Brett Favre Interview

Talking Madden, The Curse, and quarterback hype with one of the greatest to ever play the game.

Think the Madden Curse ends when a retired player poses for the cover? Think there's no way Brett Favre can be taken down the way The Curse took down Vick, Culpepper, Alexander, and McNabb? Think again. "Green Bay fans will hate this, but we signed Brett before he retired," explains EA Sports President Peter Moore. "Maybe that's the curse. Everybody in Green Bay hates me now."

And while the Packer backers curse The Curse, they can't get enough of Favre. When I caught up to the future Hall of Famer in New York, it was after a wild night of fans actually chasing him through the streets of Manhattan.

"I don't come to New York often, but there's nowhere to go," Favre told me as he talked about fans running down the street after his van and pounding on the windows to get his attention. "There's so many people and there's so much going on, but there's no where to go if you get caught up in traffic. I don't know how many millions of people are here in New York, and most of them don't even know who Brett Favre is and could care less, but for the people who do, they're chasing the van and you stop every 30 feet. So you really can't get away. If I was at home, we have a gate and a fence so they can't get in -- you can get away from people. It was a little, I don't want to say overwhelming, but I was confined to the van and there is only so much you can do. It's a little different."

But Favre's trip to New York wasn't just about escaping the band of crazy window pounders, it was also a time for him to reflect on his career, not to mention the true meaning of being on the Madden cover. Here's what everyone's favorite Number Four had to say.

GameTap: Back in the day you were on the cover of Quarterback Club for years, now you're on the cover of Madden for the historic 20-year anniversary. What do you think of being the face of football video games?

Brett Favre: At least I do have some reality to hold on to. I have been the face of the Packers for quite a while, and I'm honored. I'm not a very big video game player now. I'm probably a lot like people my age. Growing up I played Atari. I tell my kids about it and they never even heard of it -- Intellivision. I was a gamer when Pac-Man first came out but things have changed considerably. It's like being on Letterman. That night, I was laying in bed with my wife and we were like: "Did we ever think we'd be in New York for not only Letterman, but for a lot of the things we're here for. We came here for our senior trip and no one knew us from Adam. We had to scrounge up some money to make it. So all those things, being in video games, there were times when just getting to play one was an honor. I'm well aware of those types of things and they all mean a great deal to me, whether they be Letterman or being asked to be on the cover of a video game or being asked to speak here. I can go on and on and on. It's quite an honor.

GameTap: Do you realize how legendary your character has been throughout the history of Madden?

Brett Favre: I'm assuming that the game just in general and the real game parallel each other. So that being said, I would hope that I have been pretty good in the game for a long time. Occasionally, fans will come up to me and say: "Your arm is powerful in Madden" or "you make crazy plays in the game." It's amazing what they can do in video games now and the resemblance of how you play in the game as opposed to how you play in real life.

GameTap: Yeah, it even goes as far as EA's simulating the last five Super Bowls and predicting four of them correctly using the Madden engine.

Brett Favre: We should hire these guys as coaches. [laughs]

Favre is one of the best virtual athletes of all time.

Another day, another touchdown.

GameTap: People always talk about the Madden Curse. Are you worried?

Brett Favre; You can find fault in anything if you search hard enough for it, or you can find beauty in whatever. I'm not one who believes in all those curses or jinxes or superstitions. I call it more a run of bad luck or bad people or misfortunes or whatever. If you play football, you're going to get hurt. Just because you're in Madden or Sports Illustrated or whatever, it doesn't matter. In this case, they'll find something to say.

GameTap: Aren't you worried about getting run over by a tractor or something?

Brett Favre: I'm always worried about that. [Laughs] Just not any more so now.

GameTap: We're here in New York for the draft. What do you think it is that makes so many highly-touted quarterbacks bust, meanwhile you have guys like yourself, guys like Tom Brady who aren't as heralded but turn out to be the bigger stars? What are the intangibles that help young quarterbacks succeed?

Brett Favre: I think first and foremost is hype. There are only 32 picks in the first round. In the first round, the 32nd pick doesn't carry as much weight as the first pick, but to that guy it's a big deal just to be in the first round. But now, so much is made from the media standpoint and the fan base as to who is our first pick, we need to get that right. Obviously, being the first pick means more money, more TV and paper and all that stuff. So much weight is put into the right pick instead of the right player. To me, and this is just my opinion, and I say hype, but a lot of these guys, especially these early picks -- top 10, top 15 -- it almost seems that you shouldn't go wrong with that pick. You've had all this time, you don't have to worry about other people jockeying to get that pick from you for the most part, but too many times you get blinded by the hype. You hear scouts talk about someone being too rangy or how he doesn't quite fit. As soon as I start hearing that, I just say: "You know what, is the guy a football player?" Who cares how tall he is. Who cares how much he bench presses.

I'm the perfect example of that. When I came out, there were two guys ahead of me. Dan McGwire had all kinds of prestige. He was Mark McGwire's brother. He was 6-8, 240-pounds. You look at him and go "wow!" But can he play? Everyone forgot about that. He was Mark McGwire's brother, and he was huge. He was a great guy, but when we played in the Senior Bowl together, I threw circles around him. I was half his size, but bottom line is, can he play football? I'm not knocking Dan, but I started all four years and nobody even wanted to hear about that. If he would've just been Dan Whoever and a couple of inches shorter, he would've been right there with the rest of us. Too many times that's what happens. Once the hype starts rolling, then we gotta get that guy because the media is going to be on us and the fans want us to take him. You can bust that way. Meanwhile, there are these guys who slip through the cracks like Tom Brady, Kurt Warner, guys like that. Late picks, some not even picked. Tom Brady had nothing to lose once he got the chance to play, and sometimes the pressure isn't as bad from that standpoint as it is on the guy who has to play right now.

GameTap: When you look back on your career, is there a moment or a play that stands out as a personal favorite?

Brett Favre: There's so many, it's hard to pick one. Impossible to pick one. In fact, when I look back and as I sort through things people have sent or written in magazines or said in tributes, I'm like, man, I forgot about that. They start running together. One hundred and seventy-five games is a lot of games.

GameTap: I've heard plenty of stories over the years about wide receivers leaving practice with busted up fingers because of how hard you threw. Is that all part of the legend or were you actually breaking your receiver's fingers out there pretty regularly?

Brett Favre: That's true. I've always had a knack for breaking fingers, dislocating fingers, cutting fingers, whatever. The last couple of years, not quite as much. I noticed my arm strength has diminished a little bit on top of the aggression. I was more apt to do it in practice the last few years, when there were times I could make a statement. Call it old age if you will, but then I figured I'd just wait for the games. But early in my career, and I say early, but I mean up until a few years ago, it was nothing for me to go out and the first pass in practice I'd throw it as hard as I could. Guys were not ready for it and broken fingers would result. Donald Driver had a ton of dislocations and breaks.

GameTap: So is Madden the only way we're going to see you in a Packers uniform this season?

Brett Favre: Probably. Yep. Although you'll see me on TV a lot in those classic games. You know you're getting old when you're featured in those classic games, and you're still playing. I turned on the TV last year and they were showing NFL Classics, Favre versus Young. I was like, "What's this! I'm still playing!" If they're still selling the car on the lot, it can't be a classic. Not yet.