Love vs. Haters

I try my hardest to avoid writing serious blogs. I know that this is a place that you all come to laugh...or at least I hope it is. But there are some things that I cannot avoid talking about, as they strike a chord so deeply rooted in my love for sports that I have no choice but to write about them.

There are reasons that we all love sports specific to our own personalities. Some people love hard work. Some people love athleticism. Some love tradition, or trash talkers, or underdogs. There are as many reasons to love sports as there are sports, or teams, or athletes. But there is one thing in sports that is simply universal. Something that everyone that is truly a sports fan understands. It's what made you jump up and scream with delight, and hug your best friend as you danced around your living room when the Seahawks crushed the Panthers. It's what made you kick a hole in your mom's wall when Richard Hamilton made that last second fade away. It's what made Griffey smile from here to Cooperstown on the bottom of the pile at home plate. It's what made Joey Cora cry in the dugout, and it's what made Alex Rodriguez console him.

It's what made Brett Favre tick.

It's love. The love of the game.

I know a lot of ridiculous, corny, romantic, and possibly even unnecessary things have been written about Brett Favre. And this blog maybe one of them. But for once, in a sports world that completely blows everything out of proportion, I am going to buy into it. And for once, on a blogsite that usually makes fun of the "feel good" story, I am going to try to make you feel good.

Brett Favre announced today that he will call it quits after 17 years of record setting football; that part you already know. What you don't know is how this, whether you loved Favre or not, directly effects you the sports fan. Because as sports fans we are war with haters. People who do not, and will not, love sports. The Nick LaCottas of the world, who feel that sports have no cultural value. The high brows who scoff when you turn the game on or laugh at you if you ask them if they know the final score of the Mariners game. Call them what you want. But for the purposes of this blog, we will simply call them Haters.

You maybe asking what Brett Favre has to do with our fight, Haters don't care about football. Haters only like Emo and coffee. You're right, Haters don't care about football. You could sit there and tell a Hater every single record that Favre has broken. Tell them that he passed for more yards, or touchdowns than anybody else in history. Tell them that he played in 275 games in a row. Tell them that he won more games than anyone else who ever played. You could tell a Hater what ever you wanted to about Brett Favre's football stats, if they turned their Zune off for long enough to listen, and they would never ever care. But that isn't why we love him, and that isn't how he is going to help us.

The next time a Hater gives you that steely-eyed glare, that every fan knows so well, as you open the paper and go straight for the sports page, ask them this. What do you love? But before they can rattle off some condescending response like "art", finish the question. What do you love, as much as I love sports? If they don't have anything that they can admit that they love, then you have already won the argument. But chances are, they will have some sort of answer, whether it actually be art, or music, or politics, or law or whatever, as long as they have an answer then you are playing ball. Excuse the pun. This is where Brett Favre can be used to your advantage. Because whether you like Favre or not, he the embodiment of love in sports. The way he wore his emotions, and played with his heart. The improvisation that he played with. His unconventional style. The joy that he evoked and invoked. His passion. His love.

Spell it out to a Hater like that, and even if they don't like sports, they will see Favre as the icon that they love. Favre is Picasso. He is the Rolling Stones. He is the reason that sports are great. It is lame, and difficult to give one man that much responsibility, or even that much credit, but it's true. I'm not saying that there should be pictures of Favre in the Louvre, or that he should be on the Supreme Court. But in the context of sports, he is what we love. And while it maybe difficult for some to find value in sports, only Haters can't find value in love.

By the way...he will come out of retirement in June or July.