Crush : Brett Favre
On Tuesday, Green Bay, Wisc. lost a legend. More accurately, it lost its God.
Brett Favre was a deity in Titletown, someone who guided the city every weekend, with green and gold on his back and the fans in his heart. Favre’s retirement has citizens of Green Bay crying into their beer mugs, wondering how the Packers can possible carry on.
As a Green Bay native, I can’t help but feel sad at Favre hanging up his No. 4 jersey. Loving the Packers is ingrained in your DNA. Looking at my Facebook, 35 of my friends from back home had something about Favre in their profiles (‘Kate…is distraught that she will no longer be able to watch a beautiful man do beautiful things with a football’). Welcome to Green Bay. Everyone there is obsessed. It’s unhealthy and to anyone who isn’t a Packer fan – way over the top.
But for anyone who’s a fan of football, you can’t deny that Favre didn’t treat the game like a job. He had fun, just look at the pictures from the Packers’ Super Bowl win. Just like a little kid.
Let’s be honest, Green Bay, Wisc. isn’t much without the Packers. Without the team, it’s just another average-sized Midwest town with a polluted river and too many bars. I still find it hard to believe that people come to Green Bay (on purpose) from other states, far away ones for that matter, just to see the Packers practice.
Favre retiring from the team is essentially his death knell – or perhaps, leap. Now he’ll be in Mississippi, far away from the Frozen Tundra, probably living out those Wrangler commercials he stars in. Of course, his name and number will soon be on display on Lambeau Field and he’ll be showered with awards and places in Hall of Fames.
Love or hate Favre or the Packers (hi Bears and Vikings fans!), Favre deserves a proper send off. He put Green Bay on the map and become one of the greatest quarterbacks ever (whatever, Tom Brady). So Packers fans the world over, take four shots, raise your favorite glass of beer, paint yourself green and gold. Salute Favre Wisconsin-style.
Published on March 4, 2008 at 12:00 pm
