Sports

Super Bowl Diary: Wednesday - Favre Lauds Manning

PHOENIX (CBS) ― Abigail Lorge, the national sports producer for the CBS Television Stations digital media group, is providing a running diary from Super Bowl XLII.

Wednesday, Jan. 30, 3:30 p.m. MT
Favre, Winner of FedEx 'Air' Award, Airs Opinions
 
This afternoon I attended a press conference where the winners of the FedEx NFL Player of the Year awards were announced. The honors, determined by fan voting, went to Green Bay's Brett Favre and Jacksonville's Fred Taylor.

Favre, who was announced as the "air" player of the year, beat out fellow QBs Tom Brady, who was practicing with the Patriots at the time of the announcement, and the Cowboys' Tony Romo. "Ground" category winner Taylor outpointed running backs Adrian Peterson (Vikings) and LaDainian Tomlinson (Chargers).

I've long been a fan of Favre's, rooting for him in most instances (Super Bowl XXXI against the Patriots, as well as weeks in which my fantasy team faces him being notable exceptions). And I was mildly amused when a Wisconsin-raised colleague told me that his friends back home were desperate to get copies of the Sports Illustrated issue featuring Favre as 2007 Sportsman of the Year; apparently, it sold out immediately in Green Bay.

But I had never encountered Favre in person, or truly appreciated the Tao of Brett, until this afternoon. Accepting his award in jeans and a blue button-down, he was charismatic, congenial, candid and (I would be remiss to not acknowledge) photogenic. Favre was frank about his disappointment about losing in the NFC championship game ("I could care less" who wins the Super Bowl on Sunday, he told the assembled media) and effusive in his praise of the Giants and, in particular, Eli Manning.

"He outplayed me," Favre said of Manning's performance on Jan. 20 in Green Bay. "He's a quiet leader who's shown you don't have to be a vocal guy."

Favre also credited the Giants – Manning and Tom Coughlin in particular – for turning their season around and winning the NFC after an 0-2 start.

"I thought they were done after we played them," he said, referring to the Packers' 35-13 drubbing of the Giants in New York in week 2. 

As he has for the last several days, Favre expressed a desire to take his time in making a decision about whether to return to the Packers next season or retire. 

"Do I want to put in the time in the off season?" he wondered. "If we start off 4-0, great. But if we start off 0-4, how do I react to that?"

Outside the Phoenix convention center after the event, I encountered a middle-aged man from Wisconsin with more immediate questions on his mind. 

"Brett Favre? My quarterback was in there giving a press conference?"

When I confirmed that I had, indeed, just come from an event featuring Favre, this Packers fan didn't miss a beat. 

"Did you ask him why he threw that bad pass last week that cost us the Super Bowl?"

Um… no. I did not. But it's good to know that the Favre fanatics are out in force here in the sunny Southwest.

Wednesday, Jan. 30, 12:00 p.m. MT
Pats' Patricia Pursuing Ring No. 2

I connected briefly this afternoon with Patriots linebackers coach Matt Patricia, who was headed to practice on the New England team bus at the time of our chat.

A friend of a friend put me in touch with Patricia, who is finishing his fourth season with the Patriots and his second as linebackers coach. A product of Sherrill, N.Y. (pop. 3100), Patricia earned an aeronautical engineering degree from R.P.I., where he was a star offensive lineman. The 2004-05 season, Patricia's first in the NFL, culminated in the Pats' 24-21 defeat of the Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX – and a championship ring for the then-30-year-old.

When I meet up with Patricia later in the week, I'll be sure to ask him about his immediate success in the league, coaching older players like Junior Seau and Tedy Bruschi, and – most importantly – what it's really like to have Bill Belichick as your boss.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)