At The End Of The Day That Ended A Legend » Brats & Beer

March 4, 2008
posted under: Aaron Rodgers, Brett Favre, retirement

What a day. I spent a vast majority of it reading stories and blog posts, watching ESPN and press conferences, and listening to WTMJ online. (Oh, the day job will not be pleased with my productivity.) But even after all of that, I still can’t quite get my head around the idea that Brett Favre is hanging up his cleats for good.

Maybe it won’t fully hit me until he decides to talk to the press. Maybe it won’t sink in until training camp opens or the first game of the season and there’s no one wearing No. 4 in the huddle. Maybe, much to the chagrin of our resident grief counselors Andy and Joe, I’ll be permanently stuck in the denial stage.

We all knew this day was coming, of course. Favre might be an ironman but he wasn’t going to play forever (or even 4ever). At some point he was going to retire and we’d throw a big ticker tape parade as he rode off into the sunset. It’s just that I didn’t think it would happen so soon. (And on the 4th of the month of all days? Cue ominous music.)

It just seemed so certain that Favre would return for one more season, one more championship run at the helm of a young team with so much promise. Then again maybe it was best that it happened quickly and unexpectedly, like ripping off a Band-Aid; I don’t think I’d have liked sitting through a season-long farewell tour.

But beyond the suddenness and shock of the news, there’s the black hole of uncertainty that lays ahead. For 16 seasons Packer Nation slept easy every night knowing who the starting quarterback would be, knowing that the fate of the team was safe in the skilled hands of a proven winner. When times got tough, when the chips were down, we could always look to one another and say, “But we have Brett Favre.” Where will that confidence come from now?

Look, if Aaron Rodgers gets the nod, which he should, then I’m behind him 100%, but I wonder how many victories it will take before we have even a semblance of that confidence in his ability. More importantly, how well will Packer Nation weather the storm after being spoiled so long with Favrelicious riches? Or to paraphrase Wayne Larrivee appearing on ESPN today, we’re about to find out who is a Brett Favre fan and who is a Green Bay Packer fan.

I realize I’ve waxed into obituaryness here, and that wasn’t my intention in starting this post, but it’s going to take some time for optimism to bloom again in these gardens. The sun will surely come up in the morning, but life is going to be a whole lot different without Favre in a Green & Gold uniform.