Sunday was one of the more futile sports television viewing sessions in my memory. As excited as I was for spending the day watching the NFL conference title games and the Ducks’ game against the Cougars, each game failed to turn out my desired outcome.
What could be better than a New York-New England Super Bowl? For me, anything else. I’m not expecting to see a repeat performance of the 38-35 Patriots victory in the teams’ last regular season game.
And as frustrating as it was to watch the Oregon basketball team squander an opportunity to beat Washington State, several minutes after the game had ended came the most transcendental moment of the day, about seven hours after the couch potato marathon began.
In what could have been the last pass he’ll ever throw, Brett Favre’s interception in overtime became both a potential fitting and unfitting end to one of the NFL’s greatest quarterbacks.
In a season where he broke Dan Marino’s career touchdown passes and John Elway’s record for career victories by a quarterback, a season where he led one of the league’s youngest teams to a series away from the Super Bowl, Favre regressed to the maligned, aged quarterback who was more likely to throw an interception than he was to throw his patented Hail Mary touchdown.
At 38, Favre resurrected his game this season and only threw 15 interceptions with his 28 touchdowns, sparking a resurgence for Packers’ football. He made smarter decisions throwing the ball and was responsible for most the team’s success.
But that changed Sunday as Favre threw several errant throws that turned him back into that gunslinger/savior passer that would hinge his team’s entire chances on winning with one pass. He couldn’t make those throws in Sunday’s game against the Giants. Favre let Eli Manning, the perennial media whipping-boy for dooming his team’s chances at winning, upstage him.
As many other sports writers have pointed out, Manning looked like the collected veteran while Favre was the jittery passer. But hell hadn’t frozen over Lambeau Field, despite the weather reports (although Giants coach Tom Coughlin’s blood-red face gave me reason to believe otherwise). It was simply the natural story arc in a narrative where one man ascended to stardom while the other effectively ended his turn in the spotlight.
That’s essentially what happened with most of the post-game coverage of the game. Everyone was more concerned with Manning and kicker Lawrence Tynes who made the game-winning field goal in overtime after missing two earlier in the game. No mention of Farve costing the Packers an appearance in the Super Bowl.
It’s hard to blame Favre though. He wanted to write that final chapter of his career as the man who went out on top. He wanted to be immortalized as the shoot-from-the-hip quarterback whose entire identity was his ability to win games on his arm alone. He’ll forever be remembered as that quarterback, but his happy ending wasn’t meant to be.
In a weekend where some of sports’ superstars didn’t live up to their public identity, Tom Brady wasn’t Mr. Perfect, O.J. Mayo wasn’t a ball hog, Eli Manning was, in fact, capable of leading his team to the promised land and Brett Favre managed to keep his identity intact. The Packers lived and died by his arm. Any fan of the legend wouldn’t ask for anything different.
[email protected]