Firstly, I know I'm late on this, and I fail at blogging, but it was finals week, so cut me some slack.
Warning: If you are not a fan of the NFL, than nothing I am about to say is going to make sense. So you can either quit reading now, or be confused. Your decision. However, if you quit reading now, you will forever wonder what it is I was blogging about today.
297 games. 321 if you count the playoffs. Which kind of should be counted, since they're the ones that count. Anyways, that is a LOT of football games. 20 years worth, actually.
Yes, this is another post about Brett Favre. Don't critisize my obsessiveness just yet, please.
His record for the most consecutive starts came to an end on Tuesday, due to a crazy shoulder injury. And of course, the game just HAD to only be shown locally, because it was postponed.
I know that there are many people who hate Favre. There are others who loved him while he played for Green Bay. There are even more who think he's nothing but a drama queen who can't stay out of trouble and likes attention a little too much. I'm not going to argue any of those points. All I'm saying is the man is a football legend. Can you imagine being crushed by 300 pound guys every week for 20 years? I haven't even been alive that long.
Whatever else he is, Brett Favre is a fighter, a survivor, and the kind of hero people write stories about. I know football isn't even close to being important in the grand scheme of things. But sometimes the things guys go through on or off that field inspire other people to do real things. For 20 years he was on that field, ready to go for the opening kickoff. For 20 years he has played through every variety of injury. He fought an addiction to pain killers and won. The day after his father died, he went out and played an amazing game for his father. He went out and won after finding out his wife had cancer. He has been through a lot, and he's been through it all in front of the whole world. And yet he managed to pull through, keep winning, and set all kinds of records. If nothing else, he has taught us the value of perserverance. He taught us to have fun. No matter what was wrong with the rest of the world, every week he got out there and played like he was a kid again. For the love of the game. How many of us love something enough to do it for 20 years straight? Never stopping, never quitting, even when all the odds are against us? Maybe football and Brett can show us something meaningful after all.
I know he isn't retired yet, but I know it's happening sooner rather than later. He has at last run out of time. In a few years, few will know him. He won't be remembered by the next generation of football fans. He may be known as a TV analist. I don't think so. I think he will ride his mower out in Mississippi, play backyard ball with his grandchilden, and tell them stories of playing with the greats.
Even if he does disappear from public view, I shall never forget him or watching him play. He won me more than one Fantasy Superbowl, and has given me countless hours of awe and entertainment.
But more than that, he taught me that nothing is ever really impossible, and that the last second is still part of the game. Did I seriously just dig life lessons out of the grid iron? Woah, me.
Football won't ever be the same...
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