Matt Palmer, The Examiner
2008-03-05 08:00:00.0
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BALTIMORE -

In a career full of surprises, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre delivered his biggest Tuesday by walking away from the game of football.

Calling the retirement of a 38-year-old NFL quarterback “shocking” would normally be laughable. There were recent warning signs, including the accidental posting of the retirement a week ago on the Packers Web site.

Over the years, we’ve seen the Hall of Fame careers of Johnny Unitas and Troy Aikman end with a whimper. Not Favre, though.

He came within an eyelash of his third Super Bowl appearance two months ago.

Not only was he playing at a serviceable level, it could be argued he was one of the top three quarterbacks in the league. After a few years of sub-par performances, the Mississippi boy with the renegade nature re-ascended the ladder this past season along with his young team.

He had every reason to return for at least one more run at a second Lombardi Trophy. Given Favre’s unpredictable decision-making on the field, however, we should have expected the unexpected.

The fans of Green Bay are undoubtedly holding cheese hats over their broken hearts today. There is no confirmation, as of yet, to speculation that television analyst John Madden is flying a flag outside of his bus at half-staff.

Green Bay is a place where Favre is Unitas, Cal Ripken and Brooks Robinson all rolled into one man. Somehow, Favre became more synonymous with the town and the team than even Vince Lombardi or Bart Starr.

The Packers are all Green Bay has and he made the team a national treasure once again.

During the 1980s and early 1990s, the once-proud Packers had devolved into a joke of a franchise. When the Atlanta Falcons traded Favre to Green Bay in 1992, they did so because their coach — Jerry Glanville — said it would take a plane crash for the gun-slinger to get in a game. Four years after acquiring Favre, the Packers were Super Bowl champions with Favre collecting his second straight NFL MVP award.

Sixteen years after that trade, Favre is a sure-fire Hall of Famer who owns NFL passing records for yards (61,655), touchdowns (442) and wins by a starter (160) while Glanville is now coaching at Portland State.

The next time you meet a Falcons fan, share that nugget of information and hand them a Pepto-Bismol.

Locally, memories of Favre aren’t exactly glowing.

His only appearance in Charm City came on Dec. 19, 2005, a night in which he was out-dueled by the Ravens’ Kyle Boller of all people. In a season of woeful performances, Favre completed just 14 passes at M&T Bank Stadium for 144 yards with two interceptions and no touchdowns.

It got so bad that Favre’s would-be heir apperant, rookie Aaron Rodgers, replaced the legend late in the third quarter. Rodgers, a first-round draft pick, was supposed to permanently replace Favre. He never did and never will.

In the end, football fans are left wondering what they always were with Favre — what’s going to happen next?

Matt Palmer is a staff writer for The Examiner who covers the NFL. He can be reached at mpalmer@baltimoreexaminer.com.