Freedom's Fidelity

Monday, November 29, 2004

All Hail Favre

Tonight on Monday Night Football is Brett Favre's 200th consecutive start at quarterback. Actually it's about 220 consecutive starts including playoffs (what playoff games don't count?!?) but as far as official NFL statistics are concerned tonight is # 200. It is amazing. There will be comparisons to Cal Ripken's streak and debate about where it ranks next to that, if at all. I think it does. Both streaks took place over about the same number of years and while Ripken played many more games the sports are quite different. Obviously Ripken wasn't facing 11 guys that were trying to rip his head off each game. Over his career there were several instances where it appeared the streak was over, but somehow he always found a way to play and play effectively. Sprained ankles, seperated shoulders, a broken thumb on his throwing had (on his throwing hand!). None of that made much of a difference, Favre shows up everyday.

Of course what I have come to like most about Brett is the way in which he plays the game, or rather, the way he truly enjoys it. The way he goofs off with teammates in the middle of games, playing jokes, keeping guys loose, and making every one around him better. The way he sprints down the field after a long TD pass to tackle his teammates in celebration and the way he instills self-confidence in young players. In short, he gives the game to so many people.
The Green Bay Packers website has a lot on Favre today, but here's how it all started:

James Campen vividly recalls the first time Brett Favre stepped into the huddle.

Don Majkowski, the Green Bay Packers’ starting quarterback, severely sprained an ankle early in a Sept. 20, 1992, game against Cincinnati at Lambeau Field.
Enter Favre.

“When he came into the huddle, we were thinking, ‘OK, here comes the gunslinger who’s been winging the ball everywhere in practice,’” Campen said. “He just looked at everybody, got a big smile on his face and said, ‘How ya’ll doin?’ Then he said, ‘We’re going to win this (expletive) game.’ It inspired a lot of us because we hadn’t been winning a whole lot around here, and we hadn’t heard that kind of talk.”
Campen, the center, also was curious to see what the pride of Southern Miss could do in the NFL. He wasn’t disappointed.

Favre threw a last-second touchdown pass to Kitrick Taylor to edge the Bengals 24-23 and send Lambeau Field into delirium.

...There’s his passion, according to LeRoy Butler. “The difference is the joy he has for himself and for his teammates when he throws a touchdown pass,” said Butler. “That’s what he plays for. That’s what he lives for. That’s what drives him. That’s his spirit.”

There’s his humbleness, according to James Campen, Favre’s first center and a current Packers assistant coach. “The best thing about him is his humility,” said Campen. “If you didn’t know who he was, and the whole world does, you wouldn’t even know he was a football player. He’s just that way.”

posted by Paul  permalink | |