In the weeks before Brett Favre emerged from retirement for a second time and signed with the Vikings, former Minnesota quarterback Fran Tarkenton made it clear that he opposes the move.
“I think it’s despicable,” Tarkenton told 790 The Zone in Atlanta (via the Minneapolis Star Tribune) in May 2009. “What he put the Packers through last year was not good. Here’s an organization that was loyal to him for 17, 18 years, provided stability of organization, provided players. It just wasn’t about Brett Favre. In this day and time, we have glorified the Brett Favre’s of the world so much, they think it’s about them. He goes to New York and bombs. He’s 39 years old. How would you like Ray Nitschke in his last year [playing for] the Vikings, or I retire, and go play for the Packers? I kind of hope it happens, so he can fail.”
With Favre only two wins away from a level of success that Fran never enjoyed, Tarkenton is sticking to his guns.
“I didn’t like it then -- he’s a Green Bay Packer -- and I don’t like it now,” Tarkenton told Boomberg.com on Tuesday. “I could never imagine me retiring from the Vikings and playing for the Packers. So, it didn’t sit well with me and it still doesn’t.”
It definitely won’t sit well with Tarkenton if Favre can do in one season what Fran couldn’t in 13.
That said, Tarkenton realizes that Brett is playing at a very high level.
“I’m just amazed,” Tarkenton said. “This is the best he has ever played. He’s throwing like he’s 25 years old. He’s moving around like he’s 25 years old. It’s unheard of. No quarterback in the history of time -- we all break down over the age of 35 -- [Johnny] Unitas, [John] Elway, [Dan] Marino, [Joe] Montana, Tarkenton, [Roger] Staubach, we’ve never seen this happen ever, ever before, so it’s remarkable.”
Yes, it is remarkable. But while most Vikings fans gradually have embraced Favre as the best quarterback the franchise has had since Tarkenton (or possibly ever), we don’t think Fran will ever come around.
Especially if Brett soon is hoisting from the floor of Sun Life Stadium the silver trophy that Fran never touched.