Brett Favre brought it all during his lengthy Hall of Fame speech in Canton on Saturday night – tears, emotion, and laughs. Saying football is family is easy. At the time he retired he held league records for passing yards (71,838), touchdown passes (508), completions (6,300) and attempts (10,169). “So I want to make sure I get that across”.
Advertisement
Brett Favre’s love of football never wavered. He was inducted into Packers Hall of Fame last summer and his retired No. 4 was unveiled on the Lambeau Field faade on Thanksgiving night previous year, with one his idols, Bart Starr in the house.
“What makes me most proud is how I played the game”.
“The crowd stood and they pointed in the direction of the Saints tunnel and, as I stood, I saw this long, grey-haired scruffy bearded player emerging from the tunnel”.
The 46-year-old has an inviting charm about him that makes him hard to dislike despite his many flaws.
We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper.
“I’m going to ask (Packers coach and GM) Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson if I can play the first series tomorrow night”, Favre said.
Andy Reid was in Green Bay from 1992-98 before he took his first head coaching job with the Eagles. Before Dungy’s arrival, the Bucs experienced 12 double-digit losing seasons in the previous 13 years. They were in the playoffs in 1997, and qualified for the postseason four times, before he was sacked after the 2001 season.
So when Rodgers’ Green Bay Packers – yes, the franchise Favre helped revitalize in the 1990s – and Luck’s Indianapolis Colts, who won the 2007 Super Bowl with Dungy as coach and Harrison as the leading receiver, face off to open the NFL’s preseason, Favre figures to still be in the spotlight. He still holds the record for most career interceptions (336). “You taught us how to be teammates”.
Favre said that on the plane ride to MS for his father’s funeral after the Oakland game, Deanna told him: “Your dad had said to me that he had hoped or could not wait for the day you’re inducted into the Hall of Fame so he could introduce you”. Harrison wondered why, and Moore told him, “You should have had 150”.
Tony Dungy and Eddie DeBartolo filled out the 2016 class.
“And heart. Are you doing it for the love of the game or for a paycheck?” His 160 career sacks are third most in National Football League history.
“Well, that person happened to be my future wife, Deanna, by far the strongest and most courageous person I know”. I never, not one time, remembered my parents ever not being there at a sporting event, any school function, you name it.
Greene said of the Army values his father passed on to him and brother Keith, “Be men of honor, have integrity, be respectful, have an attitude of selfless service”.
Favre was the final speaker of the night and went well over a half hour with his speech. “Right where a linebacker needs to be, yeah”.
The top overall draft choice by the St. Louis Rams in 1997, Pace became the anchor on the line for the Super Bowl-winning “Greatest Show on Turf”.
“Three other coaches, and there were so many other coaches”. Coach, thank you for investing in players, investing in men.
Advertisement
DeBartolo has been hailed for the above-and-beyond way he took care of his players and other employees in times of crisis, but said he didn’t always see the same commitment in the modern game. “So I’m thankful, Mike, for you and believing in me”.
