Scott Boehm/Getty Images
As Vikings defensive end Jared Allen said, "You just don’t turn your back on 16 years of greatness."
One thing I know after Sunday, November One is: Jared Allen is absolutely correct.
No one turns their back on 16 years of greatness—they use it to tear them apart; use it to fixate on the past while focusing the frustration of its passing into the form of one person.
It is romanticized. While lamenting the agony of its now-intangible reality, it can create a chasm or straddle the divide and hold a dual existence, occupying both the love and hate areas of the brain and heart.
In other words, we do not turn our back on prolonged periods of greatness; we just use it to severely fuck ourselves in the head. It is the kind of fodder that makes therapists rich. It originates from the source that fuels the middle age purchasing of sports cars and allows young girls to fulfill daddy fantasies.
Everyone has his or her own way to deal with the passing of something, and this is only magnified whenever this process comes into existence in a less-than-ideal way.
To see the reality of this theory, one needs to look no further than the Packer faithful, which I am counting, roughly, as the entire state of Wisconsin.
The sight of their one true love donning and sharing the company with their most hated rival tore fans apart. It became apparent before the game started, however, on which side of the spectrum the majority of the Cheeseheads landed.
Favre ran onto a field, that, according to one sign held by a fan, is “the field that Favre built,” during pre-game introductions to a deafening chorus of boos.
The heights of ecstasy leave people vulnerable to the inevitable dropoff. It can be hard to see a former love thriving and embracing the love of a bitter rival. Just read some of the quotes from Packers fans:
"He was," Packer fan Jo Sedar said, "one of us."
"It's like going into church on Sunday and the priest says, 'Everybody go home. Jesus has now sided with the devil,'" said Tom Fields.
On Sunday, T-shirts at Lambeau carrying messages ranging from "Traitor" to "Judas" to "Drama Queen" to “We’ll never forget you BRENT,” were seen throughout the stadium.
While these feelings encapsulated the feelings of the majority in attendance, it certainly wasn’t the only way they felt. Packer fans were on both sides of the spectrum and everywhere in between.
"I'm having mixed emotions," said Robert Barranco, while dressed in a green Favre jersey.
His wife, Martha, was wearing the purple edition and was just as torn as Robert. "I'm a die-hard Packers fan, but I also want him to do well."
Also popular were half-Minnesota/half-Green Bay jerseys, while some fans wore Favre's Vikings jersey underneath Packers jackets.
Then there were the fans that were there to profess their love for Brett.
There were signs throughout the stadium ranging from "Thanks 4 the Memories” to “Lambeau is Brett's Field."
It is obvious that whatever it is that some people have, which inspires people to say they have “it,” Favre has in spades. You are hard pressed to find a person who does not have an opinion on him one way or the other.
As Favre has spent his offseasons plucking petals off flowers while saying “retire me—retire me not,” each petal plucked was reported ad nauseam. It got to the point that there were days in the sport’s world where the lead story was the fact that the Brett Favre story was getting too much coverage.
“Is Favre coming back, or isn’t he?” would be the opening refrain of many stories, and they would continue “no one knows, and it is this reporter’s opinion that the thoughts and time spent on a washed-up quarterback waffling about his future are a waste of time. This is the story that won’t die. Stay tuned, as this is the first segment of a 908-installment piece on this worthless obsession with Brett Favre.”
This kind of thought process has followed Favre into the season as, hours before the game, there was a plane flying overhead pulling a sign that read “Retire 4 Good.” Maybe one reading “So I can stop caring” should have followed it.
Of course, ultimately Packer fans should have followed that sign with one that read “Please,” because they seemed to wake the sleeping giant.
We're going to send you the most entertaining Green Bay Packers articles, videos, and podcasts from around the web.
6 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete