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| Notes: Favre locker to get new home - his |
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by LORI NICKEL
Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, JSonline.com
May 30, 2008
Green Bay - In what was meant to be a sincere and genuine gesture to honor an NFL legend, Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson said he planned all along to have construction workers remove Brett Favre's locker from the locker room and give it to the retired quarterback as a small token of thanks for 16 seasons, two Super Bowls and three most valuable player awards.
"We decided several months ago that at the appropriate time that we would disassemble it, crate it up and take it to Brett's place so it will be Brett's locker," said Thompson on Thursday. "The reason we hadn't done it yet is because the workers have to have the time and freedom to come and go and so we've got to do it sometime between our minicamp and the start of our training camp."
It really is a unique way to retire a piece of history. Too bad Thompson hadn't made his plans known sooner. He might have avoided a little controversy.
As late as last week, Green Bay's first new quarterback in 17 years, Aaron Rodgers, was forced to field not only the customary questions on replacing Favre but also how he felt about Favre's locker still looming over him and the questions of his possible return still gurgling under the surface.
Rodgers looked annoyed at the subject for a second but held back and chose to shrug it off with an "I don't care." He will always have to play in Favre's shadow. The locker seemed like just another reminder.
At the time, all that was known publicly was that Thompson and the Packers would do something special with the locker and that it had not been, and likely would not be, assigned to another player. That led to speculation. Would it be left for display for the fan tours that come through the locker room or would it be used some sort of shrine?
That question was finally answered on Thursday, however, following off-season practice. The Favre nameplate had been removed and replaced by a plain Packers nameplate and Thompson tried to clear up any conspiracy theories, saying he was less annoyed and more amused at how much attention the subject has received.
"And, quite frankly, (I'm) a little disappointed with myself, I should have gone about this a little differently," said Thompson. "But we were sort of trying to keep it under our hats, and I didn't realize that people were going to make that much of a fuss over it."
The lockers are constructed as individual compartments. The Packers will pull out Favre's locker - which Favre occupied for the 2002-'07 seasons after the Lambeau Field renovation - and replace it with a new one.
Thompson said he never considered keeping it for display in Lambeau. He felt it was "the right thing to do" by giving it to Favre. |
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