Brett Favre

If you are a football fan, you have to appreciate great talent when you see it. Brett Favre, the guy whose name confuses spellers everywhere. I first saw him play at my Alma Mater, the University of Southern Mississippi, during his last year there. I knew there was something special about his football abilities then. I had the same feeling when I watched Earl Campbell play during his senior year at John Tyler High School in Tyler, Texas.

Some football games don't live up to their billing, but last night's game between the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings certainly did. Two very good football teams battled to the final whistle. There are great football players on both sides, but there is one player who has proved that no matter who he plays for, the game is better because he showed up.

It is hard to grasp what he brings to the game. Even when his team loses he is fun to watch. Brett Favre is a player's player. He never seems to lose his youthful exuberance. It mirrors the feeling I used to get as a youngster when we lined up on Sunday afternoon to play a game of sandlot football. It is what has been lost in the big business world of professional athletics today. I rarely watch professional sports anymore, but if I know Brett is playing, I tune in.

I don't know how much longer he'll play. Sometimes I fear for his health and wish he would retire before his body is damaged beyond repair, but as long as he's out there, the game is better for it. To that boy/man from the never never land of Kiln, Mississippi, I say thanks for playing the game.