Goodbye, Brett

The news is out. Brett Favre is retiring from the game. I won't even bother you to send a link to any news sites because it's all over the Internet. However, if you want to get a good analysis of Favre, check out ESPN's Page 2 - I'm sure they'll eventually have something.

Coming from a die hard Packer fan, I have to say this is a sad day. But he went out as close to the top of his game as anyone could have imagined. Ok, a Super Bowl ring was imaginable, but still, during his last few games, I was on the edge of my couch, hoping Favre wouldn't have a career-capping game like Dan Marino - face down after one too many sacks and a 62-7 drubbing on the scoreboard.

Favre's gameplaying was maddeningly inconsistent. For half of last year's comeback, I opted not to watch any Packer games because whenever I watched, they were losing. Favre was throwing interceptions and making bad decisions on the field. But when he was on...wow. The game he played after his father died will go down in football lore.

Watching Favre play wasn't like watching Manning or Brady play. No matter how flawless his performance was, you always had the uneasy feeling in the back of your mind ... "don't throw an interception...don't throw an interception." It was sort of like watching the Red Sox win their first championship in 2004 - when even with a commanding lead in the World Series, you kept thinking "they're going to implode...this is where it starts - with a stupid error that results in a base run" - even up to the ninth inning.

I'll miss his interviews on Jim Rome (although he'll no doubt return, just not as a current quarterback), I'll miss his elated fist-pumping on the field and I'll miss the presence of one of the few players left in the NFL who truely seems like he would be doing this for free because he loves the game so much.

Thanks, Brett -