5/6/08 Intro to Public Speaking Reaction Paper #2
On March 4th, 2008, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre officially retired from the NFL. Favre played 17 years in the NFL, 16 years with the Green Bay Packers. He holds the NFL records for most consecutive starts by a quarterback, most wins by a starting quarterback, most career passing touchdowns, and most career passing yards, among others. Brett called a press conference to announce his retirement and spoke for almost 10 minutes, touching on his life, career, and those that helped him along the way. Favre begins by clearly stating that he is retiring from the NFL. Almost immediately after he says he’s retiring he loses his train of thought and gets visibly emotional, saying “I promised I wouldn’t get emotional”. He then pauses for a bit to regain his composure. He talks about how he watched hundreds of players retire and has wondered what it would be like. He thanks God for his ability and his family, and the opportunity to use his ability. He starts to tear up when he thanks the Green Bay Packers saying “I hope every penny they spent on me was money well spent. It was never about the money or the fame or the records. It was never my accomplishments, it was our accomplishments”. He thanks owners, general managers and coaches by name. He thanks them for giving him an opportunity when nobody else would. He addresses rumors in the media about owners or coaches not doing enough to keep Favre, and Favre says that they had nothing to do with it and he decided to retire himself, and that he’s saying that from the heart. “I’m not going to sit here like other players maybe have said in the past, that I won’t miss it. Because I will. But I just don’t think I can give anything else”. He says he has no regrets. “I played
the game one way. The only way I knew how”. He takes time to thank the fans and says there’s no better place to play then in front of his fans. He says it’s an honor to be mentioned along with Green bay packer players of the past. Favre then visibly weeps and says “I hope everyone knows how special this is and I truly appreciate the opportunity. As they say, all good things must come to an end”. I’ve never really been a fan of the Green Bay Packers, but Brett Favre has always been a class act. He is a great football player. His speech was very thoughtful and it definitely came from the heart. It’s nice to hear an athlete talk about those that have influenced him. It’s always so focused on individual accomplishments but there are great people behind every great player. Favre’s speech isn’t a model speech but it was nice to listen to. His eye contact isn’t great, he doesn’t really use his hands, and he says “umm” and “uhh” a lot (which I notice so much more after taking this class). But like I said before, his speech came from the heart and I’m sure everyone he mentioned was honored to be included. It’s also great to see an athlete express his passion for the game. These days it’s all about salary and less about the love for the game. Brett Favre is a great player and a great person, I’ve enjoyed watching him play and it will be weird to watch the Packers play without him at quarterback.