Favre: For the Record

by Brett Favre, Chris Havel

Superstar Green Bay Packer quarterback Brett Favre has the arm of Dan Marino, the agility of Steve Young, the field presence of Joe Montana and the brashness of Jim McMahon. Born the son of an indomitable high school football coach in hardscrabble Kiln, Mississippi, Favre has gone on to become the NFL's most valuable player two years running (a feat equaled only by the legendary Joe Montana) and, after twenty-nine years, has brought the Lombardi Trophy back to Green Bay, Wisconsin.



Favre has also paid dearly for his devotion to the brutal game of professional football. Priding himself on his ability to withstand incredible levels of physical pain and to continue playing when most players would head to the sidelines, Favre admitted last year to a dependency on Vicodin pain killers. But he faced his problem like he faces opposing defensive linemen, head-on, and voluntarily admitted himself into the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas for drug counseling. In Favre, Brett shares portions of his daily journal written during treatment and will reveal just what it took to break a debilitating habit. In the end, readers will be inspired by this small town son's sacrifice and struggle to make it to the NFL, his unwavering commitment to honor his profession, and his perseverance to realize his dream on his own terms.

Genres: Sports, Football

288 pages, Hardcover

First published September 15, 1997

Reviews

[Max Herro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brett Favre, quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, tells his journey to pro football. Growing up in a small town in Mississippi, Favre, learned the game through his father. Favre was a star on his varsity team and had multiple division 1 football offers on the table his senior year. Favre ended up going to Southern Mississippi University where he broke multiple school records and defeated many big name teams, including Florida State. Favre got drafted by the Falcons in the 19991, but was soon traded to the Green Bay Packers a year later. Favre then goes on to tell his problems that he faced during his time in Green Bay. One of the problems included his pain killer addiction and how he had to battle through that to get back his family and his team. Overall, the book has many life lessons that apply to athletes and non-athletes.

[joe Sudbeck]

Preview- I definitely used preview to figure out what i would be reading about in this book. Me being a Packers fan and all had a lot of prior knowledge about brett favre and football in general. When i looked at the cover i saw that it was a picture of him when he was younger so right away assumed it was an older book so it wouldn't be as much about the stuff i know about him it would mostly be thing from before i even knew who he was. The first thing i read was the pictures captions in the middle of the book so that gave me even more hints on what was to come in the story of Bretts life.

Set a purpose- Obviously I needed to read a nonfiction book to get a grade for this report. However none of the nonfiction books i saw interested me until i saw this biography of Brett Favre. Of course this probably only interested me because I am a packers fan and I have watched Brett play since i was a little kid so I thought it would be cool to learn his life story and background. Brett is actually kind of a “hick” and i would have never known that without reading this book. (pg.85)

Use prior knowledge- I used prior knowledge to have an idea on what would happen next in this book. There were still things I was completely unaware of like the fact that he was addicted to painkillers when he was first in the league. But when he would talk about winning the super bowl I already knew he had done that, it’s just the new details of the events for the most part that I was not aware of. (pg.17) (pg.66)

Visualize- A lot of the book gives examples well described making them easy to visualize. However there is one part specifically where he is talking about the post game after the super bowl win that really paints a picture in your head. He describes the locker room full of reporters and his team smiling and enjoying their victory in their first super bowl in a long time. Also it gets very specific and easy to picture in the scene where he describes always having to throw up the pills and he talks about the color and chunky texture. (pg.77) (pg.39)

Connect- I can connect to Bretts feeling of total accomplishment when you just feel like you can't be stopped. When you win something that means it all to you, nothing can put you down. My connection to this obviously doesn’t mean nearly as much to anyone else accept for maybe my teammates that helped our team win our second straight AA title in the summer sizzler in Des moines Iowa. Bretts victory had a large impact on cheeseheads and sports crazies everywhere but mine meant just as much to me at the time as im sure it did for him. (pg.80)

[Mario Adame · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book when I was in middle school to learn more about the off-field charisma and crisis of Brett Favre. Growing up a Dallas Cowboys fan and watching a rivalry with the Packers amongst future hall of famers on both teams, Favre was the most interesting player on field. You could never count him out, and you could see him as a leader of stronger men. As a young person, I remember learning about his addiction with pain-killers and while knowing his troubles outside the superstar spotlight each and every game, crisis and courage made him human. He later held the streak of most consecutive games played and in some of those games, he would have not been cleared to play in today's game.

[Kari · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love that only nine other people on GoodReads have read this. Makes me feel special.

On a different note, don't waste your time on this one unless you're a fan. Believe it or not, the writing's not all that hot.

[Stephen Bakko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book! Very honest about his life, addictions, family, and being a Packer. Wish he would write another with this honesty about his falling out in GB and his time playing with the Jets and the superbowl run in Minnesota.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fine autobiography of the greatest QB of all time. Read this book and bow down. Go Pack in '08!!!

[Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this repeatedly when I was a child. Favre is completely, brutally honest in this tell-all autobiography. Any fan of the man, or of the sport, should read this book.

[Shannon Carrasco · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yes, I read this. Yes, I am ashamed to admit that...but I was young and obsessed. Gimme a break.

[Jared · Rating 5 out of 5]

I throughly enjoyed it. Brett's open and honest about his up n' coming career, as a NFL quarterback.

[Jessica Venegas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mrs. flexer made me read a book in 7th grade English... I picked this one and got all the way through it, I'm guessing it kept my interest at the time lol