Favre-geddon avoided yet again

And your favorite to the win the North Division of the NFC in 2010 is now officially the Minnesota Fightin’ Favre’s.

Let me start out with a little honesty, I love the fact that Brett Favre will be playing again in 2010. In his press conference today, he said this would be his final year because he contract runs out at the end of the season, and I truly believe him. While I know that I may be in the minority for believing this legendary quarterback is in his final season, let me remind you that he is 40 years old, and we don’t know for sure if we will even have “NFL” football next season due to a possible labor dispute.

And for those who think that he is coming out of retirement for the third time in his career, he never officially retired this summer, just didn’t really make a decision for sure until recently. And who can blame him, at the first of the summer he had this third ankle surgery for bone spurs, and following his second retirement (between the Jets and Vikings), he had shoulder surgery for a torn bicep. Ouch!

Let’s put in perspective what an accomplishment playing 18 years of professional football really is, by comparing No. 4 to another great quarterback, and hall of famer, Troy Aikman. Come September, the NFL will enter its 10^th season without Troy Aikman as a professional football player. Aikman is only three years older than Favre in age, and Favre was drafted only two years after Aikman. Favre played eight seasons more than a Hall of Fame quarterback, and hasn’t missed a game since starting week four of the 1992 season as a Green Bay Packer. But yet there are people out there still criticize him for waiting until the last minute to decide if he is going to play. Really?!

I personally would love to see this guy play until he is 50 years old. And for someone who has not started a game due to injury since 1992, he probably could! But I think at this point in his legendary career, he deserves to be able to decide in the middle of August if he wants to play or not. Minus a few things, such as the divorce with the Packers, it seems to me Favre is one of the most professional guys in pads that play underneath the NFL label. Brandon Marshall…Albert Haynesworth…are you paying attention? I’m just saying.

Encouragement from tragedy

Well here I am, attempting to begin blogging again, hint the 2.0. A couple of years ago, I tried to extend my Northwestern News column into the blogosphere, but that really didn’t work out so well. However, now I’m in the process of creating a website that is dedicated to the comprehensive coverage of small college athletics across the state of Oklahoma, so I thought I would pick this blogging thing up again.

As I have slowly chewed on what I would talk about first, a process that has taken several weeks, I thought I would touch on something personal. For those who are close to me, they know I have had some changes recently in the professional realm. Even though I have hidden it well among the masses, this has been a change that at times has been hard to take. I’ve gone through some short periods of depression, not sleeping, etc. But this isn’t about me, as I was touched last night (July 14) while watching ESPN’s award show, the ESPYS.

If you haven’t heard the story of Iowa high school football coach Ed Thomas and his family, you really should. In a nutshell, two summers ago, the long time coach of Aplington-Parkersburg High School was tragically murdered by a former player in the makeshift weight room at the school. Coach Thomas was a man who had been a staple to a community that lived football. Find the full story, and the Thomas family acceptance speech for the Arthur Ashe Award, here.

Even though this is a horrible story, it’s what happens following the murder that is so touching. Coach Thomas was a deeply religious man, and a family who had the same values as he did. Instead of being mad and bitter towards the family of the man who committed the crime, the dad was a former player and both of his sons played for coach Thomas, the Thomas’ showed grace to them, just hours after the tragedy. All throughout the aftermath, the Thomas family remained positive, even encouraging other members of the community of about 2,000 people to also be there for the members of the other family.

Even though I have had my own struggles personally in recent months, I’m always put in my place when I see stuff like this. Here is a family that lost the leader in the family, and a community who lost a man that had personally molded many of their lives, and they didn’t let their sadness, anger, or bitterness control them, ultimately making things worse. I’m reminded that it doesn’t matter what I go through, there can almost always be something worse. Like the Thomas’ and Becker’s, as long as we keep our eyes focused on the prize, the emotions of this world are meaningless.

Sometimes getting kicked in the butt feels pretty dang good. I’m just saying.