TwoWordHeap

Let me start off by saying Brett Favre will go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks the world has ever seen. Statistically. The guy holds records for passing yards, touchdowns, completions, and consecutive games started, to name a few. But I HATE Brett Favre.

In 1981, a kid from Brooklyn, New York went to the University of North Carolina and donned a Columbia blue jersey. Number 23. What happened in the following months was only a hint of what this kid would become. As a freshman, this young man lead the UNC Tar Heels to the NCAA men’s basketball championship, hitting the first truly prolific shot of his then short career – he knocked down the game winner to sink the favored Georgetown Hoyas. The kid spent 3 seasons in North Carolina, and when the NBA draft came, there was still only a hint of his greatness to be found.

In 1984, two seven-footers named Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie were taken with the first two picks of the NBA draft. The young man from North Carolina was taken third by the Chicago Bulls. Even those in the front office for the Bulls seemed to question their pick, because #23 wasn’t a seven-footer, an icon of teams who had won the 5 previous championships. The quote from the front office was something to the effect of “Well, he’s no seven-footer.” When the call came down, a feeling of disappointment washed over the Bulls’ fans – “With the third pick in the 1984 NBA Draft, the Chicago Bulls have selected Michael Jordan, North Carolina.” At the time, of course, Jordan wasn’t the pick the Bulls wanted. But he was forgiven come 1991, 92, and 93 when he lead the Bulls to three consecutive NBA Championship titles.

Following the 1992-93 season, however, Michael Jordan shocked the world when he retired from the NBA. No one could have possibly seen it coming. At first, his disenchantment with playing basketball was his reasoning for the retirement. Not too much later, he revealed his real reason. His father had been tragically murdered, and Mike cited his father’s desire to see his play baseball as a major reason for his retirement. It didn’t work for him though – he was human with a bat in hand.

Less than a year later, the sports world went into a frenzy over two words: “I’m back.” MJ would lead the Bulls once again. Some familiar faces were still there, most notably Scottie Pippen, Mike’s right hand man. Several of the others were gone. No one really doubted though that the pieces for another championship run was gone – the arguably most important piece was there: head coach Phil Jackson. They did it again – three consecutive championships in 96, 97, and 98. In the 1998 NBA Finals, Jordan made magic again. At the top of the key, he drained a shot over Utah’s Byron Scott to seal the series. As he let it go, Mike left his hand hanging in the air until the shot fell.

It was the last game Jordan played in a Chicago Bulls uniform, but the basketball world was satisfied. Michael Jordan would end his career on a high note, and would always be remembered for the shot. He officially announced his retirement in the off-season in 1999. But he didn’t stay away.

In 2001, Michael was working in the front offices of the Washington Wizards. The team was doing horribly. The hero returned as a Washington Wizard. It was the first time in his professional career that he wouldn’t be a Bull. And it was bad. Mike’s age had caught up to him. An injury to his knee shortened his first season back to just 60 games. Younger players like Allen Iverson had become the superstars of the league. Mike played two seasons for the Wizards, and retired for the last time.

I will say this: I can’t imagine what it’s like to have someone tell me I can’t do the job that I love anymore. If my boss came in tomorrow and told me I was no longer employed, it would hit me very hard. Not just for financial reasons, but because I love what I do. I just hope that one day when I’m no longer effective, I’ll realize it and stop. I hope I’m smart enough, and willing enough, to control my own destiny. That said, I can completely understand why Jordan retired three times – he loved the game, wanted to play the game, and couldn’t accept just giving up.

I say all of this to say that I don’t hate Brett Favre for retiring, un-retiring, retiring, etc. – I hate Brett because of the attention he clearly craves. Brett retired after the 2006 season. He had tears in his eyes when he announced that he was done playing professional football. I shed a little tear myself. I could see the agony this decision he’d made had him in. He was a man walking away from what he did best, and did better than most anyone else.

In the off-season, there were rumors that Brett was considering coming back to play for the Packers again. He announced shortly before the start of the season that he would return. Brett lead the Packers deep into the playoffs, all the way to the NFC Championship. The problem was a Giant one. More accurately, the New York Giants. The Giants were on a tear, and they handed Brett a loss in his final game at Lambeau Field.

It was a rough ending to a good season. He retired again, declining to play in the Pro Bowl, where the fans had voted him to play. Once again, Brett stated a desire to play again. You’d think after all he did for the team the previous year, they would welcome him with open arms. Instead, the team had already retooled the offense to fit Favre’s former backup, Aaron Rodgers.

Brett fought like mad to have the Packers bring him back. The Pack didn’t want him there, going as far as offering him some $20 million to essentially stay retired. In the end, they agreed on one thing: a trade to the New York Jets. I can’t imagine though how deflating it must have been for Favre – he was traded to New York for a conditional pick. Green Bay seemed surprisingly confident in him^[1], according to the terms of the trade. They were guaranteed a 4th round pick. If Favre took 50 percent of total snaps with the Jets in 2008, the fourth-rounder becomes a third-round pick. If he got 70 percent of the snaps and the Jets made the playoffs, it became a second-round pick. If he took 80 percent of snaps and the Jets made the Super Bowl, it becomes a first-round pick.

For only the second time in his career, and the first since he’d become a household name, Favre wasn’t going to be a Packer. For the most part, Jets fans were elated to have the old gunslinger in their fold. They were unhappy, disappointed with Chad Pennington and his weak arm. Favre would be a hero if he could just throw the ball deep down-field for Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery to haul in. And boy did he throw it.

You see, Favre fans often leave out one of his NFL records: 310 interceptions. More than anyone else by 33. The funny part? The guy with 277 played 25 YEARS to Favre’s 18. His 464 TDs is more than any other, which is indeed impressive, but his season as a Jet was lackluster, and somewhat deceiving.

Favre finished the season with 22 TDs and 22 INTs. Down the stretch, though, Brett fell apart. The team he had guided to a respectable 8-3 (with 20 TDs and only 11 INTs, a good line) through 11 games had a solid shot at the playoffs in the tougher American conference and, more surprisingly, in one of the more heated divisions. The last 5 games of the season? 1-4. 2 TDs, 11 INTs. What the stats really don’t tell you in the big picture is if you remove week 4 from Brett’s season stats, he’s left with 16 TDs and 21 INTs. 14 TDs and 10 INTs in the other 7 games. Hardly legendary.

This off-season, Brett did something that pretty much guaranteed his return to the league – he had surgery on an arm that he claimed wasn’t injured. Since then, the Minnesota Vikings have expressed an interest in Favre – a team who really had a solid shot at a deep playoff run last season, save for their lack of identity at the quarterback spot.

Brett is destroying his legacy. I guess, in the end, I feel valid for not liking Brett Favre. But God help me if Brett’s playing ensures I’ll never see another of his Wrangler or Prilosec commercials, then let’s see the return of the Purple People Eaters. But if I had my choice, Brett: please, just this one time, don’t be like Mike.

1. Or perhaps they just wanted this pest gone [↩]

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