Players who didn't care about legacy

So you hear about Brett Favre?  Thought you may have.  We have not really discussed it here and won’t get too far into it.  Something that keeps getting to me is people talking about what playing for another team would do to his “legacy” when he finally does retire.  Myself, I don’t see this as a big deal.  Sure it would be nice to think that Brett lived his days (forget the short time in Atlanta) in Green Bay.  In these days of Free Agency it is a remarkable thing to see someone stay with one team as long as he did.  Something left out of the conversation often is what Brett Favre wants.  We are all worried about how WE will remember him.  That is a little selfish, don’t you think?  Personally, he could go play for Chicago and win a Super Bowl and I would remember him as a Packer and only remember him as that Bear when the annual Super Bowl highlights hit ESPN.

An example I have given is Joe Montana.  When you hear his name do you think about Kansas City?  NFL.com has a nice Photo Slideshow up right now of various NFL legends that played in unfamiliar places.  Some of these I totally forgot about.  I decided to add behind them how many seasons they were on “the other” team.  Some of them played on more than the one additional team.

• Emmitt Smith in Arizona.  What was he thinking?  The guy just wanted to play. (2 years)
• Art Monk (the Redskin) in an Eagles uniform? (1 year)
• Bernie Kosar as a Dolphin. (3 years)
• Cris Carter as a Dolphin as well.  I totally spaced that one. (1 year)
• As a Saints fan I remember Earl Campbell in New Orleans.  Do you think of him in anything but an Oilers uniform? (1.5 years)
• Eric Dickerson as a Falcon. (1 year)
• Eddie George as a Cowboy. (1 year)
• Most of you are lying if you tell me you remember Franco Harris with the Seahawks. (1 year)
• We all remember Jerry Rice with the Broncos…for a short time.  But will we in another 10 years? (Incomplete)
• Yes, Larry Csonka as a Giant. (3 years)
• Joe Namath with the LA Rams? (1 year)
• OJ Simpson as a 49′er. (2 years)
• Ronnie Lott with the Jets. (2 years)
• It’s still fresh, but Reggie White with the Panthers?  Why would he do that?  He wanted to play. (1 year)
• Tony Dorsett as a Denver Bronco. (1 year)
• Thurman Thomas in the division with the Dolphins. (1 year)
• Johnny Unitas playing with the Chargers?  Say it ain’t so! (1 year)

I’ll tell ya, that brought out a lot of “Oh Yeah, that’s right” while looking those pics over.  It was also really strange to see them in those uniforms.  But my thought is more “That’s funny” than it is “What a legacy he ruined” when looking them over.

ShareThis