Brett Favre

I heard Brett Favre announced his retirement from the NFL today, perhaps ESPN mentioned it quickly after curling highlights.

Non-stop retrospectives, weepy violin music and slow-motion video fit for the death of a member of royalty, and the sports talking heads obsessing over Favre's place in the all-time NFL quarterback hierarchy. The SportsNation poll tonight: Is Brett Favre in the top 10, top 5, top 3 or is he *the* top guy ever? I think America voted top 5.

Wherever he ends up ranked, let's have a little perspective here. He's a sports figure, not a hero. Heroes rush into burning buildings while others are rushing out, and heroes fearlessly fight overseas in dangerous conditions for the rights of those of us at home. Heroes do not rake in squillions of dollars by flinging a football around for 5 or 6 months out of the year (and in Favre's case, he really did usually just fling, rather than expertly throw, the ball).

I guess I can understand why the people of Wisconsin feel so devastated by this retirement. The only other thing they have to look forward to every day is cheese. Although, I do like cheese. A lot...You know what, scratch that, Wisconsinites are lucky to have cheese to look forward to every day.