Favre Overplayed

I don’t usually like anything Dan Shaughnessy writes. I usually avoid his columns all together. He is the worst sort of sports columnist, who stirs the drink without any real substance, and then sits back and enjoys the havoc he had a hand in creating.

But on Twitter this weekend I clicked on a Patriots headline and was taken to this Shaughnessy column about none other than Brett Favre. Despite my annoyance with Shaughnessy’s usual ridiculousness (like a swipe at Manny Ramirez), I actually agreed with most of what Shaughnessy wrote. No one was as shocked as I was.

I don’t view Favre as either hero or villian. I respect his ability to play through pain, and his skills are remarkable, HOF-worthy. Even yesterday, before getting knocked out, Favre played very well: 22-for-32, 259 yards with his one interception laying more on the butterfingers of Percy Harvin than on the arm of Favre.

But does he have to talk about it so much? Shaughnessy used several examples of NFL players who played through injuries without ever talking about them to the press. Some of Favre’s charm and popularity come from how open he is with the press, and in a way, with us as fans. But that same charming trait has become an annoyance for many of us, not because of Favre himself (I still love watching the man sling the ball around), but more because of the Favre saturation that is perpetuated mainly by ESPN, with Fox, NBC and other outlets as willing co-conspirators.

I won’t get into Favre’s person exploits here; suffice it to say, we as fans equate too much of an athletes on-field performance to off-field character traits. I’m not sure the two things are correlated at all.

Favre is like a song you got sick of when it was popular, when it became too overplayed. But several years later, when the popularity has died down and you hear the song on the radio, you find yourself singing along and thinking, “Wow. This is a good song.”

That’s how I believe I’ll view Favre several years after he retires (if that ever happens). Over the course of his career, Favre has been a consistent top-10 QB, with several top 5 seasons, an awesome career peak (95-97), and then saved his best season for age 40 season. You, me, Dan Shaughnessy, we all may be annoyed by Mr. Favre right now, but we’re going to miss him when he’s finally gone.