On Sunday, Vikings quarterback Brett Favre will tie Jim Marshall’s record for most consecutive regular-season games played by a position player, with 282.
And that was news to Favre.
“I thought that record was already tied or broken,” Favre said Wednesday, per the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Favre has continued to play despite an assortment of injuries, most recently a groin/hip/taint problem that currently does not appear on the injury report.
“I’d love to sit here and say there’s a secret that I can’t give out,” Favre said. “I think God has blessed me with a lot of talent and the ability to use it and overcome certain injuries that may have kept the next guy out. Being hard-headed, being lucky and in my case be willing to [say], if you’re injured, ‘I think I can do it.’”
If Favre were a 40-year-old baseball player who never missed a start, some would be speculating that his ability to overcome injuries is more pharmaceutical than Evangelical. But there has been no such speculation regarding Favre, or any other aging-but-healthy football player.
We’re not saying there should be such speculation. We’re just pointing out the fundamental differences between the manner in which the American public regards baseball, and the way we regard football.