Monday, August 04, 2014

The way it should be

You knew one day that, despite a bitter breakup, the Green Bay Packers and their former quarterback Brett Favre would reconcile.

On Monday it was made official exactly when that will take place.

Monday's announcement was three-fold:

• Favre will be inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame on July 18, 2015. He will be the lone inductee in next year's class.

• At the same time, his number will be retired.

• Then at some point during the 2015 season, Favre's name and number will be unveiled on the north facade inside Lambeau Field.

Neither coach Mike McCarthy nor Ted Thompson -- the two men in charge of the team's football operations and the major decision-makers when Favre was traded to the Jets after he came out of retirement in 2008 -- spoke during Monday's announcement. But current team president Mark Murphy said "everyone in the organization is looking forward to this special night."

After their second Super Bowl victory in January 1968, the Packers made the postseason exactly twice over the next 24 years. This once proud franchise had become downright moribund until Favre arrived in 1992. Although the Pack just missed the postseason that year, they would make the playoff each of the next six seasons, including winning their first Super Bowl title in nearly three decades. While Favre (who personally won three MVP awards in that six year span) had a lot to do with that success, it can also be argued that Hall of Fame defensive end Reggie White deserves a lion's share of the credit. His free agent signing with the Pack prior to the '93 season all of a sudden made it vogue to play on the frozen tundra once again, thus allowing the team to build around their two cornerstones. But there's little dispute that just one of those players could not have won a Super Bowl ring without the other.

That is shaping up to be quite an eventful time frame for Favre. In the summer of 2015, he enters the Packers Hall of Fame. Then a mere 12 months later, he'll assume his rightful place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH. All in all, not bad for country bumpkin from Mississippi.

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