Only Regrets For Brett

Believe me when I tell you that I’d rather pluck out all of my eyebrow hairs one at a time than agree with Philadelphia Daily News columnist Christine Flowers, but on this incredibly rare occasion today (here), I feel I must do so (straying into sports for a minute).

She is opining today on the whole situation with former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre.

If there is ever a guy that should take the hint and fade from the spotlight, it is Favre. Yes, he’s had a great career, including a Super Bowl win along with a bunch of other playoff victories and championships. Yes, he’s often served as a good ambassador for the game.

But he’s done. Kaput. Finished. And that is obvious apparently to just about everyone but him.

I still remember the playoff game earlier this year between the Packers and the New York Giants in which Favre threw up yet another dying quail of a pass that was intercepted by the Giants en route to their winning score, which landed them a trip to the Super Bowl while Favre and his teammates went home. Favre had the good sense back then to know it was over, but unfortunately, his perspective has become skewed again by absence from the spotlight he so craves, like just about every other athlete of his orbit.

As I watch all of this play out (all that remains is for Favre to get pasted along with his New York Jet teammates – and of course, the New York media will be so forgiving, as we know), I am reminded once more of the greatness of Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt (switching back to baseball).

As the Wikipedia article tells us, Schmidt also had an illustrious career; he was a member of the World Series-winning team in 1980, was named an All-Star twelve times, and was also named MVP three times.

The article also tells us that Schmidt knew when to “hang it up,” as he did in 1989 after a rotator cuff operation. He did so on May 29th after a game against San Diego, and the explanation he gave was that he couldn’t compete at the level he wanted to any longer, or words to that effect.

Imagine that. Schmidt didn’t go on injured reserve or anything, then try to milk the Phillies for any more money or generate some media circus where he would be shipped to another team (and in baseball, he could have played first base that would not require quite the same degree of quickness as third base did – the Phillies were actually playing him there more and more by then – and had he been traded to an American League team, he would not have even had to play the field at all because of the designated hitter rule).

No, he knew he was done (and Schmidt was about a year older than Favre is now when he retired). And so what if it was in the middle of the season?

Mike Schmidt knew that, regardless of how great a career he had, he could never be bigger than the game. And I have a feeling that will start to occur to Brett Favre after he gets sacked a few times while playing for his new team, or throws up another dying quail of an interception.