I admit, I was one of those Vikings fans that dreaded the idea of the hated ex Green Bay QB wearing the Purple and Gold.

I made puking sounds when I saw the Photoshop pictures of Favre in a Vikings uniform.
I made gagging sounds when I heard that yes he COULD become a Viking.
I gave the evil eye to whomever said that yes, he would be coming to Minnesota to play.
I stared unbelieving at the TV as the SUV moved along 494 toward Winter Park, which oddly reminded me of the OJ chase.

No, not Brett Favre who had been a thorn in our side for 16 years. Who I called many names, including Diva, spoiled, Hick, among many others. I remember laughing at him as he cried through his retirement speech. Cheering when he broke the record for most INTs, booing him as he acted like a big baby and hid from cameras when the Pack was losing big to the Vikings years ago, his trainers hiding him with towels. How pathetic is that?

It wasn’t because I didn’t think Favre was talented, oh no! It was because Favre was still considered a PACKER even if he hadn’t been on the team for over a year. After all, for 16 years he led the Packers to numerous championships, including two super bowls. He out played our team, out smarted our defense and basically was the icon for the Green Bay Packers. I have nothing against the Packers. I admire their history and feel they are the one true football team still around, it’s the annoying, arrogant, cheese and beer addled fans I can’t stand. I do work on the border between Minnesota and Wisconsin and unfortunately work with a bunch of cheese heads. For those years that Favre was leading the Pack they had boosting rights. Except for a couple of those years I could not say too much, but then again, they were winning championships and our coach took a knee. What can be said to that?

When Favre left GB and wanted to come back, we Viking fans just sat there and watched the tennis match between the future hall of famer and the somewhat confused (at least it seemed to me) Green Bay Packers duke it out. It was not pretty, nor was it clean. It was a messy, silly and somewhat very drawn out match and we LOVED it!! Meanwhile we were slowly and quietly building not only a good team, but a great team. Signing free agents like the Williams boys and Jared Allen. Making smart and superior draft picks like Adrian Peterson. The only missing link seemed to be… a QB. What we had was not going to cut it.

When Favre didn’t back down, and it was obvious that the Pack didn’t want him, nor did they want US to have him (rumor had it he wanted to come here BADLY) they traded him to the Jets in a very smart deal with a “poison pill” attached. I say smart, because at the time it was, but it almost bit them in the butt when Favre played very well, until hurt late in the season. The Jets dropped him and once again, Favre not so tearfully retired from football.

Not so fast!

Enter the Vikings, notably Brad Childress with his ALMOST perfect team. Brett Favre was now available, with no contract, no poison pill…the only problem was he was going to be 40 years old, hurt and yes, retired (but does that even count when talking about Brett Favre??) And, yes, sadly when you look at the whole NFL the best QB available. Now to convince the “old gunslinger” he still had another year or maybe two in him.

Once again, we had the tennis match, only we were on the other side of the net, but we did not have much to lose in this match. If he didn’t want to UN-retire, then we go on with what we have (yikes!) or, if he did we deal with his obvious flaws and hopefully fill that gaping hole at QB, but with risks….lots of risks!!

There were signs this deal was done months before. Brett had his shoulder operated on. He worked out at home with high school kids he coached. He looked dang good throwing that ball too. Then of course the rumored phone calls, and then the famous pick up from the airport and the SUV drive. You’d think the president was in town the way it was played out here.

Brett signed and was on the practice field that afternoon. Seeing him in the red #4 jersey and Viking helmet seemed surreal to me. I thought this cannot be happening.

Brett missed camp, but after all his years did he really need it? He also was familiar with the offense and just had to build some chemistry with the receivers. Two of them very young, Sydney Rice and rookie Percy Harvin. Sounded easy huh?

And it was!

Again, I still had to rub my eyes when he stepped out onto the field but after awhile it seemed natural. He jelled, he threw, he took apart defenses like they were playing high school teams and not professional football teams. He built that chemistry with Harvin, Barrian and especially Sydney Rice. There were rumors of locker room problems, but after the rest of the team squashed that, nick naming him the “silver fox” putting a rocking chair by his locker on his 40th birthday and of course the butt slapping.

Brett made them believe in themselves
Brett kept them in the game, even when down.
Brett made them a better team.
Brett made it fun to watch football again.

Now of course I am a Brett fan. He’s not that spoiled diva I read about. He’s a good old boy that loves football, and yes has a big ego but he should and needs one for the work he’s doing. He does sometimes let that ego get in the way but that’s part of the price we pay to have him.

The first time they played the Packers, Brett played flawlessly, and the Packers didn’t have a chance. His predecessor, a decent QB himself Aaron Rogers looked like a deer in the headlights. It was beautiful!!

The 2nd Packer meeting in Green Bay only reinstates how I feel about cheese heads. When Randy Moss left the Vikings years before it was not for all good reasons. Randy obviously wanted to go somewhere else, and the Vikings were OK with letting him go feeling his best years were behind him. Randy had had his problems and only hung on because of his amazing talent. Most Vikings fans miss him, even with his off field problems and sometimes on field problems, Randy was a blast to watch in his hay day. When Randy returned to Minnesota he was greeted with applause. One notable picture I saw was of the famous Viking fan, Syd who dresses up like a Viking at games, was offered a seat in the end zone of a Patriots game. Randy caught a TD and went over and shook hands with Syd. It’s a touching picture and tells you how much Randy respects the Viking fans and how much we respect him… not so with the cheese heads and the QB who put their little hole in the wall town on the map. Who brought back a team that sucked for a decade and made them respectable. Who won a super bowl for them and was their hero for 16 years… noooooo, these morons booed him and booed him relentlessly the whole game. The most disgusting thing I saw was a “funeral” with a dressed up dummy of GB QB Favre in a coffin. The obscene shirts and the burning of jerseys…. SHAME on you Packer fans!! THIS is why you are so hated. I hope because of all of this that Brett goes into the Hall of Fame as a Viking and not a Packer just to stick it to them…one more time.

The Dallas playoff game had to be one of the best games. The defense won it, but Brett took apart their defense as if he were drawing up the plays on them. The famous Pants on the Ground chant showed how much these guys enjoyed playing together.

The NFC championship game was sad, since the Vikings out played the Saints in every way but turnovers. This game Brett played his heart out. He played with close to a broken ankle brought on by cheap shots from the Saints who hit him when he was unprotected. I believe they should start ejecting players since fining them seems to do no good. And I heard that the fans were yelling at him as he lay in pain getting it taped. Yelling that they hoped he’d never walk again… sickening, sad and totally classless fans. Shame on you too!! Even at his most “divaish” I never wished him any ill will.

Watching his press conference after the game you just could not see him wanting to come back. He looked tired and all of his 40 years. Yet when you saw Percy and Sydney talk about him, how much they admired him and how much they learned from him, begging him in their way to come back you wonder. And it is Brett Favre. He’s a “never say never” kind of guy. We won’t know until training camp is almost over if he’ll back or not.

I do hope so. What Viking fan would not want to relive that magic again? It was, for the first time in a very long time, fun to watch a Viking game. But for his sake… I’m on the fence. I feel for his family who had to watch him get pummeled in that playoff game. It was brutal, but my new pal Brett is tough.

Tennis anyone??