Epic Retirement speech by Favre right now

[Wildo7]

even the news is covering it. He's crying like crazy.

"I don't have anything left to give"

I think it's safe to say that at this point, he actually does think he's retiring.

 

[Fixit]

Any word on how many celebratory shots Aaron Rodgers has done?

 

[Wildo7]

Any word on how many celebratory shots Aaron Rodgers has done?

He's doing Jager-bombs as we speak.

 

[xmarkd400x]

He's doing Jager-MOABs as we speak.

Fixed.

10 chars.

 

[unoriginal]

Somebody's going to come along and tell us how this speech is overhyped and how Favre is a drama queen who went on way too long and should have stopped long before he did.

 

[patsfanofNC12]

I was for sure he would come back for another year, I can't believe he is actually going to retire (so he says). PTI seemed to think he would end up playing again this year, but I don't know about that.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Somebody's going to come along and tell us how this speech is overhyped and how Favre is a drama queen who went on way too long and should have stopped long before he did.

Actually as it turns out this would make a good football fan primer for all the knee jerks in various fandoms to have to listen to so they have some remote appreciation for what goes in to being a HOF player or a double digit career player or just making it into the NFL before they slam guys whose jock they could never carry for missing a tackle or blowing a coverage or throwing a pick... Although most of those kind of fans would never get it anyway.

The Favre ball washing by the media was annoying beyond belief. But that's something the media did. In the end, warts and all, Brett is a pretty neat guy.

 

[oldskool138]

Don't go away mad, Brett...just go away.

 

[Wildo7]

Actually as it turns out this would make a good football fan primer for all the knee jerks in various fandoms to have to listen to so they have some remote appreciation for what goes in to being a HOF player or a double digit career player or just making it into the NFL before they slam guys whose jock they could never carry for missing a tackle or blowing a coverage or throwing a pick... Although most of those kind of fans would never get it anyway.

The Favre ball washing by the media was annoying beyond belief. But that's something the media did. In the end, warts and all, Brett is a pretty neat guy.

Exactly, the same people who sh!t on Favre instead of the media because of all the fawning are the same types from other teams that hate Brady for the same reason.

I know he shed a tear the last time he "retired," but he was really blubbering today. He couldn't speak for a while because he was sobbing so hard, tears streaming down his face. I think it's legit this time.

 

[tobias funke]

Actually as it turns out this would make a good football fan primer for all the knee jerks in various fandoms to have to listen to so they have some remote appreciation for what goes in to being a HOF player or a double digit career player or just making it into the NFL before they slam guys whose jock they could never carry for missing a tackle or blowing a coverage or throwing a pick... Although most of those kind of fans would never get it anyway.

The Favre ball washing by the media was annoying beyond belief. But that's something the media did. In the end, warts and all, Brett is a pretty neat guy.

Agreed.

I only saw the speech until ESPN cut away for the excitement that is preseason baseball , but what I did see was one of the best and most honest athletes to ever play, at his best and most honest.

Glad to have seen it, and it brought a tear to my eye... and I honestly consider all the Favre-hype incredibly annoying just like many others I'm sure.

 

[Chowda08]

It really hurts to know that his last pass will be the interception that cost his team a trip to the Super Bowl, but he's certainly going out on his own terms. After 17 years and the incredible grind of that 275-game streak, he has finally grown weary of the physical and emotional toll of the game, so I'm glad he's walking away right now instead of sticking it out in the hopes of repeating last year's run without 100% motivation. My sincere salutations to one of the most unique, talented, and prolific quarterbacks ever to play the game.

 

[fnordcircle]

Brett Favre's per game stats are pretty mediocre. I think he has been a top QB at times in the league but people want to make him out as an all-time top 10 QB and I can't agree.

 

[Wildo7]

Brett Favre's per game stats are pretty mediocre. I think he has been a top QB at times in the league but people want to make him out as an all-time top 10 QB and I can't agree.

And before this year people would have made the same "stats don't tell the whole story" argument about Brady.

I personally don't think he was very good in his last few seasons before this one, but there was a long period where he was very good IMO. And I think his longevity accomplishments alone put him in the top 10.

 

[tobias funke]

Brett Favre's per game stats are pretty mediocre. I think he has been a top QB at times in the league but people want to make him out as an all-time top 10 QB and I can't agree.

There are different measures to success in the league.

For some, only winning the Super Bowl matters. For others, only winning more than one Super Bowl matters.

I think Favre said it pretty well when he said "everyone says how you should go out, how you should go out on top, how you shouldn't go out after that play. Well I don't give a damn what anyone else thinks. I am going out on top."

The guy has a Super Bowl win, 18 years of non-stop play at a position with a remarkably high turnover rate, most of the longevity records as a QB, and he's retiring after going 14-4 and being elected to the Pro Bowl and chosen as Sportsman of the Year.

Top 5 QB? Top 10 QB? If you're not getting paid to fill airtime, who really cares? He'll be in the Hall for sure, and deserves to be appreciated, period.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Brett Favre's per game stats are pretty mediocre. I think he has been a top QB at times in the league but people want to make him out as an all-time top 10 QB and I can't agree.

Thing is, players do and guys who coached the game do and guys who covered the game when say Felger was still in HS - they do. What we as fans and mere amatuer observers often fail to grasp is we dont always know a fraction of what we like to think we know.

 

[skri65]

For Favre, it wasn't necessarily his "per-game" stats that made him the legend he is now considered. In fact, it was precisely his mistakes--the imperfect human side of him--that made him so well respected. He was a gunslinger, and he was a tough tough tough guy (275 straight games) who played for a state with nothing better to do than eat cheese and sit out in freezing lambeau rooting for their imperfect yet steady quarterback.

His character was special, and I don't fault him for playing these past few years. As evidenced by last year, he had plenty left and he was a pass away from bringing his team to the superbowl. This coming year when Rogers qbs the Packer, I hope you all will see how much Favre meant to that team. He single-handedly led them to the NFC championship.

I have nothing but respect for Favre. He was an NFL icon, and he brought a lot to the national football league. I'm glad he went out on his own terms.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

I always thought Brett was one of the most classiest and fun QBs to watch over his career and will miss those crazy out of nowhere passes and the unpredictability of his talents.

He will be missed by me and many other NON-Packer fans out there as well as the devout cheeseheads.

He was an asset to the league and my wishes for the best of luck for the rest of his life to a QB and guy that no one really can find good reason to dislike him since he rarily had anything bad to say about any team or player and was about a good father and husband figure outside of football as you could hope for.

 

[fnordcircle]

Thing is, players do and guys who coached the game do and guys who covered the game when say Felger was still in HS - they do. What we as fans and mere amatuer observers often fail to grasp is we dont always know a fraction of what we like to think we know.

I don't care what players say. Players voted Bruce Armstrong into the Pro Bowl year after year. Players are just as likely to be starry-eyed fans as...well...any of us.

I only brought up stats because typically people toss out Brett Favre's cumulative career stats as proof of his all-time greatness. The trouble with that is that if you play more games than anyone else has ever played at QB by a pretty decent margin then...yeah you are going to rack up a lot of cumulative stats.

When the game is on the line does anyone other than brainwashed Cheeseheads really, really want the ball in Brett Favre's hands? Maybe as a neutral observer you would because you knew the game was either going to end on a fantastic play or (more likely) a boneheaded INT. What a QB can do with the game on the line is truly the test of a QB's mettle to me and that's where Favre is at his most inconsistent.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I always thought Brett was one of the most classiest and fun QBs to watch over his career and will miss those crazy out of nowhere passes and the unpredictability of his talents.

He will be missed by me and many other NON-Packer fans out there as well as the devout cheeseheads.

He was an asset to the league and my wishes for the best of luck for the rest of his life to a QB and guy that no one really can find good reason to dislike him since he rarily had anything bad to say about any team or player and was about a good father and husband figure outside of football as you could hope for.

Not sure if that's a backhanded knock on some other QB, and I hate to drag out the dirty laundry on retirement day, but Brett is now a good father and husband by all reports. Even though he and Deanna didn't actually get married until their first child was 7 and he kicked the Vicodan habit after being an uninvolved father and sometime boyfriend for several years. And even then their relationship was less than ideal as she almost divorced him 4 years later while pregnant with their second child because he was still far from ideal as a husband and father because he was an alcoholic. He finally woke up and swore off, though, and hopefully they will live long and happily ever after.

 

[Sivy]

Bret Farve is going to play in the 2008-09 football season.