Brett Favre has been many things over the course of his long career. He went from American hero and icon during his days in Green Bay to vilified zero with the Jets and Vikings at the end of his career. But through it all, Favre was always great theatre for the NFL and its fans.
"This was a little shocking to me that I couldn’t remember my daughter playing youth soccer,” Favre said. “It was just one summer, I think. I could remember her playing basketball, I could remember her playing volleyball, so I kind of think maybe (I thought) she only played a (soccer) game or two. Well, I think she played like eight. So that’s a little bit scary to me. So for the first time in 44 years, that kind of put a little fear in me," (SportsTalk 570 in D.C. via CBS Chicago, and Yahoo Sports.com).
Now, Favre might be paying the biggest price for his service to the game he loved so much.
Days after telling the St. Louis Rams that he had no interest in coming back to the field at the age of 44, Favre admitted that he has been experiencing memory loss since his final retirement after the 2010 season.
"This was a little shocking to me that I couldn’t remember my daughter playing youth soccer,” Favre said. “It was just one summer, I think. I could remember her playing basketball, I could remember her playing volleyball, so I kind of think maybe (I thought) she only played a (soccer) game or two. Well, I think she played like eight. So that’s a little bit scary to me. So for the first time in 44 years, that kind of put a little fear in me," (SportsTalk 570 in D.C. via CBS Chicago, and Yahoo Sports.com).
No player should have to worry that the second half of their life will forever be altered by football, but for Favre that might be the case. He was as much fun to watch as he was reckless on the field of play. But, like Dan Dierdorff always says, "you can only play football at one speed." And Favre did that.
Favre's admission is the latest blow to a league that has been under intense scrutiny about concussions, and player safety. From the bizarre Junior Seau case to the latest book that came out this week titled "League of Denial," the NFL is caught playing defense on the health of its former players.
The issue is deep rooted in not only the tradition of the game, but in employee rights litigation. This story is only going to get even more press now with one of the games brightest stars coming forward about concussions.
While something has to be done to prevent players from suffering life-altering injury, the question about how it will affect the quality of play bares witness. Just take a look at the way the NFL game is officiated nowadays. Players are not allowed to hit the quarterback, corners are not allowed to jam receivers anymore, and apparently, players are not allowed to leap over their own lineman to block field goals, as we saw in the Jets-Patritos game.
All of these measures, including concussion prevention helmets, and extra padding have been taken into account. As a result we have a game that is producing record numbers in scoring leading many fans to complain about the quality of play.
One can argue that by putting too much safety measures on the field in the heat of battle will only lead to more injury's, but if we went back to the good ole days of NFL football where concussions were not only common place, but rewarded by defensive coordinators (i.e. Buddy Ryan), then the health and safety of the league's players become that much more exposed.
Of course the big villain in all of this is the Players Union, who didn't seem willing to step in years ago to touch on this subject. The NFL has gotten the majority of the blame, but there is enough to go around.
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