Zero2Cool
15 years ago
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Green Bay When it finally happens Monday night, when Brett Lorenzo Favre - wearing that purple helmet emblazoned with white horns - breaks the huddle with the Minnesota Vikings and takes his first-ever gander at the opposing defense of the Green Bay Packers, fans of the Green and Gold aren't the only ones who are going to be experiencing a wide range of emotions.

"It will be an interesting moment for me," Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end Willie Davis said Wednesday. "I think I will have some sense of disappointment, some sense of that's the way things are because it's truly a business.

"If I knew why Brett Favre elected to play with the Vikings, I could probably appreciate it a lot more. I respect his right to do it; I just question what would motivate one to do it. I think in his heart, I truly believe he's a Green Bay Packer and I think when all the things happen to him after football, the Hall of Fame and things like that, he will be stepping up as a Packer.

"I just don't understand why he went to Minnesota."

That seems to be the crux of the issue. That it's the Vikings (of all the gin joints in the National Football League) . . .

"When you switch to the Vikings, that's the one team you hate and hate's a strong word," said LeRoy Butler, a Super Bowl winner with Favre in 1996 and member of the Packers Hall of Fame. "That's the one thing you dislike. You enjoy beating the (Chicago) Bears, it's a great rivalry. But when you play the Vikings - Hatfield and McCoys, that's how it is. All the rules go out. You have to beat them. It's a must-win game. You can live with splitting with Chicago. You can't live and you can't sleep losing to the Vikings.

"It's going to be on every station, if they lose to the Vikings, for four days. I don't want to see that. I don't want to see the four-letter network have Brett's picture up and the lovefest. 'Ah, he's this. He's that. He just loves playing the game.'

"Nope, sorry Brett. You're on the other side now."

The home of Packers Hall of Fame guard Fuzzy Thurston, a member of five championship teams, used to be adorned with three framed Favre photographs - an indication of the close bond Favre and Thurston shared.

The emphasis is on "used to."

Thurston's wife, Sue, took down the frames shortly after Favre signed with the Vikings. Even the one that's personally autographed: "To Sue - From your favorite Packer, Brett Favre. Too bad, Fuzzy."

"It's such a mixed feeling," Sue Thurston said. "I just love the guy, always have, he was my big hero. But I like the Packers, too, and I hate the Vikings. It's just . . . I don't like it. It just makes me sick."

Fuzzy, who has trouble speaking because of his long-ago throat cancer surgery, also isn't handling the idea of Favre awashed in purple very well.

"We really don't bring it up in front of him," Sue said. "He doesn't like it at all. He's very disappointed. He blames both sides."

Thurston's "Run to Daylight" sidekick, Jerry Kramer, doesn't have any trouble letting people know he squarely places the blame for Wisconsin's most famous divorce on general manager Ted Thompson.

"I still feel that the whole Brett thing was handled badly by the people in Green Bay, so I don't blame Brett for wanting to play. I understand that perfectly well," Kramer said.

"That was a decision they made. The Packers decided they did not want Brett back and they let him know that. That's part of the reason he's still playing. I think that anger, that pissed-off, 'I'll show the SOBs.' I think it insulted him a little bit, hurt his feelings a little bit that they didn't want him back.

"Maybe if they would have handled it differently, it might have turned out differently, but I think that's part of the equation and Green Bay made the decision to go on without Brett and bring Aaron (Rodgers) into the picture.

"You can understand the decision. Aaron has certainly carried himself in an exemplary fashion. I mean, you couldn't ask more from a young man on how to handle the crisis situation with dignity and class. I just think Aaron has done a hell of a job and I'm damn sure pulling for him.

"But, again, the Packers made that decision and if that decision was a bad decision, then somebody ought to be called on the carpet and asked, 'Why the hell did you do this?' "

The former Packers are unanimous in the feeling that Favre, no matter what he says, will be out for vengeance Monday night.

"I do believe this is the sole reason why he came back, for this game," said receiver Antonio Freeman, who caught the most touchdown passes (57) from Favre and also starred on the '96 team that won the Super Bowl. "I don't know how you balance the two, but I'm sure he'll find a way."

Said Butler: "I think this is one game Brett wants to win more than anything. If they win this game and they lose six straight, he'll be OK with it. Because the one thing you can't do to an athlete, you can't tell him he's washed up. You can't tell an athlete 'we don't need you.' Every time you do something like that you're throwing wood on the fire. And the wood turns into lighter fluid. Not to mention he can still play.

"But at some point the team had to move on."

Butler also feels the game will be personal for Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy.

"They can be politically correct and say the clichs, how it's just another game and you want to win every game," he said. "No, no, no, no. In the real world, we've got to win this game. Of course they want this game. They want it to say they were right in their decision to go with Aaron."

The former Packers also were unanimous on this point: Green Bay will be coming after Favre as well.

Davis recalled Vince Lombardi's pregame speech before the 1967 Western Conference championship game against the Los Angeles Rams at Milwaukee County Stadium.

"He said to us, 'Well, I just want to just share with you how I feel. This is a game that I truly would like to play myself because I think I'd feel very sure of the result. I think I could play this game with some feelings and distinctions that would be above all,'" Davis recalled.

"I've got to tell you that if I was playing for the Packers in this ball game, I would tell you one thing: In my mind, deeply buried in me, would be a desire to get to Brett. I think the motivation on every play would be to get to Brett. And I can't believe that won't emanate from most of the players. In the interest of winning the game, I would want to get to him, to be in his face and up on him every time he threw the football.

"I feel the same sense about Brett. But there would be no doubt how I would play the game."

And the former players also feel for fans caught in the middle.

"It's kind of like a love affair that went bad," Kramer said. "There are a lot of emotions there. It's not just another person that walked away, it's Brett, whom we all loved and admired and thought the world of, and now he's on the dastardly Vikings.

"The only thing that could be worse for me is the Bears, and I don't know if that would be worse. Brett Favre wearing a Vikings uniform playing the Packers?

"That's about as bad as it gets."


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istanbulpacker
15 years ago
I've got my "We'll never forget you BRENT" T-shirt coming in the mail from Sconnie Nation (www.sconnienation.com) and hope to have it for the game. I'm sure you all have seen it but they also have some other cool ones like "Benedict Brett" and "Brett's WaffleHouse"

My mom bought me one of those cool Mitchell & Ness Blue and Gold throwback jerseys for my birthday 2 years ago just before he defected to the Jets. Even still, I was okay with wearing it b/c it was a nice, expensive gift and something I wanted for several years. However, now that he is with the Vikings, I have a feeling it will be gathering dust in my closet for several years.

My hope is that Adrian Peterson goes down early forcing the ViQueens to rely on the aging arm and poor judgement of back-stabbing Brett. Maybe if we go 2-0 against him this year and then he hangs up his cleats, I'll feel better about wearing it again.....in a decade or so.
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dfosterf (1h) : Make sure to send my props to him! A plus move!
Zero2Cool (3h) : My cousin, yes.
dfosterf (4h) : That was your brother the GB press gazette referenced with the red cross draft props thing, yes?
Zero2Cool (2-Jul) : Packers gonna unveil new throwback helmet in few weeks.
Mucky Tundra (2-Jul) : I know it's Kleiman but this stuff writes itself
Mucky Tundra (2-Jul) : "Make sure she signs the NDA before asking for a Happy Ending!"
Mucky Tundra (2-Jul) : @NFL_DovKleiman Powerful: Deshaun Watson is taking Shedeur Sanders 'under his wing' as a mentor to the Browns QBs
Zero2Cool (30-Jun) : Dolphins get (back) Minkah Fitzpatrick in trade
Zero2Cool (30-Jun) : Steelers land Jalen Ramsey via Trade
dfosterf (26-Jun) : I think it would be great to have someone like Tom Grossi or Andy Herman on the Board of Directors so he/they could inform us
dfosterf (26-Jun) : Fair enough, WPR. Thing is, I have been a long time advocate to at least have some inkling of the dynamics within the board.
wpr (26-Jun) : 1st world owners/stockholders problems dfosterf.
Martha Careful (25-Jun) : I would have otherwise admirably served
dfosterf (25-Jun) : Also, no more provision for a write-in candidate, so Martha is off the table at least for this year
dfosterf (25-Jun) : You do have to interpret the boring fine print, but all stockholders all see he is on the ballot
dfosterf (25-Jun) : It also says he is subject to another ballot in 2028. I recall nothing of this nature with Murphy
dfosterf (25-Jun) : Ed Policy is on my ballot subject to me penciling him in as a no.
dfosterf (25-Jun) : I thought it used to be we voted for the whatever they called the 45, and then they voted for the seven, and then they voted for Mark Murphy
dfosterf (25-Jun) : Because I was too lazy to change my address, I haven't voted fot years until this year
dfosterf (25-Jun) : of the folks that run this team. I do not recall Mark Murphy being subject to our vote.
dfosterf (25-Jun) : Ed Policy yay or nay is on the pre-approved ballot that we always approve because we are uninformed and lazy, along with all the rest
dfosterf (25-Jun) : Weird question. Very esoteric. For stockholders. Also lengthy. Sorry. Offseason.
Zero2Cool (25-Jun) : Maybe wicked wind chill made it worse?
Mucky Tundra (25-Jun) : And then he signs with Cleveland in the offseason
Mucky Tundra (25-Jun) : @SharpFootball WR Diontae Johnson just admitted he refused to enter a game in 41° weather last year in Baltimore because he felt “ice cold”
Zero2Cool (24-Jun) : Yawn. Rodgers says he is "pretty sure" this be final season.
Zero2Cool (23-Jun) : PFT claims Packers are having extension talks with Zach Tom, Quay Walker.
Mucky Tundra (20-Jun) : GB-Minnesota 2004 Wild Card game popped up on my YouTube page....UGH
beast (20-Jun) : Hmm 🤔 re-signing Walker before Tom? Sounds highly questionable to me.
Mucky Tundra (19-Jun) : One person on Twitter=cannon law
Zero2Cool (19-Jun) : Well, to ONE person on Tweeter
Zero2Cool (19-Jun) : According to Tweeter
Zero2Cool (19-Jun) : Packers are working on extension for LT Walker they hope to have done before camp
dfosterf (18-Jun) : E4B landed at Andrews last night
dfosterf (18-Jun) : 101 in a 60
dfosterf (18-Jun) : FAFO
Zero2Cool (18-Jun) : one year $4m with incentives to make it up to $6m
dfosterf (18-Jun) : Or Lions
dfosterf (18-Jun) : Beats the hell out of a Vikings signing
Zero2Cool (18-Jun) : Baltimore Ravens now have signed former Packers CB Jaire Alexander.
dfosterf (14-Jun) : TWO magnificent strikes for touchdowns. Lose the pennstate semigeezer non nfl backup
dfosterf (14-Jun) : There was minicamp Thursday. My man Taylor Engersma threw
dfosterf (11-Jun) : There will be a mini camp practice Thursday.
Zero2Cool (11-Jun) : He's been sporting a ring for a while now. It's probably Madonna.
Martha Careful (10-Jun) : We only do the tea before whoopee, it relaxes me.
wpr (10-Jun) : That's awesome Martha.
Mucky Tundra (10-Jun) : How's the ayahuasca tea he makes, Martha?
Martha Careful (10-Jun) : Turns out he like older women
Martha Careful (10-Jun) : I wasn't supposed to say anything, but yes the word is out and we are happy 😂😂😂
Mucky Tundra (10-Jun) : I might be late on this but Aaron Rodgers is now married
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