Sports Illustrated names Brett Favre its Sportsman Of The Year

In an article by Alan Shipnuck published today, Sports Illustrated announced that Brett Favre was named as their outstanding sportsman of 2007.

You may be puzzled to be seeing this post on Progressives, South Bend - but when you read the article you'll discover much of it has nothing to do with football. Much of it has to do with the progressive practice of doing good while doing well.

Here are a few excerpts:

"It is for his perseverance and his passion that SI honors Favre with the 54th Sportsman of the Year award. But there is more to his story than on-field heroics. On game day the whole of Green Bay may live and die on Favre's rocket right arm, but his greatest legacy lies in how many people he has touched between Sundays."

"There is no happier place than Green Bay, Wis., on a Sunday evening after the Packers have won. The beer tastes better, the girls are even prettier, and few seem to notice the bite in the air. In a town defined by its team, civic temperament can be quantified on a scoreboard. A few weeks ago, in the moments after the Packers had defeated the Carolina Panthers 31-17 at Lambeau Field, the parking lot was alive with merriment. Kids in number 4 jerseys and GOT BRETT? sweatshirts chased footballs with reckless abandon, tailgaters handed out bratwurst right off the grill, and one optimistic gent tried to sweet-talk the more attractive passersby into adding to the impressive collection of donated bras he had strung up on a flagpole."

and

'If Favre is weary, it's only because he has given so much of himself to Green Bay through the years. "He means everything to these people," says Donald Driver, who's in his ninth season catching Favre's passes. "He's not only our leader -- he's the symbol of the franchise, of the whole town. There's a generation of fans in Green Bay who don't know this team ever existed without Brett."'

The story goes on to chronicle the many projects Brett has initiated or assisted with and many of the people he has touched personally or from a distance. It's a long article, I won't attempt to summarize it. You can read it here:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/magazine/specials/sportsman/2007/12/03/sportsman.2007/2.html

I think Brett Favre is a pretty rare guy. Someone who could have so easily got the "big head" (a Minnesota expression), but instead got the big heart.

Have a nice day.

Don