Packers star must move on
Amy Donaldson
I understand how tough it is for a truly competitive person to throw in the towel, call it a day, give it up or walk away. And usually, I respect that. But, please, Brett, please, if you love football as much as it seemed you did for the last 17 years, do not do this to your fans. Do not do this to the game.
Walk away like you said you would. Be done. Move on. Grow up.
Before Favre announced his resignation in March — a tearful, emotional affair that seemed the perfect ending to his storied career — I wouldn't have cared if he stayed another year. But once he said his goodbyes, we all moved on. Doors shut. Things changed.
There were issues with his exit. I wish he'd just left at the end of the season with the grace he'd often displayed at quarterback for the Green Bay Packers instead of the waffling he'd done in the last few years. It made him look more like a sore (literally) loser than a sincere man who'd accomplished what he could in a game he has forever impacted.
Still, he left. He cried, we cried, and then apparently, just when we were coming to grips with professional football without him, he reconsidered.
I am not a Packers fan, but I loved watching Favre play.
Who didn't? It wasn't just his skill, or the fact that he was a risk-taker as much as he was a playmaker. It was that he looked like he was having the time of his life playing football. Snow, sleet, winning or losing, Favre displayed the kind of fire and exuberance that made the softest among us think about taking a hit for him. He was the Peter Pan of football, the consummate kid. He never seemed troubled or stressed about plays or pressure; he just flashed that boyish grin, threw out those hilarious one-liners, and we forgave him anything.
I loved every moment he was on the field. The fact that his passion for the game was palpable only made him, in good times or in bad, more endearing. His commitment to the game is something we never questioned.
That is, until now.
Who abandons the team, the fans, the legacy? Peter Pan may have refused to grow up, but he never went to work for Captain Hook, either.
Okay, Michael Jordan did come out of retirement to play for the Washington Wizards, but he did leave himself an opening when he said he was 99.9 percent sure he would never come back. Not good odds that he'd come back and humiliate himself and alienate Bulls fans, but he always was one to beat the odds.
Recent comments
Brett Favre will never be mistaken for Bart Starr.
observer | July 15, 2008 at 10:47 a.m.
I am from Wisconsin and though not a big football fan, I want to...
Robin | July 15, 2008 at 10:17 a.m.
Then DO NOT RETIRE in the first place!!! He earned tyhe right to...
RE:MAAAAAATTTTT | July 14, 2008 at 12:22 p.m.
