8/22/09
Brett Favre, cementing his legacy?
If you haven't heard yet, Brett Favre signed with the Minnesota Vikings and played in two series last night in a preseason game. Even casual football fans know that Favre is an all-time great and a lock for the Hall-of-Fame. I still don't think he was a 'Household Name,' which I will define as an athlete who even people who hate sports have heard of and can identify his sport. So the question is, after all the retiring/unretiring drama, is he now a household name? How far has this saga penetrated, as it were? I feel like we may be on the brink of a phrase: 'pulling a Favre' but for the fact that in the non-sports world, unretiring, even in a recession, is probably too rare to get a phrase.
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6 comments:
Yes, he is a household name. I've known who he was for about the last five years. But I wouldn't have been able to identify what team he played for, just that he was a pro football player.
I would argue that he was a "household name" even before all of this bologna. I also think that he's losing a lot of respect from true football fans, a significant amount (I'd guess 75% of those outside of MN) of whom are now routing for him to fail.
I did a random poll of two women at my house. I said - 'quick, name a professional football player!' until they named 3.
woman 1
'terrell owens'
'tony romo'
'that guy who dates Giselle Bundchen'
woman 2
'Michael Vick'
'Brett Favre'
'Rex Grossman' (she's a Florida Gators fan)
"That guy who dates Giselle Bundchen."
Man, I hope Ted is not reading this blog.
I do think Something About Mary may have gotten Favre over the household name hump. I think the true test are parents -- so call the parentals and see what they say.
When my Mom brought up Michael Jordan in a conversation, I knew he had to be the most famous athlete on the planet.
Hey, I also said Donovan McNabb. And Ben Rothlisberger. Though it took me a day to think of him. I would have said Hines Ward but I blanked on his name.
My word verification today is:
Owenesto
I see a new nickname for O on the way.
I did think about the Mary role but then thought that perhaps the overlap btw football fans and fans of goofball comedies might be too large to have made a big difference in his notoriety. In any case, I am now triple-rooting against him but with that dome keeping his old joints warm and AP to hand off to, Favre makes the vikes scary. Scarier than with T-Jack.
-actually Will
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