Here’s a great piece from ESPN’s Wright Thompson. ESPN – Brett, we miss you already – NFL

I’ll miss him turning Southern traits into something positive. Like Favre, I’m from Mississippi. Just that name carries horrible — and deserved — connotations. But Brett … The things we’ve always valued about ourselves, the toughness, the wildness, the exuberance, those things were suddenly treasured. Brett Favre made it cool to be from Mississippi. He seemed small town, and the rest of the NFL seemed anything but. It’s sprawling, corporate. It’s a cubicle. Brett Favre is a farm, and I think, deep down, we all miss our agrarian roots. If Tom Brady is what America is, then Favre is what America was and, sometimes, I think we wish we could have that America back. (Sorry for channeling Ken Burns. Won’t happen again.)

Amen.

It’s March 4 and #4 won’t be trotting out again in green and gold. We’ll never, ever forget your child-like exuberance on the field. I hope maybe that’s what America can be.