#4

Brett Favre is set to make an announcement this afternoon about his decision on whether or not to continue his career or retire. It would be hard for me to swallow that last year was his final year and that I'll never get to see Brett Favre play again.

When I think of "Brett Favre", I think 'prolific'. I consider Brett Favre as the greatest quarterback of all time. A lot of people have favorites, some like Joe Montana, John Elway, Dan Marino. And there's a crop of new guys like Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer. But if you compare him amongst the quarterbacks of his generation, it's hard to argue that he's not one of the best.

He's won the NFL's Most Valuable Player 3 times. He's thrown over 50,000 yards in his career. He threw 20 or more seasons for 12 consecutive years. 3000+ yards for 14 consecutive years. 30+ touchdowns in a season 8 times.

I think what attracts people to Brett Favre is his passion for the game and the inspiration he brings to the table. He's a loyal guy and durable, since becoming a starter on September 20, 1992 he has started every single Green Bay Packers game. (That's 221 straight football games. Think about that!).

Brett threw a lot of interceptions because he was a high-risk type of guy, a gunslinger. There's a lot of QBs nowadays that are not so much prolific as they are efficient. But QBs of Brett's generation, these were guys who stepped up to the plate to lead their teams by making impossible plays look easy. The use of determination and example to lead their teams.

Favre once threw 5 touchdowns in a single game -- on a sprained ankle -- to help the Packers beat the Bears 35-28.

On December 22, 2003, Brett Favre through for 399 yards and 4 touchdowns -- a great night -- but even greater when you consider his father passed away the day before. I remember watching this game and seeing Favre overcome with emotion, hugging teammates on every play and shedding tears. He dedicated the game to his father. The Packers went on to crush the Oakland Raider 41-7.

What I also loved about Brett Favre is that he made average receivers into great ones. Guys like Robert Brooks, Antonio Freeman, Corey Bradford, Donald Driver, Javon Walker -- of all these guys Javon was probably the most gifted athlete. Green Bay was lucky to never really need to pay for a great receiver. Brett is the kind of guy to take over the game because he had to. Green Bay never had a great defense so Brett had to take matters into his own hands.

I would like to see Brett return for one more year. I'd love to see Green Bay win another Super Bowl but that is not going to happen. I think that Brett knows this and is probably the single most evident reason that he will retire today.