Thank You Brett

    I was waiting until I headed back up north so that I could include some pictures with this post but by then it will be old news. (I will not be over it yet, but the rest of you non Packer fans may be).

    

   Most of you know by now that our dear friend (yes we are friends) Brett Favre has decided to retire.  We all knew it was coming sometime and I may have half expected it last year, but I was sure that he was coming back this year.  Amy called me Tuesday morning to ask if it was true so I told her, "oh yeah- there was this rumor going around because the Packers website had a page ready in case it happened, but they were asked to take it down.  I am sure it is not true but I will check it out and get back to you."  Fast forward a couple hours and in the midst of making plans for Africa I take a quick break to check it out and find that it is all true.  I call Amy in shock and then try to put it all aside for the rest of the day so we can plan my future.  It may be an important thing (what I am going to do with my life in the next 6 months), but in the back of my mind I just keep thinking, "I wish I could turn on ESPN."

   

   Thursday I had kids all day so I had to wait until they went to bed to watch Brett's news conference. Of course I wanted to see it all- not just the small clips they would show on Sports Center so I logged onto the Packers website and proceeded to be glued to the computer for the next hour. Then I still watched again on Sports Center at 10.  Crazy or not I feel as though we have gone through a lot together over the years. The connections we have with our sports heroes may be a little delusional, but I love them.

  

  I can honestly say I think Brett Favre is the greatest. I know the debate is out there- even though he may hold ALL the records- he is not number 1. I have no desire to debate it- to me he is and that is enough. Beyond the records he was the best to watch play the game of football.  I have loved seeing him play each Sunday and will miss seeing him jump around throwing his fists in the air as he runs towards the end zone to carry the receiver of his last pass over his shoulders. High-fivin' the ref, throwing snowballs, smacking his teammates as hard as he can on the butt, singing loud to the music as he warms up, trying to do the Lambeau Leap, trash talking the opponents and then congratulating them after they sack him... 

I feel like there is so much I want to say about all the memories we have and yet...

   

  Amy and I were at Favre's last winning game.  We cheered him on like he could hear everything we said. We knew he was looking right at us as he turned around and encourage the crowd to yell. More than that- we knew that whether he heard us or not as we wore our same Packer's shirts and jerseys and yelled from our couch each week, for those moments we were right there on the field with him feeling like part of the team. We won and lost right along with the Packers and thanks to Favre we won a lot more often than we lost.

    All the love we (Amy and I) have for Favre will always be there, but have no doubts that the Packers are our team and always will be.  We have faith in Aaron Rogers and the rest of the team. We have many favorite players and will continue to have more.  I guess maybe that is another reason Favre is so special.  With free agencies and all the trades these days- The players who play most of their career for one team are hard to find.  I love being a Packer Fan and I am thankful Green Bay is where Favre spent his football career. It feels as though we were given something more by being Green Bay fans and having Brett Favre as our QB. We've been the lucky ones (even if we are given crap all the time for being Packer fans- I'll take it all).

Go Pack Go!