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What a day.  It was hard to think about much besides the planet-shaking news that Brett Favre was retiring from the NFL.  By sheer luck, both Dave Cole and Dave McGrath were on their respective computers when the news first surfaced on ESPN.com – and within a couple of minutes, I was on the air with the news and trying not to sound as shaken by the news as I was.  I have to say that I am struggling to understand one thing about his decision. Favre has long been seen as someone who just loves the game of football so profoundly – and it seems to me that someone who plays with that attitude would play it for as long as they possibly could without much regard for whether or not a Super Bowl title was within reach.  But his remarks today seemed to indicate that a big part of what led to this decision was his conviction that the Packers would have to exceed what they achieved this year in order for next year to be a success, and he had a hard time believing that such a thing would be possible – and that was a huge part of his decision to retire.  I would have thought that his sheer love of playing the game would have made the matter of winning or not winning the Super Bowl almost beside the point.   But evidently not.  And it’s ultimately a loss for everyone concerned, except maybe for Favre’s family- who can now have so much more of him and his time and energy.

It’s hard to think of an athlete in any sport who is as universally admired as Favre.  I suppose there are a couple of demonic Detroit Lions fans who are just twisted enough to dislike him, but anyone else I know who cares about the game itself knows that Favre represents the epitome of what sports is all about.  He loves the game and plays it with unbridled enthusiasm. He respects his opponents and the effort they make.   He is spectacularly talented.  And he is among the toughest guys to ever play the game, as his unparalleled record for consecutive games started attests.

And if all that weren’t enough,  it turns out that Favre is also a really intelligent guy and an uncommonly articulate guy; I would be hard pressed to think of another NFL player who commands the language as well as he does.  And what is perhaps most endearing of all is his tender heart, demonstrated so clearly in that now famous press conference he did for the Make a Wish Foundation.  He shared the rostrum that day with a little girl who has been struggling with some sort of tremendously serious illness and has defied the odds by surviving as long as she has – and as Favre spoke about his gratitude for her survival, he lost his composure and had to stop talking.  Finally, the little girl – standing to the side of the podium – reached over to him in concern and Brett reached down to her and gave her a big hug.  What an extraordinary moment that was.  For me, this will be the most enduring Favre image of them all – the big, tough guy – one of the toughest of them all – revealing the tenderest of hearts.

Part of what was behind those tears, as he managed to say through choked-back tears,  was that Favre, by seeing all that this precious little girl had gone through, was made even more profoundly grateful for all the blessings that he had been given.   I have long believed that there is no single thing that is more critical to our happiness and well being than whether or not we have a grateful heart.  Favre, for all of the glory he has experienced as an NFL superstar, has had a far from charmed life.  He has tasted some real sorrow and been tested by some brutal trials-  but he also knows that even in the face of all with which he has contended, he is still incredibly fortunate, richly blessed, bountifully gifted . . .  and that has everything to do with how he lives.   And for those of us who can never hope to even hold a football well, let alone throw one,  Favre should still be our hero and someone we emulate in this way.  And I hope that long after he has hung up his helmet,  Favre will be remembered for this quality even more than for the incredible things he did with a football.