WP: Favre's Star Power

[Mark The Homer]

I liked this read by Wilbon on Brett Favre in this morning's Post:

Every meaningful record a quarterback can have, Favre retired with Tuesday, presuming you really and truly believe he isn't coming back. No quarterback has started more consecutive games. No quarterback has won more games, thrown more passes, completed more passes, passed for more yards or touchdowns -- or thrown more interceptions -- than Brett Favre. And nobody has won three straight MVP awards -- not Jim Brown, not Roger Staubach, not Tom Brady, nobody.

...

But it's the "ending" that makes the retirement fairly stunning, and leads to questions about how final his decision is. The Packers are legitimately good again, talented enough at running back, along the offensive line and on defense that Favre doesn't have to carry the team. There's evidence he might have been willing to come back had the Packers stacked the deck with personnel the way the Patriots did last season. That would suggest that Favre still wants to play, that he's still thinking not only about playing, but winning. And if he's feeling that way now, it's fair and natural to wonder if Favre, come late summer, will be able to resist doing something he's done marvelously for so long, something that made him that rarest of athletes -- an icon of professional football.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/05/AR2008030503182.html