end of this article. Man how wrong can you be.

(I found this Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article while researching another post)

Atlanta - The reaction when the Atlanta Falcons traded Brett Favre to the Green
Bay Packers was immediate.
"Lots of heat," former Green Bay general manager
Ron Wolf remembered this week.
Mind you, Wolf was the guy who got Favre, not
the one who traded for his services.
The Falcons? They had just acquired a
first-round pick for a player they drafted in the second round the previous year
who was overweight, loved carousing and was so undisciplined that he didn't show
up for the team picture.
Besides, they already had a quarterback - Chris
Miller - who had led the team to its first playoff victory in 13 years, had just
returned from the Pro Bowl and was only 26 years old.
History will not
remember that 1992 trade that way, of course.
The Packers got the National
Football League's only three-time league MVP, a quarterback some argue to be the
greatest ever, and a player who in 11 seasons has led the Packers to 115
regular-season victories, seven post-seasons and two Super Bowls. In addition,
he has started 173 consecutive regular-season games, an NFL record for
quarterbacks.
The Falcons got Tony Smith.
Said Lee Remmel, the Packers
public relations director and team historian: "It was a master stroke."
When
Favre goes under center against Atlanta in a wild-card playoff game Saturday
night in Green Bay, Falcons fans probably won't remember it that way. Favre, at
least, understands why the trade went down.
"If I was in their position," he
said this week from Green Bay, "I would have done the same thing."
Favre
fondly remembers his one season as a Falcon, particularly the team and its run
to the playoffs, a wild-card berth with a 10-6 record.
"Not really knowing
what was going on, but knowing it was really something special," he said. "I've
never taken the playoffs for granted."
Those who were around him remember a
huge talent and a character who infuriated coach Jerry Glanville with his
frequent tardiness, poor work habits and a taste for night life. Glanville had
four rules: 1) Be on time. 2) Prepare all week to play. 3) Spill your guts on
the field. 4) Only accept victory.
"If he'd have got to 3 and 4, he'd have
been fine," Glanville said. "But you had to get past 1 and 2."
Said Favre:
"I'm sure I didn't help my cause by trying to drink up Atlanta."
How the
trade happened depends on whom you believe. Time and coming up on the short end
of one of the most lopsided trades in sports have a way of playing with one's
memory.
Glanville says the trade was made without his knowledge, that the
first he heard of it was when he showed up to work on the day of the
trade.
Then-player personnel vice president Ken Herock could not see it more
differently. Herock says he was enamored of Favre's talent but that Glanville
pushed him to make the trade.
"I'd go scouting for three or four days a week
(during the season) and come back, and all I'd hear is 'Take a look at this tape
(from practice). He ain't doing nothing,' " Herock said. "I used to get sick of
it."
Favre has heard a lot of versions.
"Ken has always said that he was
in my corner," Favre said. "And, of course, Jerry, since I came here and played
well, he's always said that, 'I told 'em I wanted you,' but I question
that.
"I don't have any beefs with anybody from Atlanta. I can't blame them
for getting rid of me, to be totally honest with you."
June Jones, who was
Glanville's offensive coordinator, later succeeded Glanville as head coach and
now coaches at the University of Hawaii, said the Falcons coaches thought Favre
could play down the road, but they felt pressure to win immediately.
Trading
Favre for a first-round pick would help them do that. Where a general manager's
motive is team building, coaches feel heat to win games, or as Jones put it,
"Don't tell me about three years from now. I might not be here."
Said Jones:
"I think, in general, both guys were right."
Or wrong.
Either way, Favre
was traded. Miller tore up his knee the next season. His final season with the
Falcons was 1993, same as Glanville. Herock left the team in 1997, shortly after
the arrival of coach Dan Reeves.
Today, Mike Vick is the Falcons' 11th
starting quarterback since the trade.
The mistake was compounded when the
Falcons spent the Packers' first-round pick on Smith, a running back who had
been Favre's teammate at Southern Mississippi. He played in 33 games and was out
of the league by 1995, the first of Favre's three consecutive MVP
seasons.
Favre says he often is asked what would have happened if he hadn't
been traded, but doesn't give it much thought.
Said Wolf: "I'm sure what
would have happened is what happened in Green Bay."
Maybe the Falcons
eventually received some sort of payback.
As Herock pointed out, if the
Falcons had never traded Favre, "They wouldn't have Vick now."

NFL Conference Championship Weekend

Cinderella or Clash of the Titans
So which are you rooting for the Cinderella story or the Clash of the Titans. You can have the aging legend and the golden boy quarterback. You could go the other route and opt for the continually beaten down little brother, to receive some kind of passing of the torch on Sunday. Then he would get that rematch against the golden boy. The match ups involving the loud mouth quarterback?? You ask. Let’s not waste each others time.
The Story line machine is cranking this week. The Eli Manning vs. Phillip Rivers, who got the better side of that deal. The 19-0 season on the line. The "we all might have put Brett Favre out to pasture just a bit to early" story line. I also like the which is a bigger steal; Moss for a 4th rounder or Favre for a first rounder that the Falcons used on Tony Smith.
Either way I can’t wait to see the NFL Championship. The story should be great either way. As great as the story could be, the potential for the upset could make it the best Superbowl game in recent memory