12/4

For nearly 30 years the Green Bay Packers have had an all-time great quarterback. Aaron Rodgers is in his 13th season as the Packers' starter. He just turned 37 on Wednesday, eclipsed 50,000 career passing yards on Sunday, and currently leads the NFL in passer rating. It sure seems like drafting his potential successor in the first round lit a fire under him. Jordan Love might have to watch and learn for a while - like Rodgers did.

I was 12 years old when Brett Favre took over for an injured Don Majkowski and led the Packers to a come-from-behind win over the Bengals. From 1992 to 2007 Favre started every single game for Green Bay.

By the time Brett won the first of three consecutive NFL MVP awards in 1995 he had become my favorite athlete by far. No one had more fun playing football than Favre. Sometimes he would get flushed out of the pocket and just when you thought he would get sacked for a loss he'd toss some underhanded shovel pass to a fullback and salvage a play. Sometimes he'd chuck the ball 80 yards downfield just because he could.

Favre would often run to his receiver after a touchdown and lift them up in a bear hug. He genuinely seemed to love football and his teammates.

In the 1990s I was a teenager with a steady stream of disposable income (and not much of a social life). The Packers were Super Bowl Contenders and Favre was the face of the league, so I managed to build up a large collection of Favre memorabilia and cards.

I stuck with him through the Vicodin addiction (my best friend razzed me by calling Favre "pill popper") and I stuck with him when he threw costly interceptions at the worst possible time. He's the ol' gunslinger after all. I'd rather back a guy that takes chances on his own abilities than someone who gets to Canton by handing the ball off 40 times a game.

Toward the end of his career when he agonized over retirement again and again, I defended him. At least his indecision comes from a genuine love of the game and not a marketing opportunity. How many times has Michael Jordan retired, huh? I was thrilled when he joined the Jets because they were local. I wasn't mad when he used New York Jersey as a stepping stone to get to Green Bay's hated rival, the Vikings. That was a stacked team one quarterback away from a Super Bowl. Of course, if Brett hadn't done this they would have gone to the big game:

When Favre finally called it a career there were still jokes that he'd un-retire at any moment (I remember reading that the Rams had called him - two years after his last game.) But in general, Brett Favre was still regarded as the likeable every man while Aaron Rodgers was seen as salty and aarogant.

Can you blame him though? Aaron is a California guy. He was a 49ers fan growing up. And the Niners just  happened to have the #1 overall pick and a need at quarterback. I don't remember any real reason why Alex Smith was seen as superior to Rodgers at the time. It was a toss-up, and Rodgers wasn't their guy. 

Being passed over by your boyhood team at #1 is bad enough. As more teams passed on Rodgers the opportunities to start - and the millions of dollars - slipped away. No one else needed a quarterback? Really?

And even though I was a die-hard Brett Favre fan who really, really didn't want to see him go.. I began to get excited as the first round went on and Aaron Rodgers was still sitting there. Oh man. If he falls..

Sure enough, the Packers rescued him. But Brett wasn't ready to retire. Rodgers had to sit, and sit, and sit some more. He spent three seasons as a backup, unheard of for a first-rounder. If any other team drafted him, Rodgers would have well over 60,000 passing yards and probably 500 touchdown passes by now.

Rodgers has carried that chip on his shoulder throughout his career. He's not shy about letting everyone know he's still got a lot left in the tank. He's been public about personnel decisions that he hasn't agreed with. Some critics might see that as arrogance, but I honestly haven't seen him do or say anything wrong. In fact, I've realized over the past couple years that there's a lot to like about Aaron Rodgers:

Rodgers used to celebrate touchdowns with the Championship Belt. Now he does the Hingle McCringleberry.

He's got a knack for throwing Hail Mary passes that always seem to win the game.

Rodgers rarely turns the ball over. Whereas Brett Favre is the all time leader in interceptions thrown, Aaron is the only quarterback in NFL history with 300 touchdown passes and less than 100 picks. He's led led the league in lowest interception percentage four times. In 2018 he threw two picks. Total. All year. 

Brett Favre never led the league in passer rating. Aaron Rodgers has done so twice, and leads the league this year. Favre never threw 40 or more touchdowns in a season. A.A. Ron has, twice. And he's got 33 so far this season.

There are a couple of other things I've noted that have no effect on his abilities as a quarterback, but I find them interesting in contrast to #4.

I try very hard not to care about a player's personal life - unless they do something illegal or  excessively immoral. Brett Favre is a family man and a Christian and a Trump supporter. He's taken money to record a message of support to white supremacists on Cameo and sent pictures of his lil' gunslinger to a female employee of the Jets. You can draw your own conclusions there.

I know nothing of Rodgers' political preference - nor do I care to - but it seems as though he doesn't have the greatest relationship with his family. I can relate to that. I can also relate to his views on religion:

Aaron's personal life has been unavoidable. He's dated Olivia Munn, Danica Patrick, and apparently Shailene Woodley? Shailene is a little out there, even for me. But she brought Hazel Grace Lancaster to life so she's okay in my book. I can't say for sure that he has or has not sent any of them some pics of his .... but if he did it would be totally fine because he's not married, Brett.

All of this has made me realize that the amount of cards and memorabilia I have of each legendary passer relative to how talented they are as players and respectable they are as people is way out of whack. I have boxes full of Favre memorabilia, and now that my COMC order has arrived I'm up to 842 different Favre cards. I'd still like to reach 1,000 someday - unless he suddenly embraces his inner Curt Schilling.

Aaron Rodgers isn't even the second-ranked football player in my collection (that would be Sterling Sharpe.) I picked up five new Rodgers cards from COMC and one from a TCDB trade, bringing my total to 109.

For comparison's sake there were 16 Favre items in the COMC box. I'll show them off on Sunday - when Rodgers and the Pack play the Eagles.

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!

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