Morry Gash / Associated Press
Charles Mollenkamp, 17, of Brookfield, Wis., shows his support to bring back Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre, at a rally outside Wisconsin State Fair Park on July 14 in Milwaukee.
The quarterback is worshiped in Wisconsin, but his apparent desire to play elsewhere is likely to compromise that loyalty.
These are confusing times for the men and women on the bar stools in the Fox River Valley towns of Wisconsin.
With their shot and a beer comes the inevitable talk of Brett Favre. Some will be wearing their sacred No. 4 Packers jerseys as they belly up. Since the early 1990s, Favre has been the deity and they have knelt before him.
To live in this area for an extended period of time, to call Sheboygan or Appleton or Fond du Lac home, is to better understand it and its people. They work hard, pay bills on time, plan around Friday night fish fries, put the snow tires on in late October and live and die with their Green Bay Packers.
A Sunday afternoon during Packers season is slow death to a local business, unless that business is a sports bar. Even if it isn't snowing, the streets empty and the TV sets hum. For most, the big city is Chicago and the bright lights of New York and Los Angeles are TV images of scary crowds, scarier freeways and horrifying crime.
In many of these towns, there is little reason, or inclination, to lock your doors at night.
When Favre was delivered unto them, lo those 16 years ago, he was the answer to prayers that there could be a reincarnation of Bart Starr.
Starr was a soft-spoken Southerner who said yes-sir and no-sir, won big games in a quiet and efficient manner, and never, ever put ego before team.
Favre was perfect. He was right off a tractor in Mississippi. He was handsome, friendly, accessible to the public, down-to-earth. Better yet, after some growing pains, he became a quarterback so good it was scary.
Packers fans loved him in hundreds of ways and he responded in kind, with longevity, gutsy performances while injured, dozens of exciting comebacks, and even a Super Bowl title in 1997.
In Wisconsin, loyalty is hard earned and hard lost. Waffling is frowned upon.
So, when Favre announced in March that he was retiring and then quickly started to make noises about coming back, the people on the bar stools were both excited and confused. He was their guy, and they knew he could probably still play at a high level.
But their guy wouldn't say one thing and mean another. People change their minds, but Favre was starting to sound like one of those boxers -- retire for show and un-retire for dough.
Now, the confusion has to be at an all-time high. Are the Packers the bad guys because they want to move on, and started to do so with Aaron Rodgers once Favre said he was done? Has boy-next-door Favre been hiding all these years in blue jeans and T-shirts, when his real persona was to take the money -- in this case $12.7 million for next season -- and run, even if he said he didn't want it or need it four months ago?
Now, teams are in training camp. The Packers have Rodgers over center. Something needs to be settled soon, and surely will.
Favre is a great quarterback, probably even now, 10 weeks shy of his 39th birthday. At one point, the Packers were going to retire his beloved No. 4 jersey in a ceremony at their home opener, Sept. 8, against the division-rival Minnesota Vikings.
Now, talk is he might end up being the Vikings' quarterback. There is also talk he could go to the Bears, the only division rival hated more than the Vikings.
It is hard to know who is right and who is wrong here. Maybe the Packers, currently unwilling to release his rights, are the unreasonable ones. Maybe Favre.
There is only one certainty. If Favre quarterbacks either the Vikings or the Bears this season, knowing how Packers fans feel about those teams, the guy in the blue jeans and T-shirt will be a dead memory. There are some places where loyalty trumps money and ego, and Wisconsin is one of them.
If it happens, if Favre goes to the Vikings or Bears, the people on the bar stools will get used to it. There will be memories of the Bart Starr years to dig out.
And there will be rounds of shots and beers, to hoist in toasts to Aaron Rodgers.
Original here
These are confusing times for the men and women on the bar stools in the Fox River Valley towns of Wisconsin.
With their shot and a beer comes the inevitable talk of Brett Favre. Some will be wearing their sacred No. 4 Packers jerseys as they belly up. Since the early 1990s, Favre has been the deity and they have knelt before him.
To live in this area for an extended period of time, to call Sheboygan or Appleton or Fond du Lac home, is to better understand it and its people. They work hard, pay bills on time, plan around Friday night fish fries, put the snow tires on in late October and live and die with their Green Bay Packers.
A Sunday afternoon during Packers season is slow death to a local business, unless that business is a sports bar. Even if it isn't snowing, the streets empty and the TV sets hum. For most, the big city is Chicago and the bright lights of New York and Los Angeles are TV images of scary crowds, scarier freeways and horrifying crime.
In many of these towns, there is little reason, or inclination, to lock your doors at night.
When Favre was delivered unto them, lo those 16 years ago, he was the answer to prayers that there could be a reincarnation of Bart Starr.
Starr was a soft-spoken Southerner who said yes-sir and no-sir, won big games in a quiet and efficient manner, and never, ever put ego before team.
Favre was perfect. He was right off a tractor in Mississippi. He was handsome, friendly, accessible to the public, down-to-earth. Better yet, after some growing pains, he became a quarterback so good it was scary.
Packers fans loved him in hundreds of ways and he responded in kind, with longevity, gutsy performances while injured, dozens of exciting comebacks, and even a Super Bowl title in 1997.
In Wisconsin, loyalty is hard earned and hard lost. Waffling is frowned upon.
So, when Favre announced in March that he was retiring and then quickly started to make noises about coming back, the people on the bar stools were both excited and confused. He was their guy, and they knew he could probably still play at a high level.
But their guy wouldn't say one thing and mean another. People change their minds, but Favre was starting to sound like one of those boxers -- retire for show and un-retire for dough.
Now, the confusion has to be at an all-time high. Are the Packers the bad guys because they want to move on, and started to do so with Aaron Rodgers once Favre said he was done? Has boy-next-door Favre been hiding all these years in blue jeans and T-shirts, when his real persona was to take the money -- in this case $12.7 million for next season -- and run, even if he said he didn't want it or need it four months ago?
Now, teams are in training camp. The Packers have Rodgers over center. Something needs to be settled soon, and surely will.
Favre is a great quarterback, probably even now, 10 weeks shy of his 39th birthday. At one point, the Packers were going to retire his beloved No. 4 jersey in a ceremony at their home opener, Sept. 8, against the division-rival Minnesota Vikings.
Now, talk is he might end up being the Vikings' quarterback. There is also talk he could go to the Bears, the only division rival hated more than the Vikings.
It is hard to know who is right and who is wrong here. Maybe the Packers, currently unwilling to release his rights, are the unreasonable ones. Maybe Favre.
There is only one certainty. If Favre quarterbacks either the Vikings or the Bears this season, knowing how Packers fans feel about those teams, the guy in the blue jeans and T-shirt will be a dead memory. There are some places where loyalty trumps money and ego, and Wisconsin is one of them.
If it happens, if Favre goes to the Vikings or Bears, the people on the bar stools will get used to it. There will be memories of the Bart Starr years to dig out.
And there will be rounds of shots and beers, to hoist in toasts to Aaron Rodgers.
Original here
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