April 5, 2024 • 38 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, much of what’s known about legendary NFL quarterback Brett Favre has been kept between the goal posts. So Greg Hengler took the three and a half hour long drive south from here in Oxford, Mississippi—where we broadcast our show—and sat down with Brett Favre in his Hattiesburg, Mississippi, home. Part 1 out of a 5 part series!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habibe and this is Our American Stories,
a show where America is the star and the American people,
and a very special welcome to the folks in Portland
listening on k e X. We're proud to have you
as a member of the Our American Stories family. A
bunch of what's known about legendary NFL quarterback Brett Farv
(00:33):
has been kept between the goalposts, So our own Greg
Hengler took the three and a half hour long drive
from right where we broadcast in Oxford, Mississippi, and he
sat down with Brett Farvre in his Hattiesburg, Mississippi home.
And by the way, Greg grew up a mere walking distance,
almost spitting distance from lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Here's Brett with his story. Well, my mom and dad
are both from the Gulf Coast. My dad's from Gulfport.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
My mother was from Past Christian That probably doesn't mean
anything to you, but right on the beach, and my
dad grew up not far from the beach. Gulf Court's
kind of right and the smack Dad in the middle
of the Gulf Coast, Mississippi, Gulf Coast. As you came
down from Oxford. You eventually got on forty nine. If
you'd take forty nine all the way till you can't
(01:29):
take it no more, you would be in Gulfport.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So that's where he grew up.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
My mom and dad met at Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College.
My dad played baseball and football there and then they
dated eventually got married.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I think they got married while.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
They were at Southern miss So they left junior college
came here. My dad played baseball, then they start having kids.
My older brother, Scott, is two and a half years
older than me. We all were born in Gufport Goufport
Memorial Hospital. So there's Scott, me, my younger brother, Jeff,
(02:09):
and my our youngest is a Brandy, our sister. And
I'm gonna f fast forward a little bit. My mom
h her mother and father owned a restaurant bar and
in pastrischan m but we practically grew up there. My
grandfather died in seventy eight, and I actually remember a
lot about him.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
I was seven or eight when I was born. In
sixty nine when he died.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
My grandmother just she kept them and it was called
Benny French's Tavern after my grandfather We practically grew up
there cause when he died, my mom and dad would
help my m grandmother ten bar and we had the
whole place to ourselves pretty much. There was pool tables
and n pinball and people get in there get getting
(02:55):
drunk when we were drinking like little bottle cokes, which
were the best in all the sweets. And my grandmother
was awesome, she was the best. Staying with her was
the coolest thing. Mississippi Gulf Coast is a lot like
New Orleans. It never closes. We grew up Catholic. Everyone
(03:16):
on the Gulf Coast is Catholic. So there's there's parties
for everything. There's festivals, there's rodeos, there's you know, cookoffs parades.
Growing up and out that lifestyle, we went to Marty
Garos parades.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
My mom and dad would.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Drink, but I don't I don't remember him like ever
getting like we always were with them, so like they
didn't like drop us off and then they go ironically.
Throughout high school, I never drank. My older brother. I
think he may have drunk a little bit, but we
were in athletics. My dad's mother and father lived in Gulfport,
(03:58):
were polar opposite of my grand grandmother on my mom's side.
I stayed with them one time, and that was one
too many. They said good night, five point thirty, still daylight.
One went to one bedroom, One went to the bedroom.
And I loved my dad's mother and father, but they
(04:19):
were boring, you know. I knew Scott was up playing
pool or doing whatever.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
But at eighteen, my mom told me that she was adopted.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
I played summer league baseball. My dad was a baseball
on football coach, and I was actually seventeen and I
was driving. My dad was already at the It was
a summer league. It was like American Legion Baseball, and
we were down on the coast. I was driving my mom.
It was just us two, and she just felt the
need to tell me that she was adopted. And she
(04:52):
was all upset, worried that I wouldn't we called my
grandmother mem She was worried that I wouldn't look at
me all the same, when actually I looked at her
even more finally, like.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I just couldn't believe she could be that great of
a mom and it wasn't even her her daughter.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
But I only bring that up because I don't know
a whole lot about my mom's actual biological family.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
But my mom's.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Biological mother worked for my grandmother and grandfather at the
bar restaurant because my grandfather was believe it or not,
twenty five years older than my grandmother.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
And this girl.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Was pregnant mom's mother and didn't want the baby, and
they said they'd take it. So she had a baby,
dropped it off and was gone.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
That was it.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
And the only thing she knows about her father is
that he played profess baseball. I don't even know if
she knows the name. She never said, so kind of interesting.
And my dad's family, my grandfather was one hundred percent
chocked all India and his family worked from Oklahoma, like
(06:18):
a big reservation up there. But yeah, growing up, my
dad was a driver's that teacher and had football coach
at Hancock North Central now it's Hancock County High School.
My mom was a special education teacher there first through
twelfth was right all together.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
It was a real small school, graduated.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
One hundred so we all rode to school together, rode
home together. I never thought we were rich, but we
had a pools. I thought we got to be doing
something right. But I think that combined and may four
four thousand dollars. And I know people didn't do that
and get by, but it's amazing how you can have
(07:09):
four kids and when they called us to the dinner table,
how they eat twelve hot dollars if I could, and.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
So with everyone else. So you know, I say all that,
they're like, how in the world did y'all make it?
Speaker 1 (07:22):
When we come back more Brett Favre on our American Stories. Folks,
if you love the great American stories we tell and
love America like we do, we're asking you to become
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(07:44):
seventy six cents is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters.
Go to our American Stories dot com now and go
to the donate button and help us keep the great
American stories coming. That's our American Stories dot Com. And
(08:10):
we continue here with our American Stories and Brett Favre
telling his story and now let's continue with the story of.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Bread Fah when we wrap up, and I'm gluten free,
so I make a gluten free bread, a couple other things,
almond milk or some yogurt or something, and it's like
one hundred dollars. And every time I check out, I go,
how in the world did my mom and dad make it?
(08:38):
You know, I know it was a little cheaper back then,
but still so. Anyway, I grew up playing baseball and football.
Just my older brother did the same. My younger brother
did the same. My older brother had a scholarship to
Mississippi State as a quarterback. He played a year. He
transferred it back to Juco. They ran the Wishbawl and
(08:59):
he's a little scrony white kid. He said, you know,
I need to go somewhere else, and he ended up
playing two years at JUCO. Wanted to Delta State on
a scholarship, went through spring practice, was the starting quarterback,
came home said I've had enough. I just don't want
to play anymore. And he came to Southern Miss and
(09:20):
rolled it as just a student, which was my freshman year,
so we were there at the same time. My younger
brother he played at Southern Miss as well. I actually
played defensive back. And growing up down there was always
something going on, you know, when people when I tell
(09:42):
them it was.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
When I was still.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Drinking, which I quit drinking in ninety eight. If you
would have asked me in ninety seven, do you ever
think you'll stop drinking? I just said, no, that's just
the way we were raised. And part of it was true.
But I mean, you can get trouble anywhere, but the
temptation to just go boil, you know, a pot of
(10:07):
crawl fish and drink a bunch of beer and.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Not come home till three in the morning is always there.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
And saying that we moved from the coast up here. Now,
my wife, she went to school here. My wife, we
grew up together. She was a year ahead of me.
But I knew her ever since first grade. The fact
that I don't know if that was a door or
what she may be coming in, but yeah, so we've
(10:34):
only other. She played basketball, she played softball. She was
a good, really good athlete. And when we started dating,
I was in the ninth grade and.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
We would throw the baseball together.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
And now she couldn't catch football like if I through,
but she could catch the baseball. I thought it was
pretty cool because we could throw it back and forth.
I could heat it up she could catch it, and
I was like, this is pretty cool. She went to
Pearl River Junior College played basketball and then later came
(11:10):
to Southern Miss. We have two daughters and we have
three grandsons, nine, five and two. Our oldest daughter's thirty one.
She got a law degree from Loyola. Doesn't use it.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
It is normal, you know, I was hoping to break that.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Our youngest is a junior playing volleyball at Southern Mess.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
She quit indoor bea She just doing beach, which is
a lot more fun to watch. It really is. We
hate it that she quit indoor, but.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
I hate to because my dad was a coach and
I coached two years myself, so a lot of times
people want to blame the coach. But ten girls quit
the indoor me the the woman doesn't coach. I mean,
it's just it's like she sits over there and she
just she's like miserable. Never would like, let's work on
(12:13):
this today or spend give me. My daughter is one that,
unlike me and unlike Deanna, really she needs someone to
tell her.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I need your best.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Let's give me fifteen minutes after practice and let's work
on this. And you know, she needs someone to to
talk to her that way and encourage her. The more
someone didn't talk to me, the more I dug my
heels in and just I'll show them.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
She's not like that.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
My childhood, I mean, if I wasn't playing baseball, I
was playing football.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
That's all the only two I played.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
And I was actually a better baseball player than I
was in football.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
I went to Southern Miss.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
That you know, they don't really give They give partial scholarships,
they don't give full scholarships. Fortunately I got a full scholarship.
The only offer I got was the Southern Miss, and.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I was gonna play both.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
In fact, I really thought if I had a if
you were to say which one do you think you
have a better shot at playing professional, I'd just said
baseball by far.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
We never threw it in high school. We ran the wishball.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
I mean, I could throw it further and harder than anyone,
but that's all I knew. So even though I was
pretty confident in my ability, I didn't foresee coming here
and starting as a true freshman. And more luck than anything,
a couple of guys got hurt. A couple of guys
(13:53):
played bad. They had moved one of the guys to
a receiver and lo and behold.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I was next in line.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
And I could have screwed it up very easily, could
have screwed it up cause I didn't know the plays.
It's funny because I came in against Tulane in the
second game of my true freshman year. We were down
seventeen to three. We were looking awful, and I was nervous.
I was a little bit unsure.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I I.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Knew I could play, but putting everything together, calling and play.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
And that was back when they signaled.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
In and you know, I I hadn't been on the
team very long, and I wasn't like getting all the reps.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
I wasn't getting any reps, so I didn't. I All
the guys.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
In the office in the huddle were like five year seniors.
And it's funny, w we end up coming back and
winning broken plays. Yeah, maybe I called it wrong, Maybe
I could took the wrong drop, whatever, and just made
something happen. So when I fast forward to Green Bay,
it was the third game we played Minnesota, the first
(15:06):
game overtime loss. It was a hell of a game.
Mkowski played great. The next week we go to Tampa,
I think he stayed out. We went down two days
at a time. He stayed out a couple of nights,
and he.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Played like it.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
He sucked and I ended up getting in the game.
We were down like thirty eighth to three, and so
you can't really put my stock into that game. The
next game we played Cincinnati, and that's the game he
gets hurt. I think it was second quarter, and so
(15:40):
we're still in this game. And much like the Tulane game,
I knew this, really. I knew after the Tampa game
that Mkowskie would start again, but I knew that this
was my chance to either make it or break it.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
It's very similar to Tulane. I went in with little
to no reps I played the week before, but.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
A different setting. We were not gonna win that game
the previous week. This one we had a chance to win,
and a lot of it would hinge on how I played,
if not all of it. And they blitzed me every snap,
which was smart except for the last drive. They played
(16:27):
very cautious and allowed me to just kind of play.
I didn't have to worry about blitzes and odd stuff.
I could just play. And I think after that game,
my thought was.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
It couldn't have.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Gone any better, even though I knew there was a
lot of things I had to clean up, but I
really felt like I didn't. I really felt like Mkowsky,
to be honest with you, was not as hurt as
he let on. I that was my gut that he
was playing by the crowd was booty, and it was
(17:03):
a way to.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Kind of get away from that.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Let me play and they find out that, hey, Don
isn't so bad because I was raw and he had
to believe just like most people, this guy's I mean,
he can throw it hard and.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Far, but he don't have a chance, and which would
have been.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
You know, yeah, but it didn't work out that way.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
No, it didn't work out that way. When we come back,
we continue with Brett Favre, one of the NFL's greatest
all time quarterback, telling his story in his own words
here on our American Stories. And we returned to our
(18:10):
American stories in Brett Farv's story in his own words.
Let's pick up where we left off with Green Bays
then backup quarterback Brett Farb getting to win after replacing
an injured Don Mkowski in Week three of the nineteen
ninety two NFL season, here's Brent.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
And really kind of my career is kind of a
reflection of that game. A lot of good a lot
of wins, but a lot of you know, what are
you doing? But fortunately there was a lot more goods
than there were bads. But yeah, you know, Aikman and
(18:49):
I are big buddies. And he said, you know, I
guess is Wally Pip is that name? So for me,
I've had more people's bring that name up to me
the mkowski as Wally Pip got hurt, went out thinking
I'll be back. They'll want me back before you know it,
(19:10):
And twenty years later he's still waiting. But I think,
you know, like I tell people, one of the things
I think that served me well early in my career.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Was being naive.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
And I I'm I say that because the latter part
of my career, say the last five six years, I'd
been around the block of more than half the team combined.
But as a fifteen year veteran or above, I knew
what we were up against. I knew if this guy
could play this, or when when a play was called
(19:50):
they didn't have a I mean, they all have a chance.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
But and I.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Started thinking that way rather than being twenty two and
I giving it.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
To be honest with you, just bring them on.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
So not that the latter part of my career I
didn't play well, but I spent more time worrying about
things I couldn't control.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
But I you know, I say that because.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
In twenty years, most professional athletes don't play whatever it
is for twenty years.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
You know, I went.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
From barely shaven to gray hair, I mean complete gray
and at thirty.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
And the way I played and the.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Life that I lived throughout the things that we talked
about earlier, the adversity, you know, just different. But I
was still played in the same game. And how quickly
it went. My first year, I was in Atlanta and
I went out to eat. I was just trying to
(21:03):
find my way. No one cared who I was. I
was just another guy. What it's like, I would have
been not so much a Green Bay because I was
traded for a first round pick, so there was already
kind of an air of cause it traded for a
first round pick is basically like being drafted in the
first round. But Atlanta, I was the second round pick.
(21:29):
Landville hated me for whatever reason. I really don't know.
The starting five offensive linemen were all thirty two or above,
and one of the one of the tackles was a
guy named Mike Ken who was my rookie.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Year was thirty eight.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Or nine, and he was one of the guys that
went out to eat with us. And I remember him saying,
how old are you? I said, I'm twenty one. He
said that was eighteen years ago when I was twenty one,
and how fun those days were? And and I said
how old are you? And I I think thirty eight
(22:08):
thirty nine, been playing eighteen years.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
I was like, jeez, that's old.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
I I didn't say that, but I was thinking that.
And then fast forward, I would have guys, how many
years is this for you? I'd say this is year
nineteen and I, oh my god, and I it would
I would.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Go back to flashback to the and I'm like, where
did it get? Where did it go? Which can be
said the same in life, the older you get.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
I'll never forget sitting on my mom's lap as a kid,
couldn't tell you how.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Old I was, and we were talking about I.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Don't know if it was my birthday coming up or whatever,
and she was in this recliner. We were kind of
rocking and sh I said, well, when's your birthday? She said,
my birthday doesn't matter, and I said, all birthdays matter.
And she said when you get my age, they come
a lot quicker than you want, and you could care less.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
And I thought to myself, no way, and she was right.
She was right.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Before you know it, man, another one. I think I
said this in my Hall of Fame speech. I I
talked about this the.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Only time in our life that I heard my dad
and thay you something. Now.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Of course it wasn't to me, but after fo football practice.
It was my dad and three other coaches, and they
had been together forever. So after football practice, everyone would
leave and they would watch film and do whatever. I
had to stick around, so I'd do whatever. Sometimes I
just lay outside in the locker room. And as I said, then,
(23:58):
I say the same thing now. I don't know exactly
how I played the week before. We didn't throw a
whole lot, but I assume I didn't play very well.
We probably lost only because I overheard him say, well,
I can tell you one thing. My son will redeem himself.
He'll play much better. I can promise you that. And
(24:19):
I was like, geez, and that was kind of I
like to write it off as that that generation, and
I'm assuming this. I don't know, but I assume he
felt like if he gave compliments that I would let
off the gas a little bit. And maybe there's some
(24:39):
truth to that, not with me, but with a lot
of kids, because the way he coached me and the
way he handled me would easily turn the other kids
off then and now like screw it, I won't him play.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
It happens all the time. And that's the way he
was with me.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
But probably why I succeeded as far as athletics. And
my two brothers played, but they I don't know. I mean,
I think they loved it, but I don't think they
loved it like I did. You couldn't place any more
expectations or any higher than I placed upon myself. So
(25:23):
my dad would often say you need.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
To do this, you do that. I was already doing it.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Even if I was doing it, he was going to
tell me he need to run more bleachers.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I was already running. So rather than turn me off,
it motivated me.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
It always motivated me, and I used that later in
my career. It was a self disciplined thing. So like
every year I'd come back for training camp and there
would always be a new quarterback in there, even if
he wasn't drafted, maybe just been a I would talk
myself into believing that they were trying to find the
next guy to replace me, and so I would play
(26:03):
every play in practice as if it was a Super Bowl.
And I would think I would always joke around and
goof of from practice. But I think if you would
go back and ask any coach that I played for
what I was like in practice, and they would say, well,
he's a lot of fun, but I was competitive. Every
throw mattered, every play mattered. I wanted to win every
(26:27):
thing I did, every play, every practice. And that goes
back to my dad in a twisted kind of way.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
And you're listening to Brett Farb and you're listening to
him unfiltered, raw about his life and moving from point
to point in a beautiful way, the way we all
do when we're talking to friends and family. We don't
do the big edited pieces here.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
On our American stories.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
We like to get you what it would be like
sitting down with Brett, because that's what we do. We
sit down with folks, we let them talk and we
get ourselves out of the way. My goodness, what he
was saying about his dad reminded me of mine. He
knew how to push my buttons. He rarely said I
love you and was rarely saying encouraging words. But I
didn't know many dads back in the day who did
(27:14):
much of that. When we continue more of Brett Farbe's
life story in his own words, here on our American stories.
(27:37):
And we continue with our American stories and Brett Farb's
life story in his own words, let's return to Brett.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
My daughter walks in here right now and went just
two of us. I'd probably ask her if she worked
out or she did some and she's like, changed, I
have really, And then my wife will say, what do
you go to?
Speaker 2 (27:59):
That's I'm a lot like my dad.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
But rather than turned me off it it it would
piss me off, but it would it motivate me and
drive me whole.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Like I'll show you, I'd do twice as much just
for the hell of it. And I think that that drive.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
It definitely wasn't statistics going into college that got me there.
It was really by luck that I got a scholarship.
A couple of guys chose to go elsewhere. The coach
that recruited me wanted me bad, felt like I could play,
but he couldn't get convinced, the head coach because there
(28:48):
was no film. Like there was film, but I won't
see him fro But definitely, once I got to the pros,
I mean it was you. I was not gonna be denied.
I was confident, but I wouldn't say cocky in any
(29:11):
Some have thought that, but you know, Eron comes across
as cocky, so very cocky it is.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
But I was more. I'd put the work in.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I knew that I wasn't the tallest, I wasn't the strongest,
although I thought I was, wasn't the quickest, but I was.
I was gonna do whatever it took to win a game.
And it didn't have to be throwing. It can be running,
it can be blocking, it can be tackling. Now that
(29:48):
definitely goes back to high school because I played. I
played a non glamorous quarterback position. I handed it off
all the time and pitched it, played defense.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
You talk your daddy let him throw?
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Oh yeah, they said, you let me coach when you
play and I'm being a lot really polite. It was
a lot more harsher than that. Yeah, I rides back
in the little Dodge D fifty truck coming from practice
home was uh, there was never like I tell people
(30:23):
this all the time. I'd I say it jokingly because
I it it would be funny. Like if we were
driving home there was about a fifteen minute drive. If
he were saying, son, how you doing in school? I'd
have passed out. Or if he said are you you're
(30:45):
making good grades? And if I said, yeah, good, I'm
proud of you, I'll I'll just shake my pants, or
how's it going with Dan?
Speaker 2 (30:55):
You guys okay, I'd have jumped out of the truck.
That would have been so it had been so awkward
he was.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
And Deanna knew my dad as well as I did
because she took driver's head dr Eman. She she'll if
she were here, she would say I could see through
the harshness, because she probably could. But she would also
agree that everything he did was and how he.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Said it or or spoke or related. He would scare you.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
So like if you were in here and he walked in,
he's gonna say something like, holy, who.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Is that, and that's how he talked to you.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
It was always loud, and even if he wasn't mad,
you just he came across that way.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
He just didn't ever sit down, and how's it going?
What the hell do you what? How? That's how it was. So,
what's what's it like from going to you know what?
I don't miss it at all. I don't I thought
(32:06):
I would. I was really.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
I was nervous about what the next phase of my
life would be like because that's all I knew. And
I think part of me coming back a couple of
those times was this, if I leave, it's over. And
I didn't really want to come back and play the
(32:32):
last four years. I just didn't love it as much,
but I still loved it enough to give it a shot.
So depending on what time in the off season you
got me, i'd be like I had enough, and then
it got closer. It's kind of like school growing up,
(32:54):
you know, I couldn't wait to get out of school,
and then by the end of the summer, you're.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Like, I'm kind of ready to go back. That's kind
of the way I was.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
But when I finally did retire in the following season,
opening day, I was outside doing something and Deanna send
me a m send me a message said, hey, Minnesota's on.
And I thought to myself, i'm'a go ahead and check
(33:22):
'em out. And I said, right where you were. And
I watched like two or three series, got me something
to eat, and then I walked outside, went back doing
what I was doing, and I thought to myself, I
am so glad I'm not there, And and the.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Reasons would probably shock you.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
The reasons that I was glad I wasn't there is
cause I didn't wanna have to get on the flight,
fly all the way back from San Diego and get
home late. Not to mention, I don't even know if
they want or lost, but I I just if I
knew that every game was gonna be twenty one zero
route us, when they would have made it easier to
(34:05):
go back, I.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Just got tired of the stress. So you know, I
wake up. That's calk.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
I've been calking the expansion joints in the driveway for
like a week.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Then it's like, what are you doing?
Speaker 3 (34:24):
And spent four hours today calking and leaves blowing in it,
and I'm trying to pull the leaves out and just
but I'm enjoying myself. Some days it is something breaks
or something it's a painted act. But you know, I
(34:47):
got something that keeps me busy. I enjoy We like this.
Right now is volleyball season. So this past weekend we're
in Covington, Louisiana for a tournament. Now we go to
LSU for one this week. In the following week we
go to Gulf Shores, and I mean, we love it.
We don't miss a game. M we there's no reason
(35:10):
for us to miss a game. Uh, we're we're definitely involved.
Grandkids will be Let's see the mental ones playing baseball.
S he hadn't started playing yet. He's took him to
the back and cage last week, So we're we're involved
with them. They yeah, couple miles away. Oh nice, so
(35:31):
we s We see him pretty regular. We just been
moving him into a new house.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
I said.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
We me, Indiana's probably done most of the work. The
kids are obviously too young to do anything. But yea,
I tell Deanna said, we got no one to playing
for ourselves. But like you're c and Alex, my son
in law is a great guy, and he's a great dad,
and he does he's like, mister mom.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
He Britney's kind of It's kind of like a role reversal.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
They start crying, they go to him, but they can't
shoe gum and tie their shoes at the same time.
And moving them into a new house, and the old
house was nice, but they just go over there and
like you couldn't see the kids. The grass was so high.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
You know.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
And I'm like, cut your grass. We'll get who ends
up cutting the grass me? Because in fact, if I wait,
it's not gonna get cut. I'm hoping that they'll they'll
do a better job. But let me tell you, my
dad wasn't a perfect parent. But we were working when
(36:51):
we were kids, and even when there wasn't work. I
can't tell you how much firewood we we cut and
we stacked and were used in South Mississippi. How many
times used firewood. I think he just did it for
the hell of it. Man, I can't tell you how
many times I did that, and he'd stack wood on
me and I'd have to carry it. We had three grandsons.
(37:12):
I tried to get him to do that. They looked
at me like I was stupid.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Yep, whose fault is that?
Speaker 3 (37:22):
It's the parent's fault. Yeah. Look, every spanking I got
was well worth it. I deserved every one of them,
and probably the ones I didn't deserve I needed anyway,
and it didn't do me no harm. But nowadays you
(37:43):
can't even spank your own kids called DHS on you.
When I called DHS, my dad would have He's You'll
call DHS my side when I'm done with you.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
And you've been listening to Brett favor in his own word,
and by the way, this is just part one in
our five part series with Brett. Brett Favre's story a
great American story. Here on our American Stories
This is Lee Habibe and this is Our American Stories,
a show where America is the star and the American people,
and a very special welcome to the folks in Portland
listening on k e X. We're proud to have you
as a member of the Our American Stories family. A
bunch of what's known about legendary NFL quarterback Brett Farv
(00:33):
has been kept between the goalposts, So our own Greg
Hengler took the three and a half hour long drive
from right where we broadcast in Oxford, Mississippi, and he
sat down with Brett Farvre in his Hattiesburg, Mississippi home.
And by the way, Greg grew up a mere walking distance,
almost spitting distance from lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Here's Brett with his story. Well, my mom and dad
are both from the Gulf Coast. My dad's from Gulfport.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
My mother was from Past Christian That probably doesn't mean
anything to you, but right on the beach, and my
dad grew up not far from the beach. Gulf Court's
kind of right and the smack Dad in the middle
of the Gulf Coast, Mississippi, Gulf Coast. As you came
down from Oxford. You eventually got on forty nine. If
you'd take forty nine all the way till you can't
(01:29):
take it no more, you would be in Gulfport.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
So that's where he grew up.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
My mom and dad met at Mississippi Gulf Coast Junior College.
My dad played baseball and football there and then they
dated eventually got married.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I think they got married while.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
They were at Southern miss So they left junior college
came here. My dad played baseball, then they start having kids.
My older brother, Scott, is two and a half years
older than me. We all were born in Gufport Goufport
Memorial Hospital. So there's Scott, me, my younger brother, Jeff,
(02:09):
and my our youngest is a Brandy, our sister. And
I'm gonna f fast forward a little bit. My mom
h her mother and father owned a restaurant bar and
in pastrischan m but we practically grew up there. My
grandfather died in seventy eight, and I actually remember a
lot about him.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
I was seven or eight when I was born. In
sixty nine when he died.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
My grandmother just she kept them and it was called
Benny French's Tavern after my grandfather We practically grew up
there cause when he died, my mom and dad would
help my m grandmother ten bar and we had the
whole place to ourselves pretty much. There was pool tables
and n pinball and people get in there get getting
(02:55):
drunk when we were drinking like little bottle cokes, which
were the best in all the sweets. And my grandmother
was awesome, she was the best. Staying with her was
the coolest thing. Mississippi Gulf Coast is a lot like
New Orleans. It never closes. We grew up Catholic. Everyone
(03:16):
on the Gulf Coast is Catholic. So there's there's parties
for everything. There's festivals, there's rodeos, there's you know, cookoffs parades.
Growing up and out that lifestyle, we went to Marty
Garos parades.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
My mom and dad would.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Drink, but I don't I don't remember him like ever
getting like we always were with them, so like they
didn't like drop us off and then they go ironically.
Throughout high school, I never drank. My older brother. I
think he may have drunk a little bit, but we
were in athletics. My dad's mother and father lived in Gulfport,
(03:58):
were polar opposite of my grand grandmother on my mom's side.
I stayed with them one time, and that was one
too many. They said good night, five point thirty, still daylight.
One went to one bedroom, One went to the bedroom.
And I loved my dad's mother and father, but they
(04:19):
were boring, you know. I knew Scott was up playing
pool or doing whatever.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
But at eighteen, my mom told me that she was adopted.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
I played summer league baseball. My dad was a baseball
on football coach, and I was actually seventeen and I
was driving. My dad was already at the It was
a summer league. It was like American Legion Baseball, and
we were down on the coast. I was driving my mom.
It was just us two, and she just felt the
need to tell me that she was adopted. And she
(04:52):
was all upset, worried that I wouldn't we called my
grandmother mem She was worried that I wouldn't look at
me all the same, when actually I looked at her
even more finally, like.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I just couldn't believe she could be that great of
a mom and it wasn't even her her daughter.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
But I only bring that up because I don't know
a whole lot about my mom's actual biological family.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
But my mom's.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
Biological mother worked for my grandmother and grandfather at the
bar restaurant because my grandfather was believe it or not,
twenty five years older than my grandmother.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
And this girl.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Was pregnant mom's mother and didn't want the baby, and
they said they'd take it. So she had a baby,
dropped it off and was gone.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
That was it.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
And the only thing she knows about her father is
that he played profess baseball. I don't even know if
she knows the name. She never said, so kind of interesting.
And my dad's family, my grandfather was one hundred percent
chocked all India and his family worked from Oklahoma, like
(06:18):
a big reservation up there. But yeah, growing up, my
dad was a driver's that teacher and had football coach
at Hancock North Central now it's Hancock County High School.
My mom was a special education teacher there first through
twelfth was right all together.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
It was a real small school, graduated.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
One hundred so we all rode to school together, rode
home together. I never thought we were rich, but we
had a pools. I thought we got to be doing
something right. But I think that combined and may four
four thousand dollars. And I know people didn't do that
and get by, but it's amazing how you can have
(07:09):
four kids and when they called us to the dinner table,
how they eat twelve hot dollars if I could, and.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
So with everyone else. So you know, I say all that,
they're like, how in the world did y'all make it?
Speaker 1 (07:22):
When we come back more Brett Favre on our American Stories. Folks,
if you love the great American stories we tell and
love America like we do, we're asking you to become
a part of the our American Stories family. If you
agree that America is a good and great country, please
make a donation. A monthly gift of seventeen dollars and
(07:44):
seventy six cents is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters.
Go to our American Stories dot com now and go
to the donate button and help us keep the great
American stories coming. That's our American Stories dot Com. And
(08:10):
we continue here with our American Stories and Brett Favre
telling his story and now let's continue with the story of.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
Bread Fah when we wrap up, and I'm gluten free,
so I make a gluten free bread, a couple other things,
almond milk or some yogurt or something, and it's like
one hundred dollars. And every time I check out, I go,
how in the world did my mom and dad make it?
(08:38):
You know, I know it was a little cheaper back then,
but still so. Anyway, I grew up playing baseball and football.
Just my older brother did the same. My younger brother
did the same. My older brother had a scholarship to
Mississippi State as a quarterback. He played a year. He
transferred it back to Juco. They ran the Wishbawl and
(08:59):
he's a little scrony white kid. He said, you know,
I need to go somewhere else, and he ended up
playing two years at JUCO. Wanted to Delta State on
a scholarship, went through spring practice, was the starting quarterback,
came home said I've had enough. I just don't want
to play anymore. And he came to Southern Miss and
(09:20):
rolled it as just a student, which was my freshman year,
so we were there at the same time. My younger
brother he played at Southern Miss as well. I actually
played defensive back. And growing up down there was always
something going on, you know, when people when I tell
(09:42):
them it was.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
When I was still.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Drinking, which I quit drinking in ninety eight. If you
would have asked me in ninety seven, do you ever
think you'll stop drinking? I just said, no, that's just
the way we were raised. And part of it was true.
But I mean, you can get trouble anywhere, but the
temptation to just go boil, you know, a pot of
(10:07):
crawl fish and drink a bunch of beer and.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Not come home till three in the morning is always there.
Speaker 3 (10:13):
And saying that we moved from the coast up here. Now,
my wife, she went to school here. My wife, we
grew up together. She was a year ahead of me.
But I knew her ever since first grade. The fact
that I don't know if that was a door or
what she may be coming in, but yeah, so we've
(10:34):
only other. She played basketball, she played softball. She was
a good, really good athlete. And when we started dating,
I was in the ninth grade and.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
We would throw the baseball together.
Speaker 3 (10:48):
And now she couldn't catch football like if I through,
but she could catch the baseball. I thought it was
pretty cool because we could throw it back and forth.
I could heat it up she could catch it, and
I was like, this is pretty cool. She went to
Pearl River Junior College played basketball and then later came
(11:10):
to Southern Miss. We have two daughters and we have
three grandsons, nine, five and two. Our oldest daughter's thirty one.
She got a law degree from Loyola. Doesn't use it.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
It is normal, you know, I was hoping to break that.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
Our youngest is a junior playing volleyball at Southern Mess.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
She quit indoor bea She just doing beach, which is
a lot more fun to watch. It really is. We
hate it that she quit indoor, but.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
I hate to because my dad was a coach and
I coached two years myself, so a lot of times
people want to blame the coach. But ten girls quit
the indoor me the the woman doesn't coach. I mean,
it's just it's like she sits over there and she
just she's like miserable. Never would like, let's work on
(12:13):
this today or spend give me. My daughter is one that,
unlike me and unlike Deanna, really she needs someone to
tell her.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
I need your best.
Speaker 3 (12:27):
Let's give me fifteen minutes after practice and let's work
on this. And you know, she needs someone to to
talk to her that way and encourage her. The more
someone didn't talk to me, the more I dug my
heels in and just I'll show them.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
She's not like that.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
My childhood, I mean, if I wasn't playing baseball, I
was playing football.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
That's all the only two I played.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
And I was actually a better baseball player than I
was in football.
Speaker 2 (12:58):
I went to Southern Miss.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
That you know, they don't really give They give partial scholarships,
they don't give full scholarships. Fortunately I got a full scholarship.
The only offer I got was the Southern Miss, and.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
I was gonna play both.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
In fact, I really thought if I had a if
you were to say which one do you think you
have a better shot at playing professional, I'd just said
baseball by far.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
We never threw it in high school. We ran the wishball.
Speaker 3 (13:32):
I mean, I could throw it further and harder than anyone,
but that's all I knew. So even though I was
pretty confident in my ability, I didn't foresee coming here
and starting as a true freshman. And more luck than anything,
a couple of guys got hurt. A couple of guys
(13:53):
played bad. They had moved one of the guys to
a receiver and lo and behold.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I was next in line.
Speaker 3 (14:01):
And I could have screwed it up very easily, could
have screwed it up cause I didn't know the plays.
It's funny because I came in against Tulane in the
second game of my true freshman year. We were down
seventeen to three. We were looking awful, and I was nervous.
I was a little bit unsure.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
I I.
Speaker 3 (14:25):
Knew I could play, but putting everything together, calling and play.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
And that was back when they signaled.
Speaker 3 (14:32):
In and you know, I I hadn't been on the
team very long, and I wasn't like getting all the reps.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
I wasn't getting any reps, so I didn't. I All
the guys.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
In the office in the huddle were like five year seniors.
And it's funny, w we end up coming back and
winning broken plays. Yeah, maybe I called it wrong, Maybe
I could took the wrong drop, whatever, and just made
something happen. So when I fast forward to Green Bay,
it was the third game we played Minnesota, the first
(15:06):
game overtime loss. It was a hell of a game.
Mkowski played great. The next week we go to Tampa,
I think he stayed out. We went down two days
at a time. He stayed out a couple of nights,
and he.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Played like it.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
He sucked and I ended up getting in the game.
We were down like thirty eighth to three, and so
you can't really put my stock into that game. The
next game we played Cincinnati, and that's the game he
gets hurt. I think it was second quarter, and so
(15:40):
we're still in this game. And much like the Tulane game,
I knew this, really. I knew after the Tampa game
that Mkowskie would start again, but I knew that this
was my chance to either make it or break it.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
It's very similar to Tulane. I went in with little
to no reps I played the week before, but.
Speaker 3 (16:07):
A different setting. We were not gonna win that game
the previous week. This one we had a chance to win,
and a lot of it would hinge on how I played,
if not all of it. And they blitzed me every snap,
which was smart except for the last drive. They played
(16:27):
very cautious and allowed me to just kind of play.
I didn't have to worry about blitzes and odd stuff.
I could just play. And I think after that game,
my thought was.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
It couldn't have.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
Gone any better, even though I knew there was a
lot of things I had to clean up, but I
really felt like I didn't. I really felt like Mkowsky,
to be honest with you, was not as hurt as
he let on. I that was my gut that he
was playing by the crowd was booty, and it was
(17:03):
a way to.
Speaker 2 (17:06):
Kind of get away from that.
Speaker 3 (17:07):
Let me play and they find out that, hey, Don
isn't so bad because I was raw and he had
to believe just like most people, this guy's I mean,
he can throw it hard and.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Far, but he don't have a chance, and which would
have been.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
You know, yeah, but it didn't work out that way.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
No, it didn't work out that way. When we come back,
we continue with Brett Favre, one of the NFL's greatest
all time quarterback, telling his story in his own words
here on our American Stories. And we returned to our
(18:10):
American stories in Brett Farv's story in his own words.
Let's pick up where we left off with Green Bays
then backup quarterback Brett Farb getting to win after replacing
an injured Don Mkowski in Week three of the nineteen
ninety two NFL season, here's Brent.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
And really kind of my career is kind of a
reflection of that game. A lot of good a lot
of wins, but a lot of you know, what are
you doing? But fortunately there was a lot more goods
than there were bads. But yeah, you know, Aikman and
(18:49):
I are big buddies. And he said, you know, I
guess is Wally Pip is that name? So for me,
I've had more people's bring that name up to me
the mkowski as Wally Pip got hurt, went out thinking
I'll be back. They'll want me back before you know it,
(19:10):
And twenty years later he's still waiting. But I think,
you know, like I tell people, one of the things
I think that served me well early in my career.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Was being naive.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
And I I'm I say that because the latter part
of my career, say the last five six years, I'd
been around the block of more than half the team combined.
But as a fifteen year veteran or above, I knew
what we were up against. I knew if this guy
could play this, or when when a play was called
(19:50):
they didn't have a I mean, they all have a chance.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
But and I.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Started thinking that way rather than being twenty two and
I giving it.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
To be honest with you, just bring them on.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
So not that the latter part of my career I
didn't play well, but I spent more time worrying about
things I couldn't control.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
But I you know, I say that because.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
In twenty years, most professional athletes don't play whatever it
is for twenty years.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
You know, I went.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
From barely shaven to gray hair, I mean complete gray
and at thirty.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
And the way I played and the.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
Life that I lived throughout the things that we talked
about earlier, the adversity, you know, just different. But I
was still played in the same game. And how quickly
it went. My first year, I was in Atlanta and
I went out to eat. I was just trying to
(21:03):
find my way. No one cared who I was. I
was just another guy. What it's like, I would have
been not so much a Green Bay because I was
traded for a first round pick, so there was already
kind of an air of cause it traded for a
first round pick is basically like being drafted in the
first round. But Atlanta, I was the second round pick.
(21:29):
Landville hated me for whatever reason. I really don't know.
The starting five offensive linemen were all thirty two or above,
and one of the one of the tackles was a
guy named Mike Ken who was my rookie.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
Year was thirty eight.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Or nine, and he was one of the guys that
went out to eat with us. And I remember him saying,
how old are you? I said, I'm twenty one. He
said that was eighteen years ago when I was twenty one,
and how fun those days were? And and I said
how old are you? And I I think thirty eight
(22:08):
thirty nine, been playing eighteen years.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
I was like, jeez, that's old.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
I I didn't say that, but I was thinking that.
And then fast forward, I would have guys, how many
years is this for you? I'd say this is year
nineteen and I, oh my god, and I it would
I would.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Go back to flashback to the and I'm like, where
did it get? Where did it go? Which can be
said the same in life, the older you get.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
I'll never forget sitting on my mom's lap as a kid,
couldn't tell you how.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Old I was, and we were talking about I.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Don't know if it was my birthday coming up or whatever,
and she was in this recliner. We were kind of
rocking and sh I said, well, when's your birthday? She said,
my birthday doesn't matter, and I said, all birthdays matter.
And she said when you get my age, they come
a lot quicker than you want, and you could care less.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
And I thought to myself, no way, and she was right.
She was right.
Speaker 3 (23:18):
Before you know it, man, another one. I think I
said this in my Hall of Fame speech. I I
talked about this the.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
Only time in our life that I heard my dad
and thay you something. Now.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Of course it wasn't to me, but after fo football practice.
It was my dad and three other coaches, and they
had been together forever. So after football practice, everyone would
leave and they would watch film and do whatever. I
had to stick around, so I'd do whatever. Sometimes I
just lay outside in the locker room. And as I said, then,
(23:58):
I say the same thing now. I don't know exactly
how I played the week before. We didn't throw a
whole lot, but I assume I didn't play very well.
We probably lost only because I overheard him say, well,
I can tell you one thing. My son will redeem himself.
He'll play much better. I can promise you that. And
(24:19):
I was like, geez, and that was kind of I
like to write it off as that that generation, and
I'm assuming this. I don't know, but I assume he
felt like if he gave compliments that I would let
off the gas a little bit. And maybe there's some
(24:39):
truth to that, not with me, but with a lot
of kids, because the way he coached me and the
way he handled me would easily turn the other kids
off then and now like screw it, I won't him play.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
It happens all the time. And that's the way he
was with me.
Speaker 3 (25:02):
But probably why I succeeded as far as athletics. And
my two brothers played, but they I don't know. I mean,
I think they loved it, but I don't think they
loved it like I did. You couldn't place any more
expectations or any higher than I placed upon myself. So
(25:23):
my dad would often say you need.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
To do this, you do that. I was already doing it.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Even if I was doing it, he was going to
tell me he need to run more bleachers.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
I was already running. So rather than turn me off,
it motivated me.
Speaker 3 (25:39):
It always motivated me, and I used that later in
my career. It was a self disciplined thing. So like
every year I'd come back for training camp and there
would always be a new quarterback in there, even if
he wasn't drafted, maybe just been a I would talk
myself into believing that they were trying to find the
next guy to replace me, and so I would play
(26:03):
every play in practice as if it was a Super Bowl.
And I would think I would always joke around and
goof of from practice. But I think if you would
go back and ask any coach that I played for
what I was like in practice, and they would say, well,
he's a lot of fun, but I was competitive. Every
throw mattered, every play mattered. I wanted to win every
(26:27):
thing I did, every play, every practice. And that goes
back to my dad in a twisted kind of way.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
And you're listening to Brett Farb and you're listening to
him unfiltered, raw about his life and moving from point
to point in a beautiful way, the way we all
do when we're talking to friends and family. We don't
do the big edited pieces here.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
On our American stories.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
We like to get you what it would be like
sitting down with Brett, because that's what we do. We
sit down with folks, we let them talk and we
get ourselves out of the way. My goodness, what he
was saying about his dad reminded me of mine. He
knew how to push my buttons. He rarely said I
love you and was rarely saying encouraging words. But I
didn't know many dads back in the day who did
(27:14):
much of that. When we continue more of Brett Farbe's
life story in his own words, here on our American stories.
(27:37):
And we continue with our American stories and Brett Farb's
life story in his own words, let's return to Brett.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
My daughter walks in here right now and went just
two of us. I'd probably ask her if she worked
out or she did some and she's like, changed, I
have really, And then my wife will say, what do
you go to?
Speaker 2 (27:59):
That's I'm a lot like my dad.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
But rather than turned me off it it it would
piss me off, but it would it motivate me and
drive me whole.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Like I'll show you, I'd do twice as much just
for the hell of it. And I think that that drive.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
It definitely wasn't statistics going into college that got me there.
It was really by luck that I got a scholarship.
A couple of guys chose to go elsewhere. The coach
that recruited me wanted me bad, felt like I could play,
but he couldn't get convinced, the head coach because there
(28:48):
was no film. Like there was film, but I won't
see him fro But definitely, once I got to the pros,
I mean it was you. I was not gonna be denied.
I was confident, but I wouldn't say cocky in any
(29:11):
Some have thought that, but you know, Eron comes across
as cocky, so very cocky it is.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
But I was more. I'd put the work in.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I knew that I wasn't the tallest, I wasn't the strongest,
although I thought I was, wasn't the quickest, but I was.
I was gonna do whatever it took to win a game.
And it didn't have to be throwing. It can be running,
it can be blocking, it can be tackling. Now that
(29:48):
definitely goes back to high school because I played. I
played a non glamorous quarterback position. I handed it off
all the time and pitched it, played defense.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
You talk your daddy let him throw?
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Oh yeah, they said, you let me coach when you
play and I'm being a lot really polite. It was
a lot more harsher than that. Yeah, I rides back
in the little Dodge D fifty truck coming from practice
home was uh, there was never like I tell people
(30:23):
this all the time. I'd I say it jokingly because
I it it would be funny. Like if we were
driving home there was about a fifteen minute drive. If
he were saying, son, how you doing in school? I'd
have passed out. Or if he said are you you're
(30:45):
making good grades? And if I said, yeah, good, I'm
proud of you, I'll I'll just shake my pants, or
how's it going with Dan?
Speaker 2 (30:55):
You guys okay, I'd have jumped out of the truck.
That would have been so it had been so awkward
he was.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
And Deanna knew my dad as well as I did
because she took driver's head dr Eman. She she'll if
she were here, she would say I could see through
the harshness, because she probably could. But she would also
agree that everything he did was and how he.
Speaker 2 (31:24):
Said it or or spoke or related. He would scare you.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
So like if you were in here and he walked in,
he's gonna say something like, holy, who.
Speaker 2 (31:36):
Is that, and that's how he talked to you.
Speaker 3 (31:39):
It was always loud, and even if he wasn't mad,
you just he came across that way.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
He just didn't ever sit down, and how's it going?
What the hell do you what? How? That's how it was. So,
what's what's it like from going to you know what?
I don't miss it at all. I don't I thought
(32:06):
I would. I was really.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
I was nervous about what the next phase of my
life would be like because that's all I knew. And
I think part of me coming back a couple of
those times was this, if I leave, it's over. And
I didn't really want to come back and play the
(32:32):
last four years. I just didn't love it as much,
but I still loved it enough to give it a shot.
So depending on what time in the off season you
got me, i'd be like I had enough, and then
it got closer. It's kind of like school growing up,
(32:54):
you know, I couldn't wait to get out of school,
and then by the end of the summer, you're.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Like, I'm kind of ready to go back. That's kind
of the way I was.
Speaker 3 (33:02):
But when I finally did retire in the following season,
opening day, I was outside doing something and Deanna send
me a m send me a message said, hey, Minnesota's on.
And I thought to myself, i'm'a go ahead and check
(33:22):
'em out. And I said, right where you were. And
I watched like two or three series, got me something
to eat, and then I walked outside, went back doing
what I was doing, and I thought to myself, I
am so glad I'm not there, And and the.
Speaker 2 (33:41):
Reasons would probably shock you.
Speaker 3 (33:43):
The reasons that I was glad I wasn't there is
cause I didn't wanna have to get on the flight,
fly all the way back from San Diego and get
home late. Not to mention, I don't even know if
they want or lost, but I I just if I
knew that every game was gonna be twenty one zero
route us, when they would have made it easier to
(34:05):
go back, I.
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Just got tired of the stress. So you know, I
wake up. That's calk.
Speaker 3 (34:15):
I've been calking the expansion joints in the driveway for
like a week.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Then it's like, what are you doing?
Speaker 3 (34:24):
And spent four hours today calking and leaves blowing in it,
and I'm trying to pull the leaves out and just
but I'm enjoying myself. Some days it is something breaks
or something it's a painted act. But you know, I
(34:47):
got something that keeps me busy. I enjoy We like this.
Right now is volleyball season. So this past weekend we're
in Covington, Louisiana for a tournament. Now we go to
LSU for one this week. In the following week we
go to Gulf Shores, and I mean, we love it.
We don't miss a game. M we there's no reason
(35:10):
for us to miss a game. Uh, we're we're definitely involved.
Grandkids will be Let's see the mental ones playing baseball.
S he hadn't started playing yet. He's took him to
the back and cage last week, So we're we're involved
with them. They yeah, couple miles away. Oh nice, so
(35:31):
we s We see him pretty regular. We just been
moving him into a new house.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
I said.
Speaker 3 (35:38):
We me, Indiana's probably done most of the work. The
kids are obviously too young to do anything. But yea,
I tell Deanna said, we got no one to playing
for ourselves. But like you're c and Alex, my son
in law is a great guy, and he's a great dad,
and he does he's like, mister mom.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
He Britney's kind of It's kind of like a role reversal.
Speaker 3 (36:07):
They start crying, they go to him, but they can't
shoe gum and tie their shoes at the same time.
And moving them into a new house, and the old
house was nice, but they just go over there and
like you couldn't see the kids. The grass was so high.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
You know.
Speaker 3 (36:27):
And I'm like, cut your grass. We'll get who ends
up cutting the grass me? Because in fact, if I wait,
it's not gonna get cut. I'm hoping that they'll they'll
do a better job. But let me tell you, my
dad wasn't a perfect parent. But we were working when
(36:51):
we were kids, and even when there wasn't work. I
can't tell you how much firewood we we cut and
we stacked and were used in South Mississippi. How many
times used firewood. I think he just did it for
the hell of it. Man, I can't tell you how
many times I did that, and he'd stack wood on
me and I'd have to carry it. We had three grandsons.
(37:12):
I tried to get him to do that. They looked
at me like I was stupid.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Yep, whose fault is that?
Speaker 3 (37:22):
It's the parent's fault. Yeah. Look, every spanking I got
was well worth it. I deserved every one of them,
and probably the ones I didn't deserve I needed anyway,
and it didn't do me no harm. But nowadays you
(37:43):
can't even spank your own kids called DHS on you.
When I called DHS, my dad would have He's You'll
call DHS my side when I'm done with you.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
And you've been listening to Brett favor in his own word,
and by the way, this is just part one in
our five part series with Brett. Brett Favre's story a
great American story. Here on our American Stories
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