Brett Favre - A Lonely Man?

I admit that when Brett Favre came out of retirement the first time, I was completely on board with those who thought the former Packer would become a charter member of the Emmitt Smith - Joe Namath fraternity of athletes who just didn't know when to quit.

As Demian Kendall observes in the opening paragraphs of his Spice Today article, The Lonely Legend:

Brett Favre is like the kid who graduated from high school but still shows up at all the parties. He’s the NFL’s version of David Wooderson from Dazed and Confused, and even though his graying five o’clock shadow causes him to stick out on the sidelines, he still maintains an aura of “cool” that goes unmatched by his peers.

Fully expecting another Favre-bashing, I decided to see where Kendall was headed. It turns out that Kendall believes Favre's approach is perhaps one of the last true demonstrations of pure football commitment.

By way of example, Kendall points to the Fox Sports Favre Cam, a kitschy bit of technology that provides mind-numbing coverage of the quarterback that's often so mundane that even the most ardent of fans would look for shards of broken beer bottles with which to slit their wrists to find a measure of sweet release.

Kendall opines that watching the Favre Cam helps him understand the differences between the current Viking QB and his peers. While other signal callers are engaged with their teams on the sidelines, planning strategy or tweaking routes, Favre is strangely detached and alone, save the occasional back slap or burst of supportive clapping. He stands out on the bench like the bright white whiskers on his chin.

Says Kendall:

Brett doesn’t have that anymore. He no longer has the diehard fan base he attracted through his years at Green Bay. He’s on a new team full of players with whom he’s had limited interactions. He is the lonely legend of the NFL, silently observing from the sidelines and waiting for his signal to step on the field.

So what would drive a man like Favre to keep playing if it isn't the camaraderie, the big paycheck, or fan idolization?

Kendall has a viewpoint:

While this may seem disheartening, it’s the truest insight to the psyche of Brett Favre that I’ve ever seen. He isn’t in it for the money anymore. He isn’t in it for the fanfare or the glory of the press. His constant gaze on the football field demonstrates that his ultimate desire and purpose is to simply play football. In an industry dominated by contract negotiations and celebrity antics on and off the field, Favre gives fans a refreshing taste of the old breed of players who played the game simply because it was a part of them that they couldn’t give up.  

We're often disillusioned by pampered sports personalities whose actions seldom live up to their arrogant words, or in some cases, who demonstrate behaviors that surpass anything we can imagine might be bouncing around between their Id, Ego, and Super-ego. 

I learned a long time ago that the most simple explanation is usually the true one. Maybe Favre just lives to play football. 




Image via Wikimedia Commons