Sportspinion: Favre’s farewell tour continues

By Douglas Long

Brett Favre is one of the most beloved and hated figures in the National Football League. Many people know him not only due to his legacy on the field, but also his antics off it. Favre has played 20 seasons, is 40 years old and has won one Superbowl. He has 442 career passing touchdowns, 318 interceptions and has starred in numerous Wrangler Jean commercials. He has officially retired twice only to come back and play agwain shortly afterward.

Out of all those numbers, his repeated retirements stand out the most. Honestly who retires two times, only to change their mind and come back again? It’s like telling your boss that you can’t work anymore because you’re just too old, then coming back to work months later, twice.

Favre created his legacy playing for the Green Bay Packers over the course of 16 seasons, slinging footballs in the NFL for about 20 years altogether — longer than most first years have been alive. He breaks so many records because he has been around for ages. He broke some astonishing records but most are not ones that a typical quarterback would be very proud of. It’s like that guy at work that shows up for every shift and has been with whatever company for 20 years, sure he probably holds a record for showing up every day or drinking a cup of coffee consistently for 20 years, but really who cares? Does it actually matter that Brett Favre has 8,758 passing attempts?

Although Brett Favre has had a highly successful career, there have been numerous times where many fans have changed their opinions of him due to his actions.

The retirement saga started when Favre retired from the Green Bay Packers in March 2008, saying he was too old to play. There is a reason why only a couple people still play in the NFL at 40 years old. Then a couple months later he changed his mind and came back, just not for the same team, leaving Green Bay with rookie quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Favre played one wasteful season in the Big Apple with the New York Jets and failed to make the playoffs.

There was much controversy after the season ended and Favre was released by the Jets. He later signed with the Minnesota Vikings and made it to the 2009 playoffs, only to lose in the conference final to the current Superbowl Champions the New Orleans Saints.

Brett Favre is leading in almost every aspect of NFL records held by quarterbacks. For the time being, he has just been adding and adding to those numbers, which are ridiculously large and only obtainable if you played 20 seasons in the NFL.

As for the team he currently signed with, don’t count on him winning any Superbowls in the next decade, considering he’ll likely retire for a third, fourth or fifth time.