Green Bay Packers Brett Favre
Quarterback returns for his 16th NFL season.
Brett Favre has finally made his decision. The Green Bay Packers had to wait three and a half months, but they recently got the news they wanted. Their franchise quarterback will return for a 16th NFL season.
Mark Chmura, a former Packer tight end, vilified Favre for making the Packers wonder if he would play a final season as the team's field general. In addition to knocking Favre for being a disloyal friend (it seems Favre didn't call Chmura when the latter was accused of sexual misconduct a year ago), Chmura said on his radio show that Favre has no right to put himself ahead of his team.
Let's think about this for a moment. As a precursor to this treatise, let me begin by saying I have no idea why anyone would put Chmura on the radio. What right does this guy have to give his opinion in public? He may have been vindicated of the sex charges against him, but he was still in a hot tub with teenaged girls. Men of this ilk have no business being on radio, and they certainly shouldn't be attacking people like Favre.
Now, let's examine Favre's right to put himself above others.
Football has been Favre's life and livelihood for most of his 36 years. He has given NFL fans a myriad of highlight-reel memories, while winning three MVP awards and firmly entrenching himself as the NFL's second-leading passer in virtually every category.
He has started 225 straight NFL games, a league record, played hurt on many occasions and snatched victory from defeat in more uncanny ways than the most insightful football fan can comprehend. Favre, to my recollection, has never taken much credit for any of his remarkable feats on the football field.
Favre's most impressive statistic has nothing to do with his lifelong pursuit of winning football games. Rather, it is the 17 charities to which he's donated millions of dollars. His Brett Favre Foundation has benefited children in Favre's home state of Mississippi, since its inception in 1996.
When hurricane Katrina devastated his hometown last year, Favre loaded tons of provisions into a huge truck and delivered them, himself, to Mississippi. He even invited people who lost their houses in the storm to stay with him at his off-season home in Hattiesburg. And all of this altruism has come while Favre's wife, Deanna, is recovering from breast cancer.
So, Favre's character has been scrutinized because he took a few months to weigh family and charity time against continuing the only career he's known for his entire life; because he made his NFL team wonder if he would play one more season, or if they'd have to turn the reins over to a young, unproven backup.
Now, Mark Chmura and other onlookers have called Brett Favre selfish. Show me more selfish people like this, and I'll hope for their success the same way I'll be rooting for Brett Favre this coming season.
In a time when most pro athletes put themselves ahead of their teams and communities (Allen Iverson comes immediately to mind), a man like Brett Favre is refreshing.
He carefully contemplated a difficult decision. And a pro football team had to wait. Meanwhile, one of the sports world's finest athletes finally put himself first. Deservedly so.
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