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| No. 4's go-to guy can relate |
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by Garry D. Howard
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, JSonline.com
Mar. 11, 2008
In at least one statistical category, Brett Lorenzo Favre did have a favorite receiver.
And his name was Antonio Freeman, a 1995 third-round draft pick out of Virginia Tech.
On a Green Bay Packers-record 57 occasions (10 in the post-season), Favre dropped back and bombed, rifled, feathered or finessed a spiraling - and sometimes not - football to an ambling Freeman, who then found his way to the end zone.
On one such occasion against Minnesota in November 2000, the Packers were facing third and 4 at the Vikings' 43 on the first possession of overtime when Brett decided to go deep, giving Freeman a shot at greatness.
Unfortunately, No. 86 slipped on the wet grass and Vikings cornerback Cris Dishman, locked in man-to-man coverage, had an easy interception in the rain and mud that was Lambeau Field.
Dishman buckled, though, and dropped the football. And there was Freeman, laying flat on his back, reaching out with his left hand to snag what should have been a sure-fire interception. Freeman then realized he had not been touched and quickly got up, shook off Robert Griffith at the 15 and raced in with the winning score.
Some called the 26-20 victory by the Packers on "Monday Night Football" a miracle.
It was not.
Simply, it was just another great play by Freeman and Favre, one of many during their almost nine seasons together in Green Bay.
Today, Favre and Freeman have something else in common: They are both retired.
Free already has a few years on this retirement gig, but he now knows what he wants to do. He wants to work full time as a journalist/broadcaster on television.
Favre, who has seven days of retirement under his belt, said Wednesday that he would do absolutely nothing.
Well, here's a tip for the latest retiree from his good friend, Mr. Freeman: Sooner or later, you're going to have to find something to do.
"After you finish in the NFL, you should have money, respect and a great deal of time," Freeman said Monday afternoon. "I knew I had to turn my college degree (a business degree in consumer studies from Virginia Tech) into something positive.
"I did not want to punch a 9-to-5 clock; that much I knew."
And neither does Brett Favre.
But Freeman added that the down time could prove difficult to manage.
"Year one turns into two years and the second year turns into three years," Freeman said of his situation. "We all need our time after the NFL to evaluate our careers and travel with our families, because that is something we were not able to do, with all of the rigorous training and workouts and staying in shape.
"Now, with retirement, it's time to go to the mountains, do those types of things that we wanted to do if we had the time."
Freeman, who was concentrating on his future even while still with the Packers, said he began to actively seek out broadcasting work after this third year of "doing very little."
"I always had a love for the camera, and while I was with the Packers, I would have a Monday night-after-the-game show, practicing the craft. I used to hear a lot of critical judgments that broadcasters would toss out at athletes, and what better person to speak on these athletes than a former athlete?"
Well, there was Freeman doing what he had hoped last Tuesday afternoon, discussing Favre's retirement, quite well, on ESPN before a national audience.
"Football," Freeman continued, "is our discipline, it is our structure. That was our job and it was constant; it was everything. And without football, I had no structure, no discipline.
"You can't be anything without discipline and structure. You kind of want a reason and a purpose."
He added that "you are part of something" when you are an NFL player.
"But when you retire, they say they have a lot of things with the NFL Players Association, but you are not a part of the NFL. You are not a part of that team anymore. There are no more perks from Nike and Reebok and no tickets to the Super Bowl.
"It is really all gone."
Will this scenario apply to Favre?
"I have to give Brett his respect and his props," Freeman said. "This man is an icon, and in some ways is the quarterback face of the NFL.
"He may not ever come out of the woods. Because it is a lot harder for him to function in the public than it is for myself. We may not see him again. He's that type of guy."
What's your guess, Free?
"Whatever he has down in Kiln., Miss., is enough for him. I've met some of his friends and family and they seem to be more than enough for him. So you might find him doing something locally in Kiln, because that is his team right now.
"Brett will never lose popularity in the state of Wisconsin but I think he just wants to step away from that for right now."
And do absolutely nothing, until. . . . |
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