M.L. on the N.F.L. There's Something About Favre

Author: Mary Lane

As you may have guessed, I enjoy writing rants much more than happy, cheery articles. There has to be something pretty special to make me devote a column to praise, especially as almost anything you write looks a bit clichÈd. (Like this week's title!) You're getting it this week, though.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre is the human form of the Lambeau Field I praised last week. He's an incredible player who possesses that gritty gunslinger quality Dan Marino, whose record for career touchdown passes (420) Favre broke on Sept. 30, also possessed.

Favre celebrated jubilantly, of course, but wasn't a diva like many other quarterbacks these days would have been. He ran into the end zone and hoisted wide receiver Greg Jennings, who caught No. 421 during the first quarter of Green Bay's 23-16 win over the Vikings. In a moment where he had every right to do so, he celebrated with his team and did not glorify himself.

He even ran over to cheer with his wife who, to my annoyance, was neither wearing a Packers jersey - she was wearing the universal "what girls wear when they don't know what to wear" white shirt - nor standing up at the time he broke the record.

"It feels great, but I've never considered myself as good a quarterback as Dan Marino," Favre said after the game in a press conference. It's a testament to Favre's humility that he doesn't, and probably never will, think of himself as Marino's equal. But, as I can't stress enough, that's why I love Favre. He's got an appealing, masculine swagger that manages to be confident without being glossy or cocky. No wonder, he's a Southern Boy from Mississippi.

I can't see the 37-year-old Favre breaking Raiders quarterback George Blanda's record for oldest NFL player, who retired in 1975 at 48. He might break Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall's official record of 270 consecutive starts, which he set from 1960 until his retirement in 1979.

Favre will have to start through the first game of the 2009 season, though, which is as unlikely to happen as Ö well, let's not even go there.

In 2005, with an abysmal career-high 29 interceptions and a passer rating of 70.9 that put him 31st in the league, it looked as if Favre would leave the game. Favre remained indecisive up until the last possible minute, not announcing until April 26 that he would be staying with the Packers another year, a decision made amidst criticism that he was suffering from the "George Blanda syndrome" and thinking more about himself than about his team, especially since he waited only three days before the NFL draft to do so.

None of us knew, of course, that Favre would play a respectable 2006 season or blow everyone out of the water this year by leading the Packers to a 4-1 record, but he has, and now we critics have to admit that we were wrong. Despite his wife's cancer, the destruction of his childhood home by Hurricane Katrina and his father's death, Favre has kept his nose to the grindstone and impressed us all with his personal and professional strength of character. So maybe he will beat Jim Marshall in 2009. With this guy, you never know.

Oh, and my best reason for loving Favre? When asked what he wanted as a gift for breaking Marino's record, he said he would like a new lawn tractor. Call me a Southern Girl, but that's pretty hot.