So Long, Brett

Nearly two months ago, as Brett Favre and his Green Bay Packers teammates were preparing to meet the New York Giants in the NFC Championship game, I wrote a little about Favre's career and how ridiculous it was to wait until his career was over to induct him into the NFL's Hall of Fame.

Turns out, his career was just about over. We just didn't know it yet.

That Sunday, Favre and the Packers lost to the Giants in overtime. New York went on to the Super Bowl two weeks later and upset the previously unbeaten New England Patriots.

And today, Favre called it quits.

My immediate response was, "Oh, no!"

I'm a Packer fan. I've been a Packer fan since I was a boy and Vince Lombardi was walking the sidelines.

That, by the way, was a couple of years before Favre was born.

And, as a Packer fan, I've been through many difficult seasons with many subpar quarterbacks -- years when Terry Bradshaw and the Pittsburgh Steelers were dominating the NFL, years when Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers were the best team, and all the other years, when the championships went to Griese and the Dolphins, Staubach and the Cowboys, Stabler and the Raiders, McMahon and the Bears.

About a quarter of a century passed between the last time that Lombardi walked off the field as coach and the first time Favre walked on the field in a Packer uniform. And, in most of those years, the Packers were terrible.

Suffice to say that, when Bradshaw, Griese, Staubach, Stabler, McMahon and Montana were winning Super Bowls, the Packers were being led by quarterbacks who were completely forgettable.

You won't see their busts in Canton, Ohio. Although you might see some of them on the NFL's blooper reels.

So, like most Packer fans, I've gotten a little spoiled with Favre at the helm for nearly two decades. The guy's never missed a game. He's rewritten most of the NFL passing records. He played in two Super Bowls and he won one of them.

I knew this day would come. I was just hoping it was still a couple of years down the road.

It seems that mere words can't do justice to what Favre has done in his career. But that hasn't stopped the nation's sportswriters from weighing in.

Rick Morrissey writes, in the Chicago Tribune, that Favre's departure is "our loss."

"I know that's probably heresy to most hard-core Bears fans," Morrissey says, "but it's true. Anybody who enjoys football, who likes flair and emotion and effort, liked Brett Favre. The NFL just became a colder place with word of his retirement ... He looked like a kid who was enjoying a game, and even the most cynical among us had to appreciate that, especially in a sports world in which greed and self-absorption seem to be the most prevalent natural attributes. "

That's the thing that always appealed to me about Favre. It was always so much fun to watch him play. And I will miss that very much.

But kids don't stay kids forever. They grow up. And growing up brings with it new issues.

Another season just wasn't worth the grind for Favre, writes Peter King in Sports Illustrated.

But that doesn't mean that Favre doesn't love the game.

And football fans love Favre, says Pete Prisco of CBS Sports.

"We loved watching him play," writes Prisco. "He was fearless. He was daring. He was the every man, the Southern kid with the aw-shucks, down-home attitude who happened to have a rocket for a right arm. He also had flaws, which we all do. ... Maybe that's why so many loved Favre so much; fans saw themselves in him."

Without Favre, says John Clayton of ESPN, the Packers may still be a playoff team, a team with loads of young talent and a quarterback in Aaron Rodgers who has been groomed to succeed Favre.

But without Favre, Clayton says, the Packers won't be the same team. "[I]t's hard seeing the Packers back at that Super Bowl level this season without him. They are just another NFC team that has a chance."

Clayton says the Packers are going to miss Favre's magic.

And so will I.

So long, Brett. Thanks for the memories.