A showman to the end, Favre retires right on time

Pack93z

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I could not have said it better myself.. great read.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/don_banks/03/04/brett-favre/index.html?eref=T1

A showman to the end, Favre retires right on time
Posted: Tuesday March 4, 2008 11:52AM; Updated: Tuesday March 4, 2008 12:07PM

They say the best entertainers always seem to have that innate sense of timing for when to exit the stage, leaving you wanting to see just a little more and wishing the show would go on a little longer. That's the secret they all know: Don't make the mistake of staying to the point where everybody's seen enough and has no desire for more. The great ones end on a high note and just walk off.

Today, that's the part I think Brett Favre got just right. The news of his retirement leaves us wanting a little more, rather than suffused with the feeling that we've all seen enough. There's a certain skill to that.

Jerry Rice couldn't manage it, bouncing from San Francisco to Oakland to Seattle to Denver at the end. Emmitt Smith wrapped up with those two painfully ineffective seasons in Arizona, and Dan Marino in the late '90s was a shell of the Dan the Man that we had come to revere, leaving with the bitter taste of that 62-7 playoff shellacking at Jacksonville.

But Favre wrote himself the perfect ending with his renaissance season of 2007, and he was smart enough to recognize it when he did. One final sweet victory lap of sorts. A last chance to prove to himself and to all the doubters that he could still get it done, and play like the Favre of old, albeit with a tad more discipline and discernment.

No, it wasn't completely the stuff of storybooks. The Packers lost at home in the cold of overtime to the Giants in the NFC title game, with Favre throwing the ill-advised and game-deciding interception. But that loss, no matter how excruciating for the Packers and their fans, didn't wipe out the glorious 4½-month magic carpet ride Favre and Green Bay went on in 2007.

The lasting image of Favre's final season, of course, will be that snow-fest against Seattle at Lambeau in the NFC divisional round. It was a holiday post-card come to life, with No. 4 playing and jumping around like the little kid he tended to be in such settings. Had the Packers gone on even to win the Super Bowl, I'm not sure we could have ever had a moment to top Favre besting his old Packers coach, Mike Holmgren, in a blizzard at Lambeau. It seemed almost too good to be true, and maybe now we all understand why.

Only a handful of NFL players truly leave a void when they leave the game. There have been many greats in the 88 seasons of the NFL, but very few irreplaceables. Johnny Unitas was one. Jim Brown another. Walter Payton comes to mind. And now we can add to that list Favre, whose story was always about more than just his strong right arm and playmaking skills.

He wasn't always the best quarterback in the game, sometimes far from it. Both early and late in his career, he was mistake-prone and too often stubborn to a fault. And for some reason, I love how you never heard anyone talking up Favre's cerebral approach to the game. He wasn't out there doing a lot of thinking. He was too busy playing. Reacting. And yes -- dare we say it? -- having fun. Thanks to John Madden, it's horribly clichéd by now, but still true.

From his earliest days in the NFL, Favre was always entertaining, always watchable. He made you think that if you turned away from the TV screen, you just might miss something you had never seen before, and might never again. He seemed to fit our perception of how an NFL player should look when he was out there on the field doing what he did best. He competed like a guy who never really knew any other way to play the game, from Pop Warner all the way to the NFL. For Favre, it was all just one long continuous grass stain on his knee.

The guessing game that Favre's retirement watch had become the past three years or so bored me out of my mind. The tea leaf reading and "informed'' speculation got so very old. At times, Favre was to blame, for stringing out his decision-making process, and at times the damnable 24/7 news cycle was the culprit, making us all talk and talk about something, even when we're devoid of real news.

But now that particular game is over, and Favre's retirement has been set in motion, I can't help but recognize the irony involved. In recent years, as Favre's play declined and the Packers struggled, we kept thinking that those would be the key factors in his decision to step away from the game. Instead, he kept coming back. Kept trying to win again, and to play up to his previous Hall-of-Fame standards.

And then he did, last season. The Packers won again, and Favre flashed so much of his old magic. With a young and potential-laden team around him, it seemed like retirement would be the last thing on his mind this offseason. I thought for sure he couldn't walk away with so much going for him now, having endured the lean years in Green Bay.

So of course, he did. He said no to the lure of more glory -- something few professional athletes ever overcome -- and called it a career after the memorable comeback season that added an exclamation point to his legacy. He's leaving on a high note, just like all great entertainers do. We might all want more, but he's smart not to give it to us. In the past 17 years, we've seen more than enough from Favre, and that'll just have to do. It was his show all along, and knowing just when to end it was his last good call.
 

rmayer32

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Green_Bay_Packers said:
Thanks for all the great moments :( Sad he had to retire

Surprising and sad, but we all knew it was coming sooner rather then later.. At least he got to go out on his terms and one final season playing lights out..
 

Zombieslayer

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How come whenever someone writes something about Favre, they have to include the bad?

Earth to everyone - EVERYONE made mistakes. How come we never harp on Montana's mistakes? You know he only won 4 Super Bowls? He could have won 12!

Or better yet, John Elway. He was a turd in Super Bowls. Look up his SB stats. No one brought that up when Elway retired.

Favre played his heart out for 16 years for Packer fans. That's what I'll remember. All these writers can go **** themselves.
 
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I can't read this now, I don't know it just seems like this can't be happening now, not given everything that happened last year.

Will definitely bookmark this and read it once reality sets in.
 

nathaniel

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How come whenever someone writes something about Favre, they have to include the bad?

Earth to everyone - EVERYONE made mistakes. How come we never harp on Montana's mistakes? You know he only won 4 Super Bowls? He could have won 12!

Or better yet, John Elway. He was a turd in Super Bowls. Look up his SB stats. No one brought that up when Elway retired.

Favre played his heart out for 16 years for Packer fans. That's what I'll remember. All these writers can go **** themselves.

I can't think of another QB (strike that; professional athlete) that has been critiqued and criticized more than Brett Favre. People love to hate him.
 

Veretax

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So.. How long do we have to wait before they Retire Jersey #4? Because I don't think Any Packer can ever wear that jersey and live up to what Favre has accomplished.
 
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Pack93z

Pack93z

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I can't think of another QB (strike that; professional athlete) that has been critiqued and criticized more than Brett Favre. People love to hate him.

It happens to alot of the greats as time passes... I think it is sort of the medias way of bringing them down a level..

Brett goes down as one of the greatest... I am immune to that crap.
 

Packnic

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Its the whole society now... they would rather beat you up than lift you up.


however. i like hearing about Bretts mistakes. he was real. his interceptions, to me, make him the man he is just as much as the touchdowns. They were stupid throws, but im stupid...so i can relate.

the fact is Brett screwed up hundreds of times.... but you always knew he could make it up. he might not have, but you knew he could and would try like hell. to me, his mistakes make him the legend he is. always exciting, always entertaining, always real.

GREATEST QUARTERBACK ALIVE. ASK ABOUT HIM
 

MontanaBob

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Everyone who works in a job for a number of years knows that that day will come when you must step down. Only that person, not the fans, not the media, not the coaches, not the bosses or administrators can make that decision for you. Call it a gut feeling or whatever, you know when it is time. Some, as mentioned above, wait to long and pay the price for it. Others, maybe call it quits too soon. But who is to second guess that persons decision? The fans, the media and so on, but what do they really know what is going on inside that person.

So fans, Brett has made that decision and I respect him for knowing that it is "time." Forget what others say to criticize him....everyone loves to beat up on winners. They are the true losers. Brett goes out a winner, and will be a winner the rest of his life regardless.

As for me, I just made my retirement from teaching official....I knew it was time....so Brett and I ride off into the sunset together knowing we gave it our all. Adios Amigo. You provided all fans with a special treat, and that is playing the game because you were having fun!
 

bigfog

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So.. How long do we have to wait before they Retire Jersey #4? Because I don't think Any Packer can ever wear that jersey and live up to what Favre has accomplished.

If it were up to me, I'd say during the upcoming season, but I could see maybe 2-3 years or so.
 

cheesey

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Veretax said:
So.. How long do we have to wait before they Retire Jersey #4? Because I don't think Any Packer can ever wear that jersey and live up to what Favre has accomplished.

If it were up to me, I'd say during the upcoming season, but I could see maybe 2-3 years or so.
I don't know if teams retire jerseys anymore. I think the NFL frowns upon it.
 

trippster

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They will retire #4. Or I will personally (send cheesy to) kill anyone who dares wear that jersey.....
 

Zombieslayer

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Forget what others say to criticize him....everyone loves to beat up on winners. They are the true losers. Brett goes out a winner, and will be a winner the rest of his life regardless.

Well said, Bob, but it still really ****** me off. Brett Favre has given me so much as a Packer fan. I didn't live through the Lombardi years. All I remembered was bad year after bad year and 8-8 was a year to brag about.

I'm tired of hearing people demote his achievements. I don't think I've reached that level of maturity that you have. It gets inside my skin.
 

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