Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - What was it like to cover Brett Favre?

Episode Date: July 1, 2020

Chip talks about why Favre was the most interesting athlete to cover, the landscape before Brett Favre arrived in Minnesota, what he was like to talk with on a weekly basis, how he built his legend, why 2009 was vintage Favre and what went so wrong with 2010. Plus why Favre was so popular in comparison to other great QBs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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look delivered straight to your door with Drizzly or Instacart, Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado, and as always, celebrate. All right, welcome into another episode of Purple Insider. Matthew Collar here with Star Tribune columnist Chip Scoggins. And the other day I sent Chip a text and I said, Chip, I want to do an episode where we talk about the five most interesting players that you've covered during your time as a columnist here in the Twin Cities with the Vikings. And the answer came back, Favre, Favre, Favre, Favre, and Favre. So we're doing this episode on Favre, Chip.

I love it. Yeah. I mean, not only the most interesting Vikings player I've ever covered, but most interesting athlete I've ever covered of any sport. Just a character. Obviously, a great player to back that up but just uh he was I just found him fascinating um only got to cover him for two years obviously here um but it was they packed a lot into two years and yeah he's uh you know that that that organization has had a lot of characters over the year and he's he's uh you know, that organization's had a lot of characters over the years, and he's definitely one of them. Let's start with Favre when he's in Green Bay.

Mm-hmm. When he's in Green Bay, he is a mammoth of a superstar. I mean, I grew up in western New York, and one of my best friends growing up, the guy that would end up being my college roommate, was the biggest Brett Favre fan. He loved the Packers alone because of Brett Favre. They had a national brand at that time with Favre that was right up there with the Dallas Cowboys or maybe even surpassing the Dallas Cowboys because of him and how popular he was that anywhere you went in the country, you were going to find probably some old 49ers fans. You were going to find some Steelers fans, some Cowboys and some Packers because of him. And when

you look back at the stats, sometimes they tell the story, but with Favre, they don't even tell the story of his greatness. Three-time MVP and the most entertaining player to watch. You also had the John Madden element. The John Madden was Brett Favre. They were on national TV all the time. And hard to explain because now everyone is a superstar with all the access that we have. It's hard to explain the level of mega stardom that Brett Favre was that he

was up there with your, almost on your Michael Jordan type of level for a while in the nineties. It was a confluence of perfect factors. That market, his aw shucks personality that's cocky but endearing. The way he plays, I don't know if reckless is the right word, but kind of freelance, not afraid to make mistakes, not afraid to make throws, throws at 100 miles an hour, runs – he's not stoic, he's not a robot, shows emotion, the southern draw. So I think all those things – and you mentioned the love affair that Madden and other broadcasters had with him and just kind of created this aura about him.

And in that market where it's just such a small fishbowl, it created this kind of larger than life persona and when you take that and you become an MVP and you win a Super Bowl well then all of a sudden it's one thing to to play you know loosey-goosey and and say funny things and and and kind of have a laid-back personality if you're on a terrible team but they won a Super Bowl right and they were always good and so that created this um you're right to put him on a pedestal that few athletes ever reach and he unlike michael jordan though was flawed enough to also be loved for that reason too sure that he was highly certainly successful during his career but he was not a first round pick he wasn't even playing for the first team that drafted him, the Atlanta Falcons. He got traded away because Jerry Glanville didn't like him. And he was a backup.

And who knows if he's ever going to become anything. So he always had an underdog element to him. And he would get into the big games. And he would make mistakes sometimes. And he would have those tragic losses. But I think that that even made him more likable. Because you hoped the next time it would be the time that he came through. Yeah. It kind of embellished his reputation.

The times that it didn't work out. And even that became an endearing part of his persona. Right. I mean, we think about all the interceptions he's thrown and he, you know, afterwards he'd be like, oh shucks. I thought I had, I couldn't squeeze it in there, you know, and I'll do it again and he will. And then the thing is he would come back and he'd be like, oh, shucks, I thought I had it, couldn't squeeze it in there, you know, and I'll do it again. And he will. And then the thing is, he would come back and he'd make a throw that – how many NFL quarterbacks can make?

Very few, right? How many NFL quarterbacks have both his arms, his instincts, his smarts, and the guts to make this pass, you know? And my old partner, your old partner, Judd, always said, he'll break your heart because of that and we saw that in 2009 but he didn't change i mean that's that's you know you had to take the good and the bad with him and you mentioned the character things people knew about the drinking and and uh and all that and that didn't it was part of his story but it never really um i think people looked at that as not part of his charm, but just, you know, another thing that he overcame.

And so, yeah, I mean, certain athletes like, you know, like him, just kind of, I don't know that people, well, people in Minnesota hated him, right? But nationally, do you think people ever got sick of him? If you're, if you're in California or if you're in New York, you probably loved him, right? If you're in Minnesota, 99.9% of the people hated him because he was so good and always stuck the dagger in the, in the Vikings. But, but I think universally around the country, there's just perception that, that, you know, you liked him. That's what I was going to ask you next was just the feeling from Vikings fans before Favre is their quarterback. You know, I don't know how to put this. I wonder if, like when you were, if you were a Red Sox fan, yeah, I was going I wonder if when you were a Red Sox fan.

Yeah, I was going to say, if you were a Red Sox fan, you truly hated the Yankees. But when there's someone who's on a completely different level than you, say you're a Dolphins fan and you're looking at Tom Brady, do you hate Tom Brady or do you just go like, man, this guy whips us every time and I wish he was on our team? Was it that feeling rather than – because he's just such a hard guy to really hate you would prefer that he just played for you instead i think it was envy disguised as hate

right i can't stand brett farke because he plays for the packers but i think it was more as like and you saw it that thing like was a light switch as when he when people when bikers fans knew he was coming here there was no hate it was was all, he's ours now, right? And so I think it was envy, and you saw, particularly because look at the quarterback carousel they had for years, decades, man. And they just could not find that guy that was their franchise quarterback. And your bitter rival has Brett Favre, and he's there for almost 20 years, and he wins the Super Bowl, and he's MVP. And he has fun playing the game, and he's there for almost 20 years and he wins the Super Bowl and he's MVP. And so, and he has fun playing the game and he's charismatic and popular. And so I think people say when he played for the Packers, they can't stand him and they hated him.

But I bet if it was true serum, you'd probably say they're just envious of what, you know, the Packers had. And we know how it turned out with him having an incredible season in 2009, but what was the feeling when they signed him? I'm sure that Vikings fans were saying, yes, we got him now, just like Patriots fans would be saying about Cam Newton, but there's, he looked truly washed up by the end of the Jets era. Yeah. And he had an arm injury and that was the whole thing. There was a euphoria, obviously. We saw it with the day he arrived and the stampede when Childress brought him into the facility in the helicopter.

So there was obviously euphoria, but I think there was also curiosity. It was like, eh, how much does he have left? You know, he's almost 40. He really, you know, he looked washed up for the jazz we know he has an arm injury um how much does he have left in that arm and so i think there's uh probably some everybody thought he would be the you know the missing link because that team was stacked um but you didn't know like really what he was going to give you. And those first two games in 2009, the whole narrative was, okay, they got a game manager.

Favre's going to be a game manager. You got Adrian, you got all these weapons. He doesn't have to, you know, be the gunslinger. He doesn't have to be the hero. He can just manage the game. And then game three, he puts on his cape and throws just that laser, one of the best throws I've ever seen a quarterback make, to Greg Lewis against the Niners to win it in a walk-off there.

And then you're like, all right, game on. Okay, this is the far view. And I got to be honest, I was stunned by how much physically he had left that year and just the throws he could make it's funny that so judd covered him because uh back before he became the vikings uh be ready he actually covered the packers and so when far as first uh his first week we were doing a sideline thing there and judd said look how big his hands are when you're doing it. Look at his hands. And so, you know, we're standing in like a little group huddle there, and it was astonishing how big and strong his hands were.

Like it was like abnormal they were that big. It's like it just jumps out. It's like he could, you know, like a Nerf ball, the things he could do, you know, in throwing the ball and controlling it. And so, but once he got through that, I think that San Francisco game game three, you knew that physically he was going to be able to do whatever he wanted. And Sage Rosenfels on the podcast a couple of days ago said that that was the

best throw he's ever seen in his entire life. Sage. Yeah, it was, I mean, it felt like it could fit it through that title window and. And it was on the run, under duress. You know, they had to have it. And to put it in that spot, you know, with Greg Lewis, you know, running across the back of the end zone, it was just – you sat there and, like, your mouth was ajar. And, I mean, that metrodome just went bonkers.

And literally, Matthew, that moment you felt like, okay, this is going to be special. This is going to be special. This is going to be special. How he could still throw at that velocity at that age is – Well, watch his motion. It's just like all that – I mean, he put everything into it. His whole body was just, you know, it was like, wow. You know, I mean, he – and I think you would see him.

He's just naturally strong in those hands. But his motion and his delivery, it just looked like he was throwing everything he had into each throw as that season went along in 2009 did you feel like not only okay so you start to know that the team is good and you feel like they could be a legitimate contender with far but did you what what was your feeling on him personally about the way that he took on every single step? Because there was playing against the Packers, and I watched that game back with the rest of America when they played it on ESPN not that long ago. And he's trying so hard to be sly in the post-game interview and not say a whole lot.

But it just seemed like it was the same Brett Favre that was there in Green Bay for so long, but yet everything was amplified because he was doing it in Minnesota. Yeah, and I think about that team. I mean, that was a locker room full of alphas. Now, you had Steve Hutchinson, Jared Allen, Kevin and Pat Williams, Adrian, Percy. I mean, big personalities, star players. I mean, big personalities, star players. I mean, some of the best players at their position in the NFL. But there was no denying who the biggest presence in that locker room was. I mean, he walked in there and he was the guy.

I mean, everybody looked to him. He just, he had that immediate kind of presence where everybody looked to him and like, all right, this is our guy. We're going to follow him. And he just fit right in. I mean, there was no, it was amazing. The way the chemistry in that locker room and the way guys looked at him and embraced him and rallied around him. And I remember kind of inside ball, but on Fridays, as you know, that's kind of the hay is in the barn day.

They have a quick walkthrough and then players scatter. They eat lunch in the locker room and then players scatter to go hunting or whatever, to get out of the locker room quick. Favre would always stick around. He would always be the last guy in there cutting jokes, telling stories, kind of hobnobbing with players and, you know, PR guys. And he just loved being in a locker room and loved being around guys. And so just his personality and being around him, it never felt like an outsider at all.

It felt like he'd been part of the team forever in just the way he, he interacted with guys. And so I was curious to see like, like those big moments, you know, when he played green Bay for the first time and he tried to pass it off all week. Ah, it's just another game. Okay. Yeah. Right. Going back to green Bay that first time, you know, you, he never is going to show you outward nerves or anything. I'm sure his heart was racing a mile a minute. But I think that game, he even said it.

I remember being in the press box. And we're in glass, so you can't hear the full noise. But you can get a sense of it. But when the Vikings ran out of the tunnel onto the field for the game, it was loud boos. I'm like, yeah, it wasn't so bad. You know, I thought it would be. And then it was like a you know a b-52 taken off the noise just how loud it wasn't as far as that at the you know near the end of the the team and so it even amplified and i've never heard a

person get booed like that ever that loud and even it he made a comment about after game where i think it surprised him a little bit. I think he thought it'd be a mixture, and it was not a mixture. There might have been some cheers, but you couldn't hear him. I mean, it was deafening how loud the boos were. And so I think that, I don't know if it rattled him, but it surprised him, maybe bothered him a little bit privately. But even that, I mean, you shook that off and kind of made a joke of it and kept on going with Favre and his notable failures it goes a little bit forgotten sometimes of how many

successes there were in the big clutch games that oh sure there were so many times where he was great and I always like to make this point about his late mistakes is that you have to be there you have to be in that spot to make that mistake that if you're I mean just say like LeBron James has lost some championships but he's in the championship yeah so you have to be great to even be on those stages and more often than not I remember always having the feeling that he could do anything that when he was going up against those Packers teams that there was almost no question that he was going to beat those Packers teams that there was almost no question that he was going to beat the Packers because when the lights were the brightest that's when

Favre was usually great yeah and and you know you see it with with Rodgers now too like the chip on the shoulder when there's extra motivation there Favre would rise to that challenge like oh he has nothing left in the tank he's going to be a game manager. Okay, here's a throw to Greg Lewis that's going to remind you that I'm not a game manager. You know, the Packers are coming in. You're not going to be able to play well. You're nervous.

They know who you are. They know how to game plan for you. Well, he put up big numbers against them, you know. But we also saw, you know, the other side. side and as judd says the one that'll break your heart and you know i think there's some people who say gosh just play it safe for once you know don't try that throw but that's that's who brett farb is yes exactly and he always had a sense, it seemed, like Michael Jordan, if anybody watched the 10-part documentary, a sense for what it all meant even when he was in the moment.

There are some athletes that just sort of do what they do and they don't pay attention. Now it's probably harder, but don't pay attention to what's being said. Don't pay attention to what it means to their legacy and things like that. Favre always seemed to know exactly what it meant. 100%. He has that aw shucks and personality and laid back and country draw. Don't mistake that for being clueless or not aware.

He was one of the most calculated. In his interviews, he knows exactly what he's doing. He knows exactly what message he wants out there. Now, he could take you on a journey to get there, you know. I mean, his press conference, like quarterbacks in the NFL speak on Wednesday typically, Vikings, and for people watching this, and they have their, you know, their Wednesday press conference, and it's, what would you say, Matthew?

10, 15 questions generally for cousins or? Yeah. Far would be four. Before. And he would talk for a half hour. And you would ask him a question about something. He would give you a scouting report, a history lesson, an injury update. You know, something about his own resume. It was, I mean, he was fascinating, his answers,

and what he would give you was just gold. You know, we would come out of there with like 19 story ideas. One question that he answered, but he was, so he was very, he would meander, but I'm convinced he was calculated and he would meander, but I'm convinced he was calculated and he would plant seeds and he would do it to motivate guys. He would – he had everything – he had an understanding. I think you said it right. He had an understanding about the moment and how he's perceived

and how his legacy is being perceived and his career. I mean, he knew, I mean, you saw it like at the end of his time with Green Bay, you know, he was very aware of how he was being perceived and, you know, clearly stung him. If anybody has seen the John Gruden sit down with Favre for an hour, it's really fascinating to see how the wheels tick with him and those guys going back and forth and being very football-y, but also the way that he thought of himself, the way he thinks of his legacy,

and Gruden asked him about being one of the greatest of all time, and he talked about always sort of chasing Roger Staubach in his mind. So he's even someone that has a sense for the history too. And like where he even fits in that, which I'm not sure everyone would expect because like you said, the way that he comes across is, well, yeah, you know, I'm just being Brett Favre out there. Yeah. But that's, that's really not, there's a lot more going on with him.

There's a lot of pride in there, right? a lot of pride in there right a lot of pride in in the way he played a lot of pride in winning um the records the iron man streak uh he wouldn't brag about it in a way that was off-putting but you could he would make references to things that you knew it was at the forefront of his his mind and he had a lot of took a lot of pride in it so uh 09 they go and they play Dallas and shred Dallas it's just too easy goodbye Dallas good night yeah and go down to New Orleans this this has the feeling even going in and I'm talking about I must have been I don't know early in my doing this, but I even remember this feeling like this is it for Favre. This is his last shot at doing this. This team is great. They can do this. They have the road against the very, very good New Orleans team, they're the better team. And the Vikings should end up in the Super Bowl.

And his interception is remembered at the end. And it's so quintessential Favre. And Sage tells a great story about sitting next to him after the interception and Favre saying, I choked and I blew it. But that game, also the way that it played out, it becomes one of those, if you're telling the history of the NFL, you're mentioning this game along the way that it played out, it becomes one of those, if you're telling the history of the NFL, you're mentioning this game along the way to get to where we are now because Bounty Gate happens and Favre's interception and overtime ends up being changed because of it.

Not to mention that the Vikings had many other opportunities in this game that they let slip by to win it for Favre. And that's another point about Favre's legacy is that there are often other opportunities in these games for something to happen in classic football fashion, but he ends up trying too hard at the end. Yeah. I mean, if they don't have 12 guys in the huddle, he's not throwing that interception. Right. Or if they don't fumble a million times in that game.

And I remember after the game seeing him and i don't think i've ever seen a player after a game that beat up i mean his ankle looked like it was three times the size it was and it's funny watching that game you're like man they are putting licks on him and you know at the time you know you have no idea about bounty gate but it's the one he got high load once i think sharper went up high on him one time his former teammate and it was clear they were um they were going to try to pound on him to uh throw him off and he was just that locker room scene where how beat up he was. I remember thinking no chance he comes back from this. You know, I just think he was spent at that time.

But also as you got some distance from that, Matthew, I remember thinking, how in the world could you walk away after putting up that kind of season, knowing you have that left in the tank. And I even asked him that when he came back for 2010 that was the question i asked him i was like as you waffled went back and forth how much did it keep coming back to and you played at mvp level you had one of your best years statistically it's one thing if you play and you're a game manager and you're like you know what i don't have anything left we saw he had something left you know what, I don't have anything left. We saw he had something left, you know, but in hindsight, you know, if you have to be begged into doing something,

you probably shouldn't do it, you know. This is not the sport that if your heart's not in it, it's not going to be good. And so, but yeah, that game, I mean, it's still one of the best sporting events. For me, it's top three or four. I mean, you know, just all the crazy stuff going on in that game and the atmosphere is loud.

Loudest sporting event I've ever been in, that stadium that night. I mean, it was just incredible. And I remember that last drive, they'd gotten the first down, and I forgot what it was. They got over the 50 and what i can't remember if it's a pass or run and i remember turning turning judd i was like man they're going to the super bowl and of course you would chip of course i did so it's all my fault and judd said just wait and sure enough i mean it's funny we all in the immediate aftermath after the game we

all focused on the interception right that was the biggest talker and far and everything happened and i remember we didn't sleep that night we all had all the writers and everything from other outlets we uh we were at the airport the next morning early and more like four in the morning we all just kind of sat there and like we had 12 guys in the huddle you know we mention of it, you know, but that, in the aftermath, that became almost the bigger story than the interception. It's like, holy cow, they had too many guys in the huddle. It's like a light bulb going on.

It's like, what? No, you know. And so I think that it didn't, you know, overshadow the interception, but it definitely got more eyeballs on it as the as the weeks and days and weeks went on as a side note new orleans figure it out with getting in and out of new orleans to cover football games there figure it out yeah brutal well i i remember after the game it was you know it was a late evening game it wasn't a night game but it you know we wrote all night and wrote all night so we didn't sleep all you know we didn't go to sleep

we just went straight from our hotel you know did some blogs and stuff and went to the airport but it's yeah it's i agree not not easy no i had the same thing when i covered this most recent uh playoff game was all right do i get two hours of sleep or it does no good yeah no the only cranking yeah the only flight out of town is happening uh at five in the morning or five in the morning yeah the 2010 thing i think a lot of people would prefer to just pretend that never happened yeah why why did it go so wrong i, it wasn't just that he wasn't the same. It was that the team wasn't the same also. And then he gets hurt a couple of times.

So it wasn't just like a quick deterioration of the skills, but the circumstances were vastly different. Well, no. I mean, one, you know, Sidney Rice puts off hip surgery. So automatically you lose your Pro Bowlney Rice puts off hip surgery. So automatically you lose your Pro Bowl wide receiver right off the bat. And I don't know that Favre would have come back if he didn't know that. You know, if you're not going to have Sidney Rice for however many games,

I think when he played like three or four that year. And then he had some injuries, and then the Deadspin report came out and at the time deadspin i think we knew what they were but they weren't you know as established as they are now and so we weren't really quite sure even what to make of it you know um then obviously the nfl launched on it so um and so that added to it you know how much did that impact his um you know just his emotions and and and his attitude and and was a distraction you know how big a distraction so it was just it literally was i we laugh about it you know you you'll never ever see a season like that i mean you could you could write a whole book on it. While back we did,

my paper did a thing where readers asked, you know, something they want to read about. And someone's like, Hey, let's revisit that 2010 season. It was like, there's, so I jotted down and it's like 15 things that in themselves would be a big, you know, a pretty big story. And, you know, pretty big story. And, you know, so I, yes, he probably hit the cliff a little bit, you know, after physically, after that season and after you know, the pounding,

he took it against the saints, but I think it was just a lot of different things that were swirling that just made it just – as one player told me, they couldn't wait for that season to end, and I'm sure about that same way. Yeah, I mean, in 2016, my first season that I covered, it had many a crazy thing between Bridgewater's injury and the Zimmer eyeball and so forth.

Norah Turner being fired or not fired as Zimmer says, whatever he did resigned. Yeah. Sure. And all that that happened in 2016 and it pales in comparison to 2010. I wonder what you think the postscript on Favre is because his legacy is you're one of the great quarterbacks of all time. And anybody who's making a top five list is not leaving out Brett Favre is because his legacy is you're one of the great quarterbacks of all time. And anybody who's making a top five list is not leaving out Brett Favre, especially if you grew up in an era where you got to see Brett Favre, then you know, he's one of the five to seven best quarterbacks to ever play.

His post career has been, I think about as good as you could have hoped for for brett farve that okay i have his uh ear trimmer and uh um but brett farve going on xm radio and giving hot takes about jordan yeah ref picks and being present and kind of around but also not in a sad way where he's trying to force himself into all sorts of situations it's it's been I don't know for a guy who would have taken it so hard to not be playing football anymore almost the best you could have hoped for for what Favre has kind of become post-career yeah and I think and I don't know if there's any temptation to stay in the game as an announcer, as a, he would never be a coach. I mean, he made that clear.

That was never going to happen. Cause he wanted to spend all day in a facility looking at film. But some kind of de facto system GM, you know, type thing. I think he, I don't know if there was any urge that, but I think he has found his happy spot. Really. You know, type thing. I think he, I don't know if there was any urge that, but I think he has found his happy spot really, you know, he can pop up and do when he feels like commentating on something, he can do that. If he wants to, if Aaron Rogers, if he wants to be the conduit for Aaron Rogers to say how disappointed he was,

they, they, he can do that. Who would have seen that coming, by the way? Well, no, no. Right? I mean, considering how things ended with, you know. But I am glad that, you know, he's made amends there. They've become friends. And obviously when you're in the middle of something like that,

it's going to be personal. But once you step away, you're like, okay, you know, we can relate here. We're not enemies, you know. But no, I think he's – I think, yeah, I mean, I think his legacy is obviously that he's one of the top quarterbacks of all time, but also more about how he played than numbers, right? I mean, we'll remember his, you know, his Ironman streak. We'll remember the touchdowns and all that,

but we'll remember more the good and the bad, but how he played. The night his dad died, the game he put on there. I mean, you remember that. I mean, who's going to forget that night? Running around holding this thing at the helmet after a touchdown in the Super Bowl trying crazy passes you know um I think that more than numbers a lot of guys you'll just remember numbers or whatever or you know Tom Brady will remember championships but I think

with Favre it's more the way he played the game I think think that's, that's probably his legacy. There's almost this sort of special place in heaven type of concept with certain football players that go into that. You were different to watch. I mean, Tom Brady is a great example of someone who's just masterful and anyone who's ever played quarterback will tell you that they marvel at the things that Tom Brady does. But Tom Brady was not the most fun player to watch of all time. He made great throws, and he picked apart defenses, and he did nothing but win. And if you're in the Boston area, that's great for you, and so forth. But there are certain players that I put from at least my growing up, the Randy Moss, the Barry Sanders, and Favre is right in that where it's not just you were great.

It's that you were super fun and that you were super different too, that having the style to it. And the same might go for, I make the Jordan comparison, but I think there are a lot of comparisons here where Jordan had the style that went along with the success that amplified it and just how entertaining he was to watch he wasn't Tim Duncan right yeah exactly like robotic yeah yeah no I mean the guys that I think off the top of my head Barry Sanders, Deion Sanders, guys that had, flair is probably not the right word, but just,

you couldn't take your eyes off them. Like when they're on the field, there's 22 guys out there or whatever, you're watching that guy, right? I mean, they just, there's just a presence about them. And Favre had that in person too, as i was talking about earlier just um i just found him fascinating because of the way he thought you know he could be you know dumb like a fox you know he would be self-deprecating but also highly highly intelligent i mean just what is the uh is it the detmer story where he didn't know what cover two was or whatever? Nickel corner, I thought. Nickel corner.

Nickel – I'm not sure I'd buy in that story. It made for good narrative, and we all laugh at it. But I found him to be incredibly intelligent about all things football and just – he just presented it differently you know in a way that was kind of charming um with it with his you know laid back aw shucks way I think what it is with someone like Favre and when you watch the Gruden sit down with him you really see it is when it comes to the football intelligence and great players in any sport is there's a creativity that is there that it's sort of like

being a hotel painter or whatever you know this hotel yeah it all looks exactly the same versus being one of the great artists now you and I might not be able to figure out the difference necessarily but in sports you can really see it amplified is here are players that are that are more creative than anybody else and And when it comes to talking about football intelligence, there's football knowledge, and then there's football intelligence. Do you know the game? Sure. Can you drop all the X's and O's? Almost everyone can do that. But the intelligence is being able to take that information and change it. And him sort of self-inventing RPOs when he was playing things like that those you just don't find very often

well no I mean it and that's instincts and um you know it's uh it's what I think his children always called her a lot of coaches called off schedule what are you gonna do when things are off schedule and basically that means can you freelance right when when things are going to hell in a handbasket can you make something out of nothing? And he can do that. I mean, whether he flipped the pass this way, you know, we're seeing it more now. I mean, some of these young quarterbacks, you know, in the game now are,

you know, exhibiting that just kind of when things are not perfect and you have to make a play, can you do it? And so few quarterbacks have that – people call it the it or whatever, but that you can just, you know, make something out of nothing and take a bad situation and find a way to make a play. And Favre could, and sometimes it bit him in the butt, and he made him – you know, he threw an interception, but he wasn't scared to try it. He had the the courage to try and the skill set to do it too and uh feeling

hashtag blessed that i was able to see almost his entire career i also feel good for kids growing up now that have patrick mahomes because yeah you could say like maybe staubach fans from back in the day said hey farve was kind of like what i loved watching from roger staubach fans from back in the day said, Hey, Favre was kind of like what I loved watching from Roger Staubach. You could say Mahomes is the closest thing I've ever seen to Brett Favre, except for he doesn't throw the interceptions. It doesn't make the biggest mistakes that Favre did. Yeah. And you know, he's, you see it in Deshaun Watson, you know, I mean, but yeah, I think Mahomes, when you watch him,

you see Favre in there too right you see some Favre just just the creativity the they see the game differently than everyone else and and it's I mean the thing that's cool is like you don't teach that you either got it you don't right I mean you can't you can't teach Favre and Mahomes to do the things that they're doing or what Favre did I mean just you either got it or you don't. Yep that's like Moss talking about running around the field with his friends and that's how he learned to play football you always had that feeling for brett farb uh chip this has been

super fun i know yeah i love the fact that you never tire of talking about brett farb too that like it's what the one of the coolest things that you covered and we've asked you to talk about it on the radio or podcast, whatever, a million times. And it just is always fun. If there will ever be an NFL player to get one of those 10-part documentaries, it's got to be far. Yeah, because, I mean, you know, we cover so many athletes that are, you know,

scared to say something or, you know, or just, you know, a robotic. But he's – when you get the chance to cover a transcendent player like him, and it was only two years and we didn't get to see the, you know, the second year was not great, obviously, but to be able to see that transcendent talent day-to-day going to a facility and then watch him, you know, the whole season, yeah, it's a career highlight for sure for me. Yeah, I am highly jealous that you were covered you'll there'll be a player coming like that i'm sure yeah uh well the best

that i see it's funny because the best player that i've covered as a viking is a strong safety that people don't realize how good he actually is i know know. Yeah. It's like, you need a quarterback. Right. He came up in the box, you know, and then they just traded the other player that was the most fun

to watch and the most interesting. Not the same when it's the quarterback that has that kind of impact, right? Right. Exactly.

And, you know, I thought I was coming to cover the next great Vikings quarterback, but he got hurt on the same day I moved to Minnesota.

So, was it? It was the same day. It was,nesota so was it it was the same day it was i i arrived i didn't know that i arrived in minnesota to start covering the vikings and was unpacking a truck into my new apartment at the time and i got a bunch of texts like my phone just blew up from all my friends in buffalo going what happened to teddy what's going on with teddy tell us what's going on and it was like, I'm not there yet. I just arrived here in a U-Haul.

What is going on? Because I was unpacking. I wasn't looking at Twitter. For the one time in my life, I'm not looking at Twitter. And yeah, that's my Teddy story is then I see, you know, your buddy Ben Gessling and other guys out there tweeting, there's an ambulance and Teddy's leaving. Like, what? I, you know know this happened to my first day yeah well welcome to town and that was your yeah we all knew it at the time and that was uh that was your memo that it's never it's never boring covering the Vikings right yep and it hasn't stopped I mean it never does since that

moment I thought well it can't get crazier than this. And it did. They went five and O and missed the playoffs in sort of typical classic fashion and all those other things that happened. And it, no, it has not stopped. Case Keenum to the NFC championship. It's just. As I always say, just when you, just when you think you've seen it all,

the roof collapses. Yeah, that's right. That's right. At least I didn't have to cover that. That's right. Chip Goggins, Star Tribune, college football enthusiast, Dale Murphy fan, any other way you want to be introduced. Always a great thing for us to catch up and be talking again.

And we didn't even go through any of your old Vikings training camp tweets. Let's not do that. That bit has to come back someday soon. It's embarrassing. This was really fun, Chip. This is awesome. Yeah, thanks for having me. It's cool.

Let's see your face again, man. Yeah, you too, man. We'll get into John David Booty tweets some other day. All right, take care, Chip. See you, brother.