Memories of Brett Favre

Brett Favre was a childhood institution of sorts for me.  There are many memories that I have of Favre, along with all the memorabilia I have of his.

During my early childhood, I was a Cleveland Browns and it hurt like heck when Art Modell announced he was moving the team to Baltimore in 1995.  I knew the next best thing to do was to pick up another team to root for.  The Green Bay Packers and Favre was an up and coming team, and given the historic history the team, I grew a lot of interest towards the team.  The next three years went great for the Packers and Favre, and it helped to relief some of the pain of not having the Browns.  I began collecting Packers-Favre memorabilia, such as his jersey and figurines.

I remember having indoor recess in 5th grade on the Friday before the NFC Divisional (Jan. 1996).  The guys would gather at a table in Mr. Hinman's classroom at Woodford Elementary to play paper football.  When I joined in, PJ asked me what playoff team I wanted to be and I said I would take the Packers.  Mr. Hinman went on to ban paper football in his room, due to the footballs being left behind.

I loved showing off my support of the Packers and Favre during my years at U.L. Light Middle School (1996-99).  The Dallas Cowboys, who were just coming off three Super Bowl championships in four seasons, were a popular team among my classmates.  We would argue back and forth over who the real "America's Team" was.  Among the big Cowboys fans I can remember were Brett Fogle, Chris Lee, and Roger Martin.

Among the biggest Packers fans I know are my Hanshaw cousins Brent, Jeanna, and Teresa.  Brent and Teresa were Packers fans before the Favre era, while Teresa gained interest during the 2^nd half of Favre’s career.

The Browns came back as I started at Barberton High School in 1999.  The Browns and the Packers became my co-favorite teams.  I continued to pull for the Packers and Favre during my college years, beginning in 2003.  Favre had his share of family issues, with the death of his father (Irv) and brother-in-law, in addition to his wife (Deanna) being placed on chemo.  I admired the way he played through this, plus all of the nagging injuries.  I graduated from the University of Akron in December 2008, three months after QB Aaron Rodgers made his first start for the Packers.  Packers’ fans are definitely spoiled to be able to transition from one great QB to another.