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| For now, 'nothing' is appealing to Favre |
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by Pete Dougherty
Source: PackersNews.com
Mar. 8, 2008
Brett Favre's plans for his immediate future are simple.
When asked at his retirement news conference on Thursday at the Legends Club in the Lambeau Field Atrium, he made it clear what he wants to do, at least for a while.
"Nothing," he said. "(Former General Manager) Ron Wolf asked me (Wednesday), 'What are you going to do?' I said, 'Nothing.' And I'm going to stick to that until I want to do something else."
Favre is retiring after 17 years as an NFL quarterback and 16 years as the Green Bay Packers' starter. After a career that goes back to his childhood, he faces the question of what to do with his life after football.
There are some observers and fans who wonder if he'll want to play again, as many retired athletes have, but people who know Favre well can't see him changing his mind, and his news conference appeared to add to that finality.
"Last year and the year before I was tired, and it took a while, but I came back," Favre said. "Something told me this time not to come back."
The question is, what will Favre do?
He's often spoken of his desire to retire to a quiet life on his estate outside Hattiesburg, Miss., where in the offseason he's constantly worked on projects to clear land, plant trees and more recently, raise deer. That's not to mention his favorite pastime, riding his tractor cutting grass.
Clark Henegan, a longtime friend of the Favre family and former roommate of Brett's in college and in Green Bay, said he can't see Favre going into NFL coaching, and probably not into broadcasting. When Favre was younger, he was especially outgoing and fun-loving, but in recent years, he's become more and more of a homebody.
"My opinion is he'll do the Barry Sanders-type thing, just kind of disappear," Henegan said. "He really values his family time and his time to himself."
Bob Harlan, the Packers' chairman emeritus, said while giving a public speech last week, someone asked him if he thought Favre would want to help coach the Packers in some capacity.
"I said no way in the world would he do that," Harlan said. "I think he's going to be delighted to have the weekends off. Now that sounds simple, but that's going to be a world of change for him to have weekends where he can sit back and watch a college game. I don't know what he'll do, I really don't."
However, Favre's competitive streak is one of his dominant personality traits, so he probably will need an outlet for that. He used to be an avid golfer, but for the past couple of years has played only a handful of times — at his annual charity golf outing in Mississippi, and a couple of times last year in training camp when his brother Scott and Henegan visited.
"I'm sure he's going to get back into playing golf again," Henegan said. "He's got a lot of property to take care of, I'm sure he's going to take a lot of hunting trips. Just kind of get away from it all."
Favre presumably will be making at least one trip to Green Bay this year, probably sometime early in the season when the Packers retire his number. The franchise has retired the number of only five players — Don Hutson (14), Tony Canadeo (3), Bart Starr (15), Ray Nitschke (66) and Reggie White (92). When they added White's No. 92 to the façade on the north end at Lambeau Field, the Packers arranged the numbers so they could add Favre's No. 4 and have the numbers centered under the scoreboard. They also have a Favre jersey in storage that will hang in the team's trophy room when they retire his number.
"That organization, the way it handles its business, is the best thing that could have happened to Brett," Henegan said. "Most teams don't have that same type of family atmosphere — the secretaries, everything. The stars were aligned for both Green Bay and Brett." |
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