I'll miss the excuses. "He's just a gunslinger." "He's playing like a kid out there." "Brett Favre is just trying to make a play." "You can't question his heart." You know how Eskimos supposedly have a thousand words for snow? Well Brett Favre has given football play-by-play guys almost as many ways to say "what an incredibly stupid turnover." If nothing else, he's been great for the English language. He's the muse for the turnover metaphor.
I'll miss the grizzled beard. When Brett Favre (really) retires, it will be the end of an era. Kurt Warner is gone. With Favre gone, we will lose our last grizzled superstar quarterback. We may never again see a graybeard put up big numbers in the NFL. At least not for a while. Peyton Manning won't ever be grizzled. I don't even think the Manning boys can grow facial hair. And Tom Brady definitely won't let himself go gray. Considering his Justin Bieber hair, he's more likely to elect to permanently remove his facial hair by electrolysis so he can look more pre-pubescent.
Old men playing quarterback makes the rest of us feel young. It inspires us. If Brett Favre can lead a team to the NFC Championship Game when he's 40, who's to say I can't place in the money in my fantasy league when I turn 40?
