The list of accomplishments in the 20-year career of Brett Favre can be described in a variety of ways: Record-breaking, logic-defying, emotionally-uplifting, and awe-inspiring are several that come to mind.
Now, Favre's brilliant career can be summed up with three simple, yet powerful worlds: Hall of Famer.
Favre will take his place in the NFL's Hall of Fame in Canton, OH in a ceremony to be held Saturday, August 6th (don't be surprised if the Packers play in the annual Hall of Fame game on August 7th).
To recap Favre's career in bullet-point form:
?- One of two quarterbacks to throw for over 70,000 yards. Peyton Manning is the other
- One of two quarterbacks to throw for over 500 touchdowns. Peyton Manning is the other
- Most consecutive starts by any player in NFL history with 297 (321 including playoffs)
- Most completions in an NFL history (6,300)
- He is the only player to win the AP Most Valuable Player three consecutive times (1995-1997)
- He lead eight teams to division championships
- Super Bowl champion
- 11-time Pro-Bowler
- 3-time first-team All-Pro
- 5-time NFC player of the year
- NFL 1990's all-decade team
Beyond the ridiculous stats and youthful exuberance with which he played, Favre was one of the few true superstars to let fans "in".
Fans identified with Favre's laid-back, every-day-regular-kind-of-guy approach to life.
They felt his pain when his father passed away in 2003. They supported him through his admitted addiction to pain killers in 1996. They were confused, angered and bitter about the way he and the Packers handled his "retirement," and they were joyous in his return to Lambeau Field in a Thanksgiving night loss to the Bears.
Through all of the high points (many listed above) and the low points, watching Favre play the game of football was a pleasure. He butted heads with lineman, threw snowballs at teammates during a playoff game, and executed an occasional fireman's carry to whoever caught one of his tracer-touchdown passes.
He joked, he kidded, and played the game in a way that didn't always seem so serious.
I think former Packers defensive lineman Santana Dotson summed it up perfectly when he told me over a steak dinner, "...that's my quarterback. I would run through a brick wall for that guy because I knew he'd do the same for me."
For Favre, who's number 4 will never again be worn by a member of the Green Bay Packers, Saturday's hall of fame announcement is the final chapter to a legendary career.
Thanks Brett.
Watch Greg Matzek and Jay Sorgi discuss Favre's legacy in your video player above.
