Here are 10 reasons Brett Favre should end the suspense, call it quits, hang up the cleats and take a seat on the lawnmower. Let's throw emotion out the window and do what's right...let us send Favre off into the sunset while he's still in one piece.
1. Go out on a high note. This past season was unexpected, and the last month was fun for Favre, going 4-1 and beating the Bears in Chicago. Yes, Lovie didn't have his guys at full strength, but you can't wipe the smile off Favre's face after winning another game at Solider Field. Against Da Bears, Favre is 22-8.
2. The team is heading in the right direction. Brett can leave feeling that he had a hand in digging the team out of the gutter. The young guys who got a 16-week shot of confidence, especially on the offensive line, can grow as one with young Aaron Rodgers under center.
3. Is it a better exit following a first-round playoff loss? Let's face, and Brett has said as much, this team is a long way from winning another Super Bowl, but as the Giants proved, not that far out of the playoff pool. At best, Green Bay and Favre sneak into the 2008 post-season, only to get pummeled in round one by a higher seed. Favre walking off in defeat, or even worse, laying in a pile of mud, is a tough picture to walk away from. I like the tearful Bears post-game postcard myself.
4. He's still relatively healthy. While this Ironman continues to defy the odds, you can see the injury bug buzzing closer and closer and ready to sting. Let's say Favre breaks a leg in Week 2, and then hangs it up...is that a fitting place to draw the line? If that happens, then years from now, pigskin pundits will talk about his Cal Ripken-like streak, but add the ironic twist that it came to a crashing halt with an injury.
5. Spend more time with the kids. His daughter, Brittany, is going to high school back in Mississippi. This is once-in-a-lifetime scrapbook memories for fathers. Dad is missing all the prom stuff, science fairs and boyfriends. How would you like to be the kid brave enough to ask Brittney to the dance, and have No. 4 answer the door when you show up holding your corsage?
6. Enough records. Favre is still shy of Dan Marino's touchdown mark, but he's also closing in on George Blanda's interception tally. He doesn't need either one, and even if he passes Marino, Peyton Manning will blow past them both in due time. Favre would only have the top spot for a few years, and then Manning will leap frog over the pack. Ask Marino, whose high marks looked untouchable.
7. Money. Favre has plenty, and he can walk away from the $11 million the Packers have on the table for next season and make that back shooting a few commercials. Favre, even in retirement, markets well...just like Michael Jordan, who didn't stop pushing products when he retired from the NBA.
8. No more waiting game. If he ends it now, then no one will criticize Farve for last season when he held Packers fans and the NFL "hostage." He claims that it won't be that long this time around, but what if it is? Who in Green Bay would be brave enough to decide that time is up...we're moving on? No one. It should be like a Band Aid on a scab...tear it right off with a quick jerk...the pain doesn't linger for long.
9. The supporting cast could change. Green Bay needs to address certain areas of the roster to compliment Favre. Tony Gonzalez would have been a nice short- term answer at tight end, but he resigned with the Chiefs. Signing veterans is a short-term solution that only hampers the team down the road. If Favre comes back, sans experienced free agents, then the ranks are still thin to push this team deep into the postseason.
10. The NFL Films ending is better. When they make the FINAL Brett Favre 4 Ever tribute DVD, how cool will it be to see Favre on New Years' Eve in the Windy City enjoying his grand finale on the big stage? The laughter, the tears, the victory. The script was written to end this way, Brett. Now please exit, stage left...But, take a bow first. That was one hell of a sho
Bob currently does play-by-play at Time Warner Cable Sports 32, calling Wisconsin Timber Rattlers games in Appleton as well as the area high school football and basketball scene. During an earlier association with FS Wisconsin, his list of teams and duties have included the Packers, Bucks, Brewers and the WIAA State Championships.
During his life before cable, Bob spent seven seasons as a reporter and producer of "Preps Plus: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel High School Sports Show."
And the joke is, Bob has a golf shirt from all four Milwaukee television stations. Sad, but true: Bob has had sports and news anchor/reporter/producer stints at WTMJ, WISN, WDJT and WITI.
His first duty out of college (UW-Oshkosh) was radio and TV work in Eau Claire. Bob spent nearly a decade at WEAU-TV as a sports director and reporter.
You may have heard Bob's pipes around town as well. He has done play-by-play for the Milwaukee Mustangs, Milwaukee Iron, and UW-Milwaukee men's and women's basketball. Bob was the public address announcer for five seasons for both the Marquette men and women's basketball squads. This season, you can catch the starting lineups of the UW-Milwaukee Panther men's games with Bob behind the mic.
A Brookfield Central graduate, Bob's love and passion for sports began at an early age, when paper football leagues, and Wiffle Ball All Star Games were all the rage in the neighborhood.
