Thank You No.4

When Brett Favre announced his retirement two days ago, most of Packer Nation was in shock. Why would the franchise’s greatest player walk away from the game after one of the best seasons of his illustrious career? Why would the team’s unquestioned leader leave when the Pack looks to be so close to returning to the Super Bowl? Why wouldn’t he sign on for a chance to possibly write that storybook ending and go out on top? Favre’s retirement left his fans, his teammates, his peers and the media asking all these questions and yesterday at his press conference he provided them with the answer: It was the right time.

Everyone knows the story of Brett Favre, the fun loving country boy who handed off more than he threw in high school, was recruited by only one D-I college and signed there as a defensive back, was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons and had his name mispronounced on Draft Day, partied too hard and languished on the bench in Atlanta until Ron Wolf brought him to Green Bay and gave him a shot. It was almost as if his life before becoming a member of the NFL’s most storied franchise was the script for a hollywood movie about the underdog everyman who rises from modest beginnings and overcomes hardships to live out his childhood dreams but not even the best screenwriter could imagine what came next.

When Favre finally got his chance to show everyone what he could do on the field, he seized that opportunity and 16 seasons, 275 consecutive games, 160 wins, 442 touchdowns, 61,655 passing yards, 9 pro-bowls, 3 MVP Awards and 1 Super Bowl Championship later, he has become not only one of the greatest players to ever play professional football but a national icon. The leadership, talent, toughness and fortitude he displayed over those 16 years while playing the game with a genuine happiness and fun that you don’t often see in such a physical and demanding game made him a hero to millions of fans all over the world and made him the face of the Green Bay Packers and the NFL.

We all remember watching him as he played week after week with injuries that would have kept most players on the sideline. We all remember watching him battle his addiction to painkillers and his struggles with alcohol. We all remember the heartbreaking stories of family tragedies and loss he had to deal with while still trying to lead his on field family to victory on sunday afternoon. No one who watched him play that monday night in Oakland only hours after learning about the death of his father and lifelong coach Irvin, will ever forget him playing the game of his life with tears in his eyes all the while. No one who watched him lead the Packers to victory in Super Bowl XXXI will ever forget the sight of him running around the field with the smile of a child on Christmas morning after hitting Andre Rison with a perfect touchdown strike. No one who ever watched him play period, will ever forget the way he brought a sense of joy to the game like no other player before him. This is his true legacy as a player and as a person, the memories he supplied to everyone else.

Brett Favre had become bigger than just a football player. He had become bigger than what he truly is, just a regular person who happened to have extroardinary talent inside the lines on sunday. He had become a legend, a giant, a hero and in the eyes of packers fans,a savior and with every passing day his shadow over the game was growing larger and it was becoming harder for this simple country boy from Mississippi to fill.

Brett Favre holds every major passing record, he has set the standard for durability with his incredible ironman streak at QB, he is the NFL’s only 3 time MVP and has a championship ring, so the only question left is what more does he have left to prove? The answer is Nothing. That is what brings us to today, the first day of the official post-Favre era. He has fulfilled and i’m sure far surpassed every dream that he has had for himself in the game, he has conquered every challenge thrown his way by not only football but by life, he has brought the Green Bay Packers back to prominence amongst the league’s elite teams after years of ineptitude had cast a shadow over the once proud franchise and he has helped to raise the popularity of the NFL to an all-time high during his tenure. What more can we ask him to do when he has already done everything and more.

Brett Favre could have come back for one more season. He could probably play for five more seasons and nobody would complain. He could’ve gone through the meetings and the practices and the motions and went out on sundays and lined up behind center just like has every sunday for 16 glorious years. He might have even been able to bring another title to Green Bay but it wouldn’t have been the same. The smile would have been gone. The little boy playing a man’s game would have been a distant memory. The reason everyone connected with No.4 would have been missing. Brett Favre is an icon because he truly loved the game of football and it showed so brightly every time he stepped onto the field. Brett Favre is a hero because he inspired an entire generation young and old to believe in your dreams and work hard to make them come true. Brett Favre is a legend because he reached the pinnacle of his sport while never once forgetting where he came from and where his incredible journey began. Brett Favre is all of these things but more than any of these things he is a father and a husband and a son and a person. Sometimes we want to be selfish when it comes to our heroes and forget that they have lives and families outside the game and that there comes a time in the life of even the greatest athletes when real life takes precedent over sport. Brett Favre has given each of us 17 years to watch, to root, to imagine, to cheer, to celebrate, to cry and to dream and now it is time to thank him for all the wonderful memories and congratulate him as he moves on to the next successful phase of his life. Why did Brett Favre retire yesterday? Because it was the right time.