An Open Letter To Brett Favre From Trevor Hoffman

Brett,

Professional sports isn't a good place to be for guys our age.

These kids we play with now were walking around in Pull-Ups when we were in our athletic primes and making names for ourselves in our respective sports.

They can't wait to get their shot at us future Hall of Famers. They want to tell their children and grandchildren that they sacked Brett Favre or that they hit a home run off of Trevor Hoffman.

The problem with me now is that I'm giving kids named Nick Stavinoha and Ryan Doumit this chance. I've been getting shelled like that tractor that picks up golf balls at the driving range so far this season.

An earned run average at 13 isn't good, and neither is recording only five strikeouts in nine innings so far this season.

I've blown more save opportunities (four) as I've converted (three). Three-for-seven might be good at the plate, but for a closer like me, it's nowhere near good enough. Things are getting rough for me in Milwaukee.

And for what? To chase a record no one has set before? To keep showing the Padres that I wasn't quite finished when they let me walk after the 2008 season?

The reason I'm writing this, Brett, is to show you that our situations are pretty similar.

You played most of your career with the Packers. I played most of mine with San Diego. Your team, like mine, let you go in favor of a younger player with an apparently more promising future.

You're on the brink of the 500 touchdown pass milestone while I'm six saves away from 600, both unprecedented plateaus.

And you're a competitor, just like me. You want to show the Packers why you should still be on the team. I get it.

But here's where we're different. You have the chance to leave well enough alone before you embarrass yourself the way I've embarrassed myself in the first month of this baseball season.

Ted Thompson and Packer fans know you're still good. You've proven that, even in older age, you're still one of the best in your league.

After my 37-save, 1.83 ERA season with the Brewers in 2009, Padre fans understood I was still one of the best.

If you're considering career statistics, I think we both need to understand that it's unlikely anyone will match our numbers, whether we get to our next big milestone or not.

The writing has been on the wall ever since that NFC Championship game against New Orleans. The Saints were crushing you like an old Pinto at the junkyard, and I'm worried that next season will bring more of the same for you.

So let's agree on this. Our time as pros is winding down. Let's both take our places in the record books and our places in Canton and Cooperstown, because those are secure no matter what we do from this point on.

Let's leave these sports to these young kids. That's who they're here for, after all.