Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Favre and Away

I know the whole world (well at least Jon Madden and Bristol) is mourning the loss of number 4, but I wanted to give a different take for why I'm sad that he's gone. Sure I hate to see the NFL's Ironman go, I hate to see the guy retire who holds the all-time record for six AND picks, I hate to see the QB leave the game who smashed helmets with Sapp and Strahan, who loved to play in Lambeau, and who ran down the field sans helmet in the first quarter of SB XXXI.

Despite all those reasons, I'm sad because Brett Favre was the last major athlete who I grew up watching as a kid still playing in pro sports.While Elway, Marino, and Young called it quits in the 90s, Brett just kept on playing. The guy came in the league in '91 and was still dominating! I'll give MJ credit for making it to '03, but I'd like to forget that comeback more than my hemorrhoids examination last year.

I realized my childhood was almost over in 2005 when Reggie Miller called it quits. It caught me way off guard, but I knew I still had guys like Roger Clemens and Favre to help me cling to my youth. I'm not sure what happened to the Rocket, but now, the simpler days of my youth are undoubtedly over.

So while I'll still enjoy watching the Gen-Y talent of Vince Young, Adrian Peterson, Lebron, and CP3 for years to come, it'll never be the same.

PS- I have the strange urge to wear some Wrangler jeans right now



5 comments:

The San Diego Mills said...

I love the title Ry! Very clever!

Kara said...

It's about time. He was starting to look like my grandpa.

Carrie said...

I can't blame Brett for being "tired" after 17 years of playing at his level. We were all lucky to see him play. Funny how Ocho-cinco and T.O. never thought to five the ref, Brett really knew how to celebrate.

I'm going to start taking Prilosec OTC. Not because I have heartburn, but because I want to grow up to be Brett Favre.

Jenn Shields said...

i'm tapping my foot waiting to read a post about Lute's return.

Gracie J said...

First off, fight the urge. I think the number of games he played/started in what have you is quite impressive, but when you're 65 years old and you've been sacked a gazillion times and likely already have some amount of brain damage (or "drain bamage") it's probably time to call it quits. Props to him for quitting while he's ahead.