As a final postlude to my Brett Favre tribute, it's now time to recognize that the future is now, and our future lies with Packers' QB Aaron Rodgers, a 3-year backup, to whom all of Packer-Nation now looks to lead us to victory. Rodgers was drafted 24th in the 1st round of the 2005 Draft and now has the heavy responsibility of filling the shoes of one of the game's all-time greats...
Good Luck.
However, Packers fans shouldn't lose all hope, as Rodgers has not-only shown plenty of promise in the limited playing time he's had, but he seems also to have the confidence of his teammates that he's the right man for the job. Here's what Brett Favre himself had to say about the "Young Gun", Aaron Rodgers...
So without further ado, I present to you, the new starting QB of the Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers!
While Brett will be sorely missed by us all, I find myself surprisingly excited to see what Rodgers will bring to the table and confident that he can lead us back to the playoffs in '08! Let's all rally behind the guy as we usher in what will be another great era of Packers football!
But as one last farewell, before we officially part ways and move on from this Favre tribute on my blog, I'd like to share two last video clips of the great #4.
First, SportsCenter recap of Brett Favre and the Packers 2007 Season...
And lastly, a tribute to Brett not only from us, but also from several of the greatest athletes of all-time, showing their respect to the man who lined-up under center for the Green-and-Gold for 16 straight years, comprising 275 consecutive games. The one, the only, the timeless, Brett Favre.
Goodbye Brett Favre, Hello Aaron Rodgers...
Thursday, March 13, 2008
A New Era Begins...
Posted by Kodison at 10:23 PM
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2 comments:
What can I say....he's no Brett but it'll be fun to watch him come fall.
...come back brett!!...
Doug Robinson's column from the March 19, 2008 edition of the Deseret News. For your reading pleasure…just in case you missed it.
The phone call came during the Dan Patrick radio show. The caller — a grown man — was near tears as he lamented the retirement of Brett Favre.
"Dan," he said, "this is hard. It's just really hard."
A bartender in Green Bay called in sick because, he explained, "I wasn't mentally ready for the day."
A fan in Wisconsin wrote to a Wisconsin newspaper — " ... it's difficult for fans to let him go. Saying goodbye is never easy, as Robert Frost wrote, 'Nothing gold can stay.'"
OK, this is where we call timeout. This is where we say, get a grip. This is where we say, Favre is a football player, for crying out loud. This is where we say, this is not the Lou Gehrig story; he's just retiring, not dying.
But there it is: Favremania is one of the great sports phenomena of modern times, something that deserves to be studied. It held the country firmly in its grip for about a decade. Favre became an American icon, a truly beloved figure. For years, all things Favre have dominated headlines, newspaper stories, blogs, magazines, TV shows, and Internet sites.
Look, I hate to rain on the parade — I've been a Favre fan for years — but I have to ask a question: Was Favre overrated as a player?
It's a question some people have dared to ask since Favre retired, and one that generates a lot of emotion.
Favre has had a permanent honeymoon with media and fans. Even when he did wrong, he could do no wrong. He could set an all-time NFL record for interceptions. He could throw an interception at the end of the 2008 NFC Championship game that set up the game-winning field goal for the New York Giants and sent them to the Super Bowl. He could throw a mindless interception at the end of a 2004 playoff game to set up the field goal that gave the Philadelphia Eagles a 20-17 overtime victory. He could throw four interceptions in a playoff loss to the Vikings at the end of the 2004-05 season. He could win only one Super Bowl.
Didn't matter. Favremania rolled on.
During the 2005 season, when Favre threw a club-record 29 interceptions and only 20 touchdown passes while winning only four games, the Packers sold $1 million worth of Favre merchandise
The talking heads on TV were obsessed with Favre, sometimes to the exclusion of the game itself. John Madden had a serious man-crush on Favre. There could have been an earthquake that opened a six-foot chasm in the middle of the field, and Madden would have chatted away happily about Favre and whether he was going to retire and how much he loved the game.
He wasn't the only TV type to gush over Favre. During one game this season, the TV color man wondered aloud if there had ever been a player who epitomized a franchise more than Brett Favre with the Green Bay Packers?
Ever hear of Bart Starr?
Based purely on Favre's performance, his popularity was sometimes difficult to understand. Sure, he led the Packers to 11 playoff appearances, seven division crowns, four NFC Championship games and two Super Bowls. He also led them to winning records in every season except one.
But he won only half of his four NFC Championship games and half of his two Super Bowls. The argument could be made that he was never surrounded by a great cast of players, and that he made a team better than it was, but who knows.
Favre leaves the game with career records for victories (160), touchdown passes (422), passing yards (61,655) and just about every other passing mark, but part of that is due to his remarkable durability. He started 253 consecutive games, the most ever by a quarterback and the second most for any position. His passer rating was a solid but unspectacular 85.7 (By comparison, Steve Young's career rating is 96.8). That's not surprising when you consider that Favre set the all-time NFL record for interceptions with 288 — an average of 17 per season for 17 years in the league. During the 2005 and 2006 seasons, he produced a combined total of 47 interceptions and 38 touchdown passes.
Like Cal Ripken Jr., who also set records for longevity and won only one world championship, Favre's popularity outweighed his actual performance on the field at times.
But Favre's popularity (and Ripken's) was about more than statistics; it was about the whole package — the man himself, the way he conducted himself, his love of the game, his regular-guy persona. If bad acts like Dennis Rodman and Barry Bonds can garner disproportionate popularity by doing things the wrong way, then there's nothing wrong with Favre being fawned over for doing the opposite.
He was a man's man, a tough guy who showed up for work every day and played with the enthusiasm of a kid. He played for a legendary, small-town team that played its home games on the famed frozen tundra of the Midwest. Green Bay and Favre were a perfect match.
He was as cool as Jason Bourne, but warmer. Men liked him, women liked him. He was genuine. He wore his feelings on his green and gold sleeves. He leaped and sprinted for joy after big plays, or hoisted receivers onto his shoulders after touchdowns. He played with the spontaneity of the playground.
He was the opposite of John Stockton — he opened his life and let everyone in. We were with him through the death of his father, his wife's cancer, his bout with alcoholism and the dragged-out retirement decision.
You always sensed that he was a good guy. That was enough to overlook the occasional flaws.
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