My Tribute to Favre

Today was my 22nd birthday.  We went out to eat and then went shopping.  I stopped at Borders and got a book that I've been wanting since I found out about it.  If you don't know, I'm a huge Packers fan.  Recently, a book came out that is called Favre.  It was written by Brett Favre and Bonita Favre.  (his mother)  In the last year, Brett has went through many tragic events in his private life, his father died in a car accident, his brother-in-law died, and his wife, Deanna found out she had breast cancer.  A lesser man might have threw in the towel.  Not Brett.  The night after his father died was a Monday night game, Green Bay against the Raiders.  No one honestly expected Brett to play.  It was too much to ask of any man no matter how much he loved the game but Brett knew his dad would've wanted him to play that game.  I've never seen a football game like that and I don't believe anyone else that watched that game had either.  I think that even the usually rowdy Raiders fans were in awe of what Brett was accomplishing that night.  He was playing for the man he loved the most in the world, his father.  I've been a Packers fan since the beginning of season '94, just before Brett went into rehab for his addiction to pain killers.  I am first and foremost a Favre fan.  Where he goes, I go and I believe that half of the Green Bay fans feel the same way.  When he's feeling pain, we feel it with him, when he grieves, we grieve too.  We love him as if he was a member of our family because in a lot of ways, for Green Bay fans, he is.  He's in our home every Sunday for four hours or more.  We share our dinner with him, our family and our lives.  I can only hope that Brett won't listen to the nah-sayers and will continue to play until the game doesn't bring him that thrill.  My most cherished Favre memories will be when Freeman would catch an impossible throw in the end zone to win the game, it's that look on Brett's face that I will always carry with me and what keeps me coming back season after season.  You won't see that expression on any other quarterbacks face.  I explain it to everyone like he's in high school and every touchdown throw is his first.  He's just as happy with the first touchdown of a game as he is with the last one.  No matter when Favre decides to retire, he will go down as a legend with Lombardi, the late Reggie White and the entire Packer history.  We love you Brett, where ever you go in the next few years, we'll understand.