By: David Folzy
There has been a problem in many ways over the last few
years since the ugly breakup in 2008 following the “retirement” of Brett Favre
from the Green Bay Packers. That is the
possibility for Favre to have his jersey retired at Lambeau Field after wanting
to be traded instead of backing up Aaron Rodgers, and the drama that ensued
after. For those that wonder what the
backstory is to this let me refresh you:
Shortly after NFC Championship loss in 2008 (2007 Regular
Season)- Favre announces retirement from football and isn’t heard from for a
long while.
July-August 2008: Favre announces he wants to return to the
NFL but with training camp underway and the Packers already in mode to move on,
Favre and Packers begin bitter dispute to see where their future lies. It ends up with the Packers trading Favre to
the New York Jets. Favre plays the 2008
season with the Jets, leading to an 8-3 start, but a torn rotator cuff ruins
the rest of the year and the Jets missed the playoffs. The Packers struggled with defense all year,
and limped to a 6-10 record in Rodgers’ first year.
Shortly after 2008 season: Favre unofficially announces
second retirement, Jets release Favre.
July 2009: After much thought to join the Minnesota Vikings,
Favre does in hopes of seeking revenge twice a year on the Packers.
2009 season: The Vikings dominate most of the year,
including two wins against the Packers and Favre provides himself some
self-respect to beat the Packers twice in the regular season and beating the
Cowboys in the NFC Divisional Playoffs en route to their first title game since
the 1997/1998 postseason. The Vikings
went 12-4 and the Packers rebounded from 2008 to finish 10-6 and make the
playoffs, losing to Arizona in the Wild Card Playoffs.
NFC Championship game: The game now looked back at for the
Saints bounty scandal, the Saints pummeled Favre high, low and side all night
long. Sometimes even late, the hits kept
coming and eventually bloodied Favre and getting at his ankle. Favre has a shot to win the game at the end
but throws a last second interception and in overtime the Vikings lose on a
Garrett Hartley field goal and the Saints advance to the Super Bowl, eventually
winning.
Off-season/2010 season: The off-season was one of getting
healthy for Favre. He had the ankle
injury bother him throughout the off-season and training camp. On top of that, the Packers had a better team
for most of the season and Favre was absolutely lost in his second year in
Minnesota. That was obviously in Favre’s
second trip to Lambeau and the Packers coming away with a 28-24 memorable
win. After the Packers thrashed the
Vikings 31-3 in Minnesota in Week 11, Favre’s team dropped to 3-7 and were
practically out of playoff contention.
Following a jarring hit against Buffalo, and another crushing hit from
the Bears, the longest consecutive games started streak for Favre ended at
297. The Packers rebounded late to make
the playoffs. Favre’s career officially
ended with a whimper, if even that, not playing three of the final four games
and the Vikings lost their season, going 6-10.
To add to the intrigue, the Packers won Super Bowl 45, with Rodgers
being the game’s MVP, something Favre never did in his career.
Since then, Aaron Rodgers has become one of the best
Quarterbacks, winning the NFL’s MVP and leading one of the best offenses we
have ever seen. Favre meanwhile is down
in Mississippi coaching high schoolers but has said he has no relationship with
the Packers. The reason this is even a
big deal is the thought of retiring Favre’s number. With Favre and the Packers having no
relationship, it seems to be realistic that when the Packers retire #4, Favre will
not be attending this occasion. The
situation was sad due to a couple things.
The Packers have since been widely respected for the decision for
trading Favre in hindsight, but the thing I did not agree with was trying to
buy out Favre for 20 million dollars to stay retired. Otherwise, they handled the situation the
best they could. For Favre, he had
everything he could to get back at GB and did so for a year, but you wonder at
what price will it eventually pay for him?
In the wake of his phone text drama with Jenn Sterger, to the entire
2010 year being a bust, not just Packers fans but many fans had grown tired of
Favre talk and were well ready for him to retire. Great player, but also the drama late in his
career may outweigh what was a historic career.
Most of his records will no doubt one day be broken, possibly by Peyton
Manning or someone else.
But for Favre he has to quit the drama of holding a grudge
against a team from nearly 5 years ago.
The Packers should also open up the door to Favre’s jersey being retired,
as well as inviting him to it. The
Packers Hall of Fame invites him to their inductions every year, to which Favre
doesn’t show up but that is a separate entity.
If the Packers openly pursue Favre for this and want him around for it,
then they cannot be faulted if Favre doesn’t show up. If Favre does show up it means he swallowed
his pride and his own self-respect to put together a decent image. Look, Favre doesn’t have to like this
occasion, he just needs to smile for 3 minutes, leave the field and never be
heard from again, unless ESPN wants to show him endlessly like they used
to. That’s really all this ceremony will
be; a quick jersey retirement, about 10 minutes then fly out of here and live
the rest of your life. If Favre cannot
set aside his grudge, then sorry but he is a little child who can’t get his own
way and the Packers will move on without him in the ceremony as well they should. It has been a mystery for a long time but in
the final couple years, we may have seen the true colors of both Favre and the
Green Bay Packers organization.
Now the final question to the last chapter of this story is:
Will Favre and the Packers come together for a 10 minute ceremony or will
Favre’s ego like it has for the last 4 years take charge of the situation?
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