A three time rejected Brett Favre is making NFL history - Keith Allison photo

SPORTS NOTES - OLDER THAN DIRT - IS BRETT FAVRE THE NEW GEORGE BLANDA?

James Loving/National Radio Text Service

Regardless of his success Brett Favre felt unloved and unwanted and retired after the 2007 season. Green Bay made it clear that they wanted to go with a younger quarterback and current starter Aaron Rodgers. It was a case of WHO LOVES YA BABY? That question also applied to the oldest quarterback ever to play in the NFL including George Blanda who remained in the league until he was 48 - FIFA TOP 10

Friday January 22, 2010

WHO LOVES YA BABY?

Brett Favre's football career brings back memories of another old war horse whose 2nd NFL life began after being a castoff and not liked by their coaches. Favre has broken many NFL records including one held by Blanda BUT.... it is doubtful that the Southern Mississippi Rebel who is a ripe old 40-year-old will ever reach the endurance level and proficiency of Blanda who played his final NFL game at the age of 47. By remaining in the NFL at such an old age Favre has been enshrined in the National Radio OLDER THEN DIRT Award winners. But getting there wasn't easy he had to eat some dirt to truly earn his TRUE GRIT category award.

Other similarities are they each had dismal starts in their NFL careers. Both were rejected by their coaches. Then Chicago Bears owner George Halas didn't care for Blanda and the then Atlanta Falcons coach Gerry Glanville didn't want Favre on the team.

Favre was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the second round, 33rd overall in the 1991 NFL Draft. On July 19, 1991, Favre agreed to a three-year, $1.4 million contract with a reported signing bonus of $350,000.[ Atlanta coach Jerry Glanville did not approve of the drafting of Favre, saying it would take a plane crash for him to put Favre into the game.

Glanville's life was spared as he did put Favre into a game and it was a disaster. Favre's first pass in an NFL regular season game resulted in an interception returned for a touchdown. He only attempted four passes in his career at Atlanta, was intercepted twice, and completed none of them. His miserable start and not on the coaches favored list resulted in him being traded to the Green Bay Packers where his NFL life began.

In this past week's playoff 34-3 victory over the Dallas Cowboys Farve like Blanda proved that he's getting better with age. In 22 previous playoff games Favre never threw passes resulting in thrown for four touchdowns. It was the first time that he had defeated the Cowboys in the postseason after three previous losses in ht playoffs while he was with the Green Bay Packers. The Vikings are one win away from Favre's third appearance in the Super Bowl.

Brett Favre played 16 seasons in Green Bay. During his time with the Packers, Favre was the first NFL player to win three AP MVP awards, a feat matched only once since. He helped the Packers appear in two Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl XXXI 35-21 over the New England Patriots, Favre also started every Green Bay Packers game from September 20, 1992, to January 20, 2008.

Regardless of his success Farve felt unloved and unwanted and retired after the 2007 season. Green Bay made it clear that they wanted to go with a younger quarterback and current starter Aaron Rodgers. It was a case of WHO LOVES YA BABY?

The Packers traded Favre to the Jets on August 7, 2008, in exchange for a conditional fourth-round pick in the 2009 draft with performance escalation.

He retired again after last season. His season started off great but the concealment of torn biceps tendon in his right shoulder a problem led to the Jets losing four of the last five games of the season and out of playoff contention later leading to ire from the NFL when it was revealed that the injury was not disclosed. They fined the Jets $125,000 for not reporting the injury in any of the Jet's five final games. Again it was time for Favre to retire which later was revised to the move on mode.

Favre then underwent arthroscopic surgery to complete a tear in his proximal biceps tendon. Favre officially signed with the Minnesota Vikings on August 18, 2009 who experienced a 10-1 start.

The result of their 34-3 playoff win over the Cowboys Favre became the first quarterback to win a playoff game at the age of 40. Favre's 107.2 efficiency rating is the highest he's ever had since he's been in the league. The now 13-4 Vikings have gone 49 years without a championship. The question is will Favre change their history and turn that losing beat around?

NOTE

George Blanda who was born September 17, 1927 is oldest person to play in an NFL game at the age of 48 years and 109 days. He played 26 seasons of Professional Football, the most in the sport's history, and had scored more points than anyone in history at the time of his retirement from the pro game in 1976. The professional teams that he played for include the Chicago Bears (1949), Baltimore Colts (1950), Chicago Bears (1950-1958), Houston Oilers (1960-1966) and the Oakland Raiders (1967-1975)

Algeria and Brazil gain the most points in 2009 - The total number of matches played in 2009 increased to 834. This figure is higher than four years ago, but much lower than the pre-FIFA World Cup years of 2001 and 1997

Because only around 30 matches were taken into account for the final FIFA World Ranking of the year, there was no change at the top, with Spain continuing to lead the way ahead of Brazil and the Netherlands . The Iberians once again take the crown of Team of the Year, as their surprise defeat to the USA at the FIFA Confederations Cup was the only blemish on an otherwise perfect record in the 16 matches they played.

Two teams can lay claim to the title of Best Mover of the Year. Firstly Brazil , who added 322 points to their World Ranking haul in 2009. The highlights for the Seleção this year were finishing top of the CONMEBOL qualification table for the FIFA World Cup and their triumph at the FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009, which saw them move from last year’s “lowly” fifth place to second. The other Best Mover of the Year is Algeria , whose total points burgeoned by the same number as Brazil ’s. In the space of 12 months, the North Africans have gained 38 places and now find themselves in 26th position following their successful World Cup qualification campaign – their highest position since the launch of the World Ranking in 1993.

Behind Brazil and Algeria , the three European teams Slovenia (31st, up 26 places and 235 points), Norway (32nd, up 27 places and 234 points) and Latvia (45th, up 22 places and 192 points) also gained considerable ground this year. Judged solely in terms of their climb up the rankings, the biggest movers of the year were the Faroe Islands (117th, up 67), Nicaragua (133rd, up 48), Benin (59th, up 42), the aforementioned Algeria (26th, up 38) and Montenegro (74th, up 38).

The total number of matches played in 2009 increased to 834. This figure is higher than four years ago, but much lower than the pre-FIFA World Cup years of 2001 and 1997.

· Leader Spain (unchanged)

· Moves into top ten none

· Moves out of top ten none

· Matches played in total 29

· Most matches played Bhutan, Kenya , Sri Lanka , Tanzania , Zambia (4 each)

· Biggest move by points Jordan (up 70 points) · Biggest move by ranks Nepal (up 24)

· Biggest drop by points Grenada (down 153 points) · Biggest drop by ranks Grenada (down 35)

· Newly ranked teams none

· Teams that are no longer ranked none

· Inactive teams (not ranked) São Tomé e Príncipe

FIFA TOP 10 for December, 2009

Rank -- Team -- Points

1. Spain - 1627

2. Brazil - 1568

3. Netherlands - 1288

4. Italy - 1209

5. Portugal - 1176

6. Germany - 1173

7. France - 1117

8. Argentina - 1085

9. England - 1076

10. Croatia 1042

The January edition of the FIFA World Ranking will be published on 3 February 2010.

FIFA

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