Attention Must Be Paid

In a wonderful moment from the play Death of a Salesman; Willy Loman states simply “Attention must be paid.”  On November 29th 2004 Brett Favre made his 200th consecutive start at quarterback for the Green Bay Packers.  This is easily the most impressive streak going in sports.  It is irresistible to write the article on this story, because it couldn’t happen to a better guy.  Brett Favre represents everything good in professional sports; he has played virtually every down of his career with one franchise.  Like Willy, Brett isn’t flashy, he isn’t outrageous.  He’s simply the fiercest competitor in football, attention must be paid.On September 20th Brett Favre came into a game following the exit of Don “Magic Man” Majkowski.  He has not relinquished the starting job since then.  He entered his first game as a starter the following week September 27th 1992, that is where our story begins.  

Just for fun let’s rewind back to September of 1992.  Unforgiven was top in the Box Office and would eventually win Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture.  It seems fitting as Favre’s career and style is frequently and most accurately described as that of a gunslinger.  ”End of the Road” by Boys to Men was 1992’s chart topping single, funny it was just the beginning of a long sweet trip for the cheese heads up in Wisconsin.  

Check this out, during Favre’s string of starts here are a few things that have happened.  Bill Clinton’s first and second presidential terms, this includes Monica Gate and all of those fun times.  Jeffery Dahmer, OJ Simpson, and the Menendez Brothers all went on trial.  Home Alone One, Two and Three have all been released.  ”You can’t handle the truth!” became a household saying.  I like this one; Duran Duran broke up and has now gotten back together.  While we’re on the topic, the Eagles reunited after Favre’s streak started.  Beavis and Butthead had their day in the sun.  Aladdin hadn’t even come out yet!  Cheers was still on the air.  Jim Carrey’s entire film career has occurred while Brett ruled as Packers QB; same with Adam Sandler.  Princess Diana and Prince Charles were still married when Number 4 made his first start at Lambeau…oh yeah, Lambeau has received a facelift.  It’s endless, The Seinfeld series started and finished, as did Friends.  Countless 1 word items: Macarena, Unabomber, ER, Cloning, Usher, Viagra, Springer, Y2K, Matrix, Columbine, Survivor, Spongebob.  Just think the last time somebody not named Brett started a game in Green Bay, Eminem was just a candy coated chocolate.  

On to sports.  The New York Yankees have been in the World Series six times and won it four of those times.  Baseball and Basketball and Hockey have all lost games due to strikes.  All but two of the Chicago Bulls Championship runs happened during Favre’s Reign.  Jordan has retired three times since Favre started slinging the pigskin at Lambeau.  The Red Wings have won four Stanley cups in that time.  When Favre’s streak began a guy named Maris still held the single season record for homeruns.  Shaq was doing his first tour of duty on an NBA team in Florida.  Kobe Bryant had barely started high school.  Magic was still a Laker.  Since Favre’s first start 120 different quarterbacks have started in the NFL.      

Favre has made the most of his time.  On his watch, no Packer team has finished a season with a losing record.  He’s seen three head coaches (Holmgren, Rhodes, and Sherman) He’s been to two Superbowls and won one of them.  The Packers have been through five personnel directors and 2 equipment managers.  He holds franchise records for: most games played, Highest career passer rating, most passes attempted in a career and in a single game, most completions in a career and in a single game, the highest career completion rate, most passing yards in franchise history.  He has passed for over 3,000 yards in 12 of the seasons during his tenure and he threw a 99 yard pass (the longest in franchise history)  He’s thrown five touchdowns in a game three times;  he’s thrown four touchdown’s 11 times.  He also has a couple of other interesting streaks going.  Including Monday’s game against the Rams Favre has thrown a pass of 40 yards or more in 7 consecutive games.  He has also thrown a touchdown pass in every game he has played in since week eight back in 2002.

He has battled through an addiction to painkillers, his father’s death, and the strain of his wife’s battle with breast cancer.  He has remained the consummate gentleman throughout.  He has never been a media circus clown or an embarrassment to his franchise or his family.  He enjoys the rigors of competition and feeds off of that energy as a result he has turned in countless memorable performances throughout the years.  Brett Favre is without a doubt the greatest quarterback of this era.  He enters every game with a fire and desire win at any cost.  He has achieved greatness without the aide of a dominant running back or receiver. Aikman had Emmitt and Irvin; Young had Craig and Rice.  Favre’s most notable running back was probably Dorsey Levins his best receiver was probably Antonio Freeman, neither one of these guys are shoe ins for the hall of fame.  

So attention must be paid.  In doing so Brett Favre has been described by many words; champion, tough, fierce, determined, driven, clutch.  What’s most impressive is that Brett has not had to grow into those descriptions as most NFL quarterbacks do; he has possessed them from the very start.  In the end only one word surmises all of the things that Brett Favre embodies.

Excellence.