Gunslinger
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80 She weighed seven pounds, two ounces: Deanna Favre, Don’t Bet Against Me!, pp. 22–23.
81 “We agreed to love our daughter”: Brett Favre interview, Playboy.
As Brett was living life as the big man on the Southern Miss campus: Deanna Favre, Don’t Bet Against Me!, pp. 24–25.
82 “We’ve sort of broke up right now”: Billy Watkins, “USM’s Favre: From Fifth String to Fantastic,” Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger, August 27, 1989.
7. Legend
85 Within days, Bennett ordered: Arnold Van, “USM Starting Heisman Campaign for Favre,” Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, April 14, 1989.
A CNN anchor held one of the bumper stickers: Sports Collectors Digest, Favre: The Total Package, p. 21.
86 “When you talk about the top players in the country”: Van Arnold, “Eagles Should Soar Again with Favre’s Golden Wing,” Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, August 27, 1989.
88 “our entire athletic department budget was only $2.7 million”: Rick Cleveland, “Survival Proves Difficult for USM,” Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger, April 26, 1989.
89 “Players were sweating as they put on their shoulder pads”: McHale, 10 to 4, p. 77.
91 “I just figured that FSU would be jamming down”: Cameron, Brett Favre: Huck Finn Grows Up, p. 101.
92 Chris Ryals, his closest friend on the team: Cameron, Brett Favre, Huck Finn Grows Up, pp. 101–2.
A few days earlier, a Sports Illustrated writer had arrived: Leigh Montville, “The Kid from Kiln,” Sports Illustrated, August 23, 1993.
93 It was filled with laughter, shouting, relief: Favre: For the Record, p. 122.
94 The first time Favre worked out for an NFL scout: Bruce Feldman, The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks (New York: Crown Archetype, 2014), p. 32.
95 Favre dropped back 11 steps: Chuck Abadie, “Hail Darryl! USM Wins, 16–10,” Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, October 15, 1989.
Did the university’s Heisman campaign pay off?: Robert McG Thomas, “Houston’s Ware Wins Heisman,” New York Times, December 3, 1989.
8. Near Death
97 In 1997 Brett told Steve Cameron, author of: Cameron, Brett Favre: Huck Finn Grows Up, p. 108.
In 2007 he told Mark McHale: McHale, 10 to 4, p. 87.
In his 1997 autobiography, he also failed to mention: Favre: For the Record, p. 123.
When asked about the accident by Russ Brown: Russ Brown, “Southern Miss’ Favre Has Had Toughest Road Trip,” Louisville (Ky.) Courier-Journal, September 27, 1990.
98 “they’d been repairing the road and I forgot it”: Furman Bisher, “The Battling QB from Dogpatch,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 18, 1991.
“Hell, yeah, you’re gonna be alright”: Len Pasquarelli, “Falcons’ Search for a Backup QB Leads to a Backwoods Town for One,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 21, 1991.
99 “I remember Scott screaming at me, ‘Are you alright?’”: McHale, 10 to 4, p. 87.
“I had one of those concussions”: Brett Favre interview, Playboy.
“I screamed with every bump we hit”: McHale, 10 to 4, p. 87.
Staff writer Robert Wilson: Robert Wilson, “Favre Hurt in Wreck,” Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger, July 16, 1990.
Two days later, a piece from Billy Watkins: Billy Watkins, “Favre Should Recover for ’90 Season,” Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger, July 17, 1990.
100 Willie Morris’s landmark book: Morris, The Courting of Marcus Dupree (New York: Doubleday, 1983).
McHale visited a couple of days after: McHale, 10 to 4, pp. 82–83.
101 “His liver is still bleeding, and we’re watching that”: Watkins, “Favre Should Recover.”
One day later, Favre guaranteed his return: Slim Smith, “Favre Promises, ‘I’ll Be Back,’” Biloxi (Miss.) Sun-Herald, July 18, 1990.
“Screw that,” Favre said. “I’m dying”: Favre: For the Record, p. 124.
“There seems to be an obstruction in his lower intestine”: Tim Doherty, “Favre Hospitalized with Stomach Pains,” Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, August 7, 1990.
Dr. George McGee determined the car accident: Cameron, Brett Favre: Huck Finn Grows Up, pp. 110–11.
102 “Right now I couldn’t go out there and play”: Robert Wilson, “Favre Anxious to Get Going,” Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger, August 25, 1990.
“He feels good”: Robert Wilson, “Favre Returns to Practice,” Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger, August 22, 1990.
103 Using a run-and-shoot system: Ron Kaspriske, “Williston, Chipley Will Try to Slow Each Other Down,” Gainesville (Fla.) Sun, December 2, 1988.
104 Favre dressed for the game: John Bjalas, “Favre Opens Season on the Sideline,” Biloxi (Miss.) Sun-Herald, September 1, 1990.
The Golden Eagles won 12–0 behind two field goals: John Bjalas, “USM Blanks Pesky DSU,” Biloxi (Miss.) Sun-Herald, September 2, 1990.
105 “I want to play”: Chuck Abadie, “Favre Gets OK to Play Saturday,” Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, September 7, 1990.
108 “like a damned scarecrow, his uniform hanging all loose around him and stuff”: Pasquarelli, “Falcons’ Search for a Backup QB Leads to a Backwoods Town.”
On the first play, Favre dropped back and was drilled: Favre: For the Record, p. 125.
109 “At times,” wrote Chuck Abadie: Abadie, “Heat Was a Big Factor in USM Upset of Bama,” Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, September 9, 1990.
“This isn’t supposed to be happening!”: McHale, 10 to 4, p. 85.
9. Senioritis
111 “McGwire has the talent to be a great quarterback”: Samantha Stevenson, “A Large Quarterback Makes a Big Impression,” New York Times, December 1, 1990.
112 On one particularly dazzling third-quarter play: Chuck Abadie, “USM the Better Team, but Key Mistakes Hurt,” Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, September 16, 1990.
The Bulldogs fought back to take an 18–17 fourth-quarter advantage: Billy Watkins, “Eagles Find Inches Translate into Miles Against Bulldogs,” Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger, September 16, 1990.
“I felt real good today”: Abadie, “USM the Better Team.”
113 “I remember being intrigued by Brett”: Cameron, Brett Favre: Huck Finn Grows Up, pp. 128–29.
114 During the season, the hottest spot was the End Zone: Favre: For the Record, p. 117.
115 “I guess,” he said, “I’m a survivor”: John Romano, “Shoulder Injury Won’t Allow Nagle to Wing It,” St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, February 6, 1991.
“A yard looks like a mile to this attack”: John Bialas, “Golden Eagles Facing Fast-Starting Cardinals,” Biloxi (Miss.) Sun-Herald, September 28, 1990.
more to see Favre–Nagle than Mississippi State–Louisville: Tim Doherty, “Favre-Nagle Friendship Blossoms,” Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, September 28, 1990.
The Golden Eagles won, 25–13: Milton Collins, “Eagles Shuffle Cards,” Student Printz (University of Southern Mississippi), October 2, 1990.
Neither quarterback did much of anything: Van Arnold, “Walk-on Johnson Gets USM ‘Rolling,’” Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, September 30, 1990.
116 Somehow, the Golden Eagles wound up with an 8-3 record: Tim Doherty, “Golden Eagles Nip War Eagles,” Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, November 10, 1990.
Then, five days after Hallman and most of his staff departed for Baton Rouge: John W. Cox, and Gregg Bennett, Rock Solid: Southern Miss Football (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2004), p. 215.
118 On the final play of the game: Tim Peeler, “Remembering the 1990 All-American Bowl,” www.gopack.com, December 19, 2008.
As the white-and-red-clad Wolfpack players swarmed: Chet Fussman, “Favre’s Rally Falls Just Short,” Birmingham (Ala.) Post-Herald, December 29, 1990.
“Hell, I got killed,” he said of shoddy protection: Cameron, Brett Favre: Huck Finn Grows Up, p. 130.
119 “There’s no complete player in this draft”: “Subpar Day for Senior Bowl Quarterbacks,” UPI, January 20, 1991.
hailed him “the best” thrower in the country: David Raffo, “Football Receivers, Tackles Highlight NFL Draft,” UPI, April 13, 1991.
the Miami Herald rated him “the No. 1 QB available”: Scott Fowler, “Erickson, Other QBs Bathed in Questions,” Miami Herald, April 16, 1991.
Steinberg, finally swayed by Wolf: Rich Cimini, “Jets Weigh Signal-Caller or Defense,” Newsday, April 17, 1991.
A Hattiesburg-based attorney with a general law practice: Cary Estes, “A Chance Meeting Started It All,” Mississippi Sports Magazine, December 12, 2012.
122 In recent days, the Seahawks and Falcons had sent representatives to Mississippi: Tim Doherty, “Favre Expects to Be First-Round Pick in Draft,” Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, April 21, 1991.
As most of the Favre attendees hovered around a large television: Robert Wilson, “Favre Goes to Atlanta in 2nd Round,” Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger, April 22, 1991.
123 “Dan McGwire?” Favre yelled: Tim Isbell, “24 Years Later, Favre’s Iconic Draft Photo Still Holds Up,” Biloxi (Miss.) Sun-Herald, July 16, 2015.
“perceived [by NFL teams] as immature, erratic”: Chris Dufresne, “New Look Is Turning NFL Heads,” Los Angeles Times, April 21, 1991.
During his senior year of high school: Mike Sager, “Todd Marinovich: The Man Who Never Was,” Esquire, April 23, 2010.
126 Don Weiss, an NFL official, leaned: Vito Stellino, “Don Weiss, Pioneer in Shaping the NFL, Dies,” Florida Times-Union, September 16, 2003.
“I still believe I’m the best quarterback in the draft”: Robert Wilson, “Favre Goes to Atlanta in 2nd Round,” Jackson (Miss.) Clarion-Ledger, April 22, 1991.
10. Hotlanta
127 Just look through the magazines: Rob Demovsky, “Favre Honor Will Come Early in the Season,” Madison (Wis.) Capital Times, April 16, 2008.
Although Jerry Glanville was far from enamored: Rick Reilly, “The Big Black Attack,” Sports Illustrated, September 17, 1990.
“That Canada stuff, it’s just us talking right now”: Len Pasquarelli, “CFL Just Talk for Falcons’ Pick Favre,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 24, 1991.
128 The story ran on May 21: Pasquarelli, “Falcons Search for a Backup Quarterback Leads to a Backwoods Town.”
At long last, on July 17: Len Pasquarelli, “Favre, Falcons Settle on a Deal, but Several Others Still Unsigned,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 18, 1991.
He placed 70 percent of the money: Brett Favre interview, Playboy.
129 Beginning with the Falcons’ debut season: Michael E. Goodman, The History of the Atlanta Falcons (Mankato, Minn.: Creative Education, 2005), p. 4.
“We may not be good”: Reilly, “The Big Black Attack.”
The team was, in his opinion, “a joke”: Mark Kram, “Jerry Glanville’s Unbuckled Ego,” Esquire, October 1990.
Glanville called himself “the dark prince”: Ibid.
and issued a challenge to his players: Johnette Howard, “Glanville to the Rescue,” National Sports Daily, August 2, 1990.
“If the sucker’s moving, our goal is to get 11 guys on him”: Franz Lidz, “Wise Guy,” Sports Illustrated, October 30, 1989.
130 Glanville: “Hey, Mississippi!”: Favre 4 Ever, DVD (Vivendi Entertainment, 2006).
131 “Throwing a football’s something I never had to think about”: Len Pasquarelli, “Favre Figures Wobbling Throws Just a Passing Phase for Rookies,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 24, 1991.
The headline attached to the Associated Press story: “Chargers’ Tolliver Traded to Falcons,” Associated Press, August 29, 1991.
Tolliver had been nicknamed “Billy Joe Terrible”: Brian Hewitt, “Chargers Misfire from Start to Finish,” Los Angeles Times, December 4, 1989.
134 “I was third?” Favre said: Len Pasquarelli, “Bruce Sits Again; Favre Surprise No. 3,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 9, 1991.
One of Glanville’s favorite quotes—“If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’”: Tim Green, The Dark Side of the Game: My Life in the NFL (New York: Warner Books, 1996), p. 100.
135 “I just said, ‘The hell with it’”: Cameron, Brett Favre: Huck Finn Grows Up, p. 133.
“Hey, I came in and ran out the clock pretty good”: Len Pasquarelli, “Falcon Fans Had Braves on Their Minds,” Atlanta Journal-Constitution, October 28, 1991.
136 “we gotta have two plane wrecks”: Favre 4 Ever.
138 “I was hung over”: Ibid.
“I got trapped behind a car wreck”: Peter King, “Warmed Up,” Sports Illustrated, January 27, 1997.
11. Arrival
139 Yes, Billy Ard—a man who arrived in Green Bay: Frank Litsky, “Happy Packer,” New York Times, March 12, 1990.
140 promptly ended Family Photo Day, an annual fan-favorite event: Bob Harlan, with Dale Hoffmann, Green and Golden Moments (Stevens Point, Wis.: Worzalla Publishing, 2007), pp. 70–71.
141 At six feet six and 330 pounds, with the quickness: Rick Telander, “The Big Enchilada,” Sports Illustrated, April 24, 1989.
143 “I said I wanted to give him full authority over the football operation”: Harlan, Green and Golden Moments, pp. 99–101.
“They had too many athletes whom I hadn’t considered: Ron Wolf and Paul Attner, The Packer Way: Nine Stepping Stones to Building a Winning Organization (New York: St. Martin’s, 1998), p. 31.
145 “I was real excited”: Timothy W. Smith, “Quarterback Favre Is a Draw in Packer Scheme of Things,” New York Times, August 10, 1993.
146 His name was Don Majkowski: Paul Zimmerman, “The Majik Show,” Sports Illustrated, December 11, 1989.
“The transformation from Don Majkowski to Majik Man”: Jill Lieber, “The Majik Touch,” Sports Illustrated, June 11, 1990.
But it didn’t seem to with: Ron Borges, “Don Majkowski and the Packers Hope They’ll No Longer Be . . . Missing Majik,” Boston Globe, August 2, 1991.
147 “The coldest I’ve ever played in was 32 degrees”: “Names in the Game,” Associated Press, June 8, 1992.
“I couldn’t believe how loose he was for a young guy”: Jon Gruden, with Vic Carucci, Do You Love Football?!: Winning with Heart, Passion, and Not Much Sleep (New York: HarperCollins, 2003), pp. 122–23.
To begin with, Favre failed the team-administered physical: Favre: For the Record, p. 132.
148 He was staying at the Best Western, and that day a young woman: Favre: For the Record, p. 133.
The next morning, he arrived at the facility with the scent of alcohol: Ibid., p. 134.
Favre and some teammates went out for dinner at a Mexican restaurant: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Favre: The Man, the Legend (Chicago: Triumph Books, 2008), p. 27.
Favre was able to ease doubts about his maturity: Tom Silverstein, “Green Bay Packers,” Sporting News, April 13, 1992.
149 When Favre told the man to get lost, the man charged: Tom Silverstein, “Altercation in Bar Teaches Packers’ Favre a Lesson,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, July 24, 1992.
150 “Why don’t you just pull over and drop your gun?”: Favre: For the Record, p. 138.
151 He grew up in San Francisco: Tom FitzGerald, “Legacy of a Native Son,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 4, 2006.
At Lincoln High School: Bill Lubinger, “Cleveland Browns’ Mike Holmgren Caps a Long Career with Repair Job in Cleveland,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 17, 2010.
152 Bill Walsh, the 49ers’ head coach: David Harris, The Genius: How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football and Created an NFL Dynasty (New York: Random House, 2008), p. 252.
“The premise was that all the components of the Forty Niners’ structure: Ibid., p. 65.
153 “You could see he had a tremendous arm”: Josh Katzowitz, “Remember When: Brett Favre Completes 1st NFL Pass—to Himself,” CBSSports.com, September 13, 2013.
154 On Green Bay’s ver
y first offensive play, Majkowski was intercepted: Rick Gano, “Packers 21, Chiefs 13,” Associated Press, August 8, 1992.
The Vikings were the far-superior team: Don Pierson, “New-Look Vikings Edge Packers,” Chicago Tribune, September 7, 1992.
155 “[Holmgren] said he wanted to experiment”: Fred Goodall, “Buccaneers 31, Packers 3,” Associated Press, September 13, 1992.
12. A Packer Emerges
156 When the Cincinnati Bengals: Jim Oxley, “Wisconsin Football Countdown: No. 50, Tim Krumrie,” Fansided, July 28, 2015.
“The computer said I was too short, too slow”: Cooper Rollow, “Tim Krumrie May Be a Big-Time Pro Football Player, but . . .” Chicago Tribune, January 18, 1989.
“I have seen some very, very tough and aggressive men”: Mike Chapman, Wrestling Tough (Champaign, Ill.: Human Kinetics, 2005), p. 207.
158 “We had won our first two games and they were putting: Jim Armstrong, “No-Fear a Mantra Not a T-shirt Logo,” Denver Post, January 22, 1998.
“[Brett] barely knew the plays”: Jon Gruden, Do You Love Football?!, p. 124.
“It’s good I’m getting hit like I am: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Favre: The Man, the Legend, p. 30.
“I was all over the place”: Favre: For the Record, p. 141.
159 “it hurts that much,” said Sharpe: Van Arnold, “Mitchell, Momentum Doom Golden Eagles,” Hattiesburg (Miss.) American, October 22, 1989.
Green Bay was Taylor’s fourth pro stop, but he had never caught an NFL: Martin Hendricks, “Taylor Helped Favre Start Off in a Big Way,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, November 8, 2007.
Somehow, the pass slipped between Jones: Bob Baptist, “Jones Not Guilty on Winning TD,” Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, September 24, 1992.
160 “I couldn’t bear to look”: Hendricks, “Taylor Helped Favre Start Off.”
This was not the staff’s way of paying homage to Bart Starr: Gary Mihoces, “Favre Carves Out a Niche,” USA Today, September 24, 1992.
161 It was also, briefly, the talk of the league: Jenny Wang, “Majkowski Better, but Pack Will Start Favre,” Chicago Sun-Times, September 25, 1992.