Burning Bridges in Wisconsin
by Chris Markey
Brett Favre…two words which at one time meant everything that was great about the National Football League have since been reduced to a punch line. Favre has always been one of the most colourful characters in professional sports. He set numerous passing records as the quarterback of the illustrious Green Bay Packers including most career passing yards, passing touchdowns and consecutive games started. Throw in three Most Valuable Player awards and a Super Bowl championship and you have one of the greatest players to ever set foot on the gridiron.
Favre continues to be one of the most popular figures in sports at the age of 39, an age when most athletes have fallen back to earth and are forced to leave the game they love. Favre is no different, he has seen a dramatic decline in his game and he has retired…numerous times. The problem is that this man cannot remain on the sidelines, he cannot sit home on Sunday, and he cannot stop throwing footballs to his receivers or the opposing defence.
The insatiable need to play professional football, for better or for worse, has led Favre to burn every bridge he spent years building. One needs to look no further than the Packers organization. Together they built the second greatest era in franchise’s history. Favre arguably may have been more beloved in Wisconsin then names like Lombardi and Starr simply for the way he played the game, with passion and reckless abandon. Favre spent his final few years in Title Town forcing people to wonder whether he was leaving or staying. Some years not even Favre would know until the pre-season began. Until finally General Manager Ted Thompson decided to move on and let the kid (Aaron Rodgers) play quarterback instead. Favre would not take no for an answer, he forced a trade out of town and into the city of New York.
picture from LA Times
This move sent waves through the NFL. The Jets acquisition of Favre led to the release of their long time quarterback Chad Pennington. Pennington signed with the rival Dolphins shortly after. The Jets 2008 season which began with a passing game on fire slowed in the second half due to injuries and poorly judged throws. The Jets missed the playoffs, head coach Eric Mangini was fired and Favre retired again.
The 2009 off-season has seen Favre retire, seek his release from the Jets, consider signing with the Vikings, deciding to stay retired and then at the end of training camp make his way to Minnesota to sign a two year contract. He will open the season as starter of the Minnesota Vikings ahead of incumbents Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels on the depth chart.
The NFL fan knows what this move means to the people of Green Bay. They put up with Favres indecisiveness every off-season because he was their hero and they loved him. They accepted his move to New York because their team needed to get younger at quarterback and they understood he wanted to keep playing the game. But now he is playing football again a mere 280 miles west of his former team for the arch rival Vikings. The two teams will meet twice this season including a November 1st meeting in Green Bay.
This past Tuesday afternoon Favre set fire to the greatest bridge in the NFL, the one he built with the people of Wisconsin many years ago. He will forever be a villain in the memories of Packer fans, his heroics on the Frozen Tundra of Lambeau Field erased by the sight of “Number 4” in Viking purple.
