Waxing Poetically

Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn’t have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standing by

1992 I was a pimple-faced Freshman in high school. Oh yeah, the good old days. There was Brett. Slinging it. Deep, short, underhanded. Reckless. Went to college, Favre became a superstar. 3 MVPs. Brought Lombardi’s trophy home to Green Bay. Green Bay, Wisconsin was home to the best football team in the world with the best player. Got married, had kids. Brett was still under center. He always was. Win, or lose. Rain, sleet, or snow. He was always there.

O beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening

His last pass? An interception. Perfect. It couldn’t end any other way. Superman had his kryptonite too. That’s why we loved him. The highs were Mt Everest, the lows were Death Valley. Made Holmgren cringe, but we loved it. Who couldn’t love the sweet arrogance of a man to say “we need a sac fly to win, screw it. I’m going for the grand slam.”

Who knows how long this will last
Now we’ve come so far, so fast
But, somewhere back there in the dust
That same small town in each of us

Now he’s done. The frosty gray beard is sitting on a tractor. You took it for granted. Ol’ #4 was going to line up and give the Packers a chance to win. Every week. Every year. For seemingly decades. The clichés were true: he’s a throwback, one of a kind, could play in any era, a gunslinger, a legend. He was a Sherman Tank, case of High Life, and Larry Bird all rolled into one. A legendary player on a legendary franchise leaving at an MVP level. Who else does that? Elway? Nah. He ended by turning around and handing the ball off. Marino? Nope. Aikman, Young? Left with scrambled eggs for brains. Montana? In a Kansas City Chiefs uniform? Say it ain’t so, Joe?. Only Favre.

Oh, sing it Don…sing those appropriate words….

Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence
Don Henley, 1989