I woke up on March 4, 2008 thinking it was going to be a regular Tuesday. I walked into the kitchen and toasted a bagel and then sat down at my desk to eat breakfast and check a few of my favorite websites. After checking my emails I went to espn.com and froze in my seat when I saw the BREAKING NEWS Alert on top of the page. My whole day changed when I read the headline “Favre tells Packers he’s retiring.” I checked the timestamp on the story and it read 9:39am ET. I was reading it at 8:45am CT. The story had broke only 6 minutes earlier. When I regained my senses, I turned on ESPN and they hadn’t even interrupted Sportscenter or their other regular programming to report the story. I felt weird being one of the first people to know something that was about to become a really big story to lots of people throughout the country. I’ve been a Packers fan since I can remember watching football; it was a tradition passed on to me by my dad, who became a Green Bay fan because his dad (my grandpa) grew up cheering for the Packers as a boy in Wisconsin.

Throughout the past 17 years, Brett Favre has become one of the most beloved football players in the history of the NFL because of the character and spirit he not only brought onto the football field, but into life. Favre was the guy who was always jumping around after a touchdown and slapping lineman on the backside who had just knocked him on his backside, and even this year at the not-so-young age of 38 he was often seen in highlights carrying receivers off the field, high-fiving referees or even throwing snowballs at teammates as the Packers went 13-3 and came within one game of the Super Bowl (losing in overtime to the eventual champs). But well before Favre helped the Packers become one of the league’s best teams (again) this season – after winning only 12 games in the previous two seasons combined – he had already built a Hall of Fame resume full of special moments and achievements.

Brett Favre has been the quarterback of my favorite football team for the past 16 seasons and holds nearly every possible statistical record (for quarterbacks) in the history of the NFL. He led the Packers to the Super Bowl twice (winning in 1997) and is the only player in NFL history to win the MVP award three times (doing it in three consecutive seasons, from 1995-1997). But beyond all the records, Super Bowls and MVP awards, Favre is someone who will be remembered as one of the most genuine and authentic people who happened to be famous for doing something that a lot of people care about (in his case, football).

When Brett’s father passed away unexpectedly during the 2003 season, he responded by playing one of the great games of his career the very next day, throwing for 399 yards and four touchdowns in a Monday Night Football game that was televised around the world. It was an emotional game for everyone watching. The following year, the sports world watched closely when Favre’s wife Deanna (who had been his high school sweetheart) was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after her younger brother was killed in an ATV accident. With Brett and all of the Packer community’s support, Deanna became a spokeswoman for breast cancer survivors, later writing a book titled Don’t Bet Against Me! (Tyndale, 2007) chronicling her struggle and the role her faith played in helping her, Brett and the rest of their family hold on to hope. In 2005, Brett’s family home in Mississippi was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and he became one of several well-known individuals to who helped with the hurricane relief. This past year, Brett was named Sports Illustrated’s Sportsmen of the Year. The cover story highlighted not just Brett’s career football achievements and how he has overcome so many personal struggles, but it also told the story of a special friendship Brett had with a six-year old girl named Anna who had a rare brain disorder and who he had met through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

It’s because Brett’s life has produced so many stories like this that so many people — not just football fans and not even just Packer fans (even Vikings and Bears fans) — have grown to have a deep respect and appreciation for him. Yet what I’ll remember most about Brett Favre’s career is not any of those specific career highlights or any of the touching stories I’ve heard about the ways he’s helped people, but the ways his career and personality have been a blessing for me and my entire family. Since I can remember, family gatherings on my dad’s side of the family have involved a bunch of my relatives cramming into my grandma’s basement to watch the Packers game (even when it has required one of my uncles climbing on the roof to turn the antenna because my grandma doesn’t get cable).

Favre’s special impact on a father and son

Four years ago, my mom gave my dad and I tickets to the Packers-Lions game in Green Bay for Christmas. So, on a snowy Sunday in late December, I sat with my dad on the cold bleachers of Lambeau Field and watched #4 lead the Packers toward the end zone where we were sitting to kick a game-winning field goal at the end of the fourth quarter. It was a perfect day. The drive home was long and the weather was bad, but it gave my dad and I a chance to talk for hours about the game and about life. We had such a great experience that we decided to make the drive to Green Bay for another game each of the next two seasons, each year going with a few of my relatives. In 2006, the season nearly everyone thought would be Brett’s last, my mom made the trip with us to Green Bay (along with two of my uncles and three cousins) and before the game we joined hundreds of other Packer fans in the parking lot at Brett Favre’s Steakhouse for a tailgate party and then walked over to the stadium to watch the Packers defeat the Vikings in what we thought was Favre’s final game at Lambeau Field. We spent the next day at the Packers Hall of Fame and drove home feeling like we had been part of history.

Last summer when Favre announced he would play at least one more year for the Packers, my dad and I – along with nearly everyone else – were surprised, but we were excited because the Packers looked like a team that could be good; but no one could have predicted the league’s youngest team nearly making it to the Super Bowl and Favre being involved in so much MVP talk at the age of 38. (Tom Brady’s record numbers made him an easy choice for the MVP, but Favre did receive one vote, which kept Brady from being a unanimous selection for the award.) Before the Packers got off to a great start this season, my dad and I had already decided not to make the trip to Green Bay this year, but I still got to a Packers game when a group of my college friends drove to Kansas City to watch the Packers beat the Chiefs.

I have watched Brett Favre play at least one hundred games with my dad throughout my life, but in the past few years I can think of several Sunday afternoons when I met my dad at a sports bar or drove over to my parent’s house so we could hang out together to watch the Packers and our favorite quarterback. I’m not saying my relationship with my dad is because of Brett Favre, but I will always be thankful for the ways a game like football and a player like Brett Favre have played a role in helping create memories for my dad and I…and I will always be proud to be a Packers fan and feel lucky that I got to see him play.

There’s going to be a lot written and said about Brett Favre in the coming months and years, and only time will tell if Favre stays retired — and as number 76,753 on the waiting list for Packer season tickets, I was hoping he would keep playing a little while longer (since they predict it will be about 74 years until my name makes it to the top of that list) — but it looks like he is serious about being done with football forever. So on behalf of myself, my dad (who I had to email the bad news, since he’s in Tanzania), and Packer fans everywhere…thanks for everything Brett!

In the end, Favre chose his family over football.

Favre’s decision to no longer play football has got me thinking about life in all sorts of ways; reflecting back on the past (with fond memories of Super Bowls, great plays and big wins) and wondering how the future will play out (will the Packers ever return to greatness, and if so, who will lead them without Favre at QB?). Yet, as a person of faith, I want to be careful not to put football – or more specifically, a football player or football team – in a place where it takes on too much importance and distracts from what is truly important. I want to keep the main thing the main thing.

This next statement may sound contradictory to what I just wrote above, but following the idea of “keeping the main thing the main thing” is why I was watching Favre’s live press conference just a few days after the story of his retirement made the news. I had already heard enough opinions and speculation from all the sports media people, now I needed to hear Brett explain things for himself. Favre’s words of thanks and farewell were from the heart and throughout the press conference he put things (life, faith, family and football) in their proper perspective. Early in the press conference, he spoke about how blessed he’s been by God to have the talent and ability that helped him achieve so much in the game of football, but he also expressed thanks to God for his wife Deanna and their two daughters. That’s a healthy perspective on things. He recognized that his football career has made life difficult for his family at times. He said that his “job” has forced him to miss out on several family moments, and that one of his many reasons for retiring was because he didn’t want to miss any more of those moments. Favre expressed a thought that should be obvious: he has accomplished everything he could have possibly accomplished on the football field — there’s nothing more for him to do — but he also shared that he has a lot left to do as a husband and a father, and he wants to be there for his family as much as possible. Being a professional football player would not allow him to be the father and husband he would like to be. That’s an admirable reason for making a difficult decision. Sure, I’m going to miss seeing #4 play quarterback for the Packers on Sundays, but I’ve spent a lot of Sundays with Brett Favre over the years (on TV in my living room or at sports bars and a handful of times in packed stadiums); now it’s time for his family to spend Sundays with him.

In Brett’s own words.

Favre’s retirement is a pretty big deal in my world, and it’s about way more than just football (at least to me it is). I have taken some time to re-watch his press conference and think through the situation and all that is involved (again, it goes beyond just football for me). Although Brett’s comments are rarely profound, they are always real and often insightful. I think he said several things during his retirement press conference that should be heard by not only people like me who are lifelong fans of the Packers, but by anyone who is trying to live life with character and without regrets; not to mention anyone who cares – even just a little bit – about how they’ll be remembered.
Here are some of Favre’s thoughts,

On how he played the game of football…

• “It’s a game. And (the way) I played it, it was spontaneous. Nothing was ever choreographed. I’ve always said this: the money they pay us is icing on the cake. It had no bearing on the way I played. I played the game regardless, a certain way. I hope that’s what people appreciate about me.”

On his accomplishments and fame…

• “It wasn’t about the money or fame or records. I hear people talk about your accomplishments and things. It was never my accomplishments; it was our [the team’s] accomplishments.”

On how he will be remembered…

• “If I have to be remembered for statistics, then I did something wrong along the way. I really believe that I left a lot more than that, and I can’t make people like me or say good things about me, but I hope I left a good impact on people.”

On what he plans to do after football…

• “There really isn’t a plan. I know that this place and what it’s meant to my career is really special, and to think that I can find something to replace that and feel the same, I’m no fool. I know there’s nothing out there like that, so I’m not even going to try. But life does go on, and I will do something, whatever that may be. But it will be nice for a while, I think, to not feel like I have to live up to certain expectations - not only that other people have but that I have of myself - I can just kinda, as they say, ride off into the sunset…whatever that means, you know? Just try to relax for once in my life and enjoy it. I’m gonna steal a quote from Deanna, when she said “See life through the front windshield and not through the rear-view mirror.” I think that is so true, so important…I can recite almost every play I’ve ever ran or called. I can think of nearly every game I’ve ever played in, and that’s going back to high school. So as I look back I can’t say, “what if?” or “I don’t quite remember that game or that play.” But there are things in life that I can’t say that about. There are some things I missed, and hopefully - and I know you can’t get those things back - but from this day forward, I hope to see things through the front windshield.”

I think we could all learn something from these thoughts, even if we are no where near retiring.

Andy Jolivette is a freelance communicator, creator, cultural analyst, consumer, practical theologian and missionary. He is currently completing a Masters degree in Theology & Pop-Culture from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, MN. Read more of his “reflections of faith in an MTV world” at anewdoxology.com. He can be reached at andy@anewdoxology.com.

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