Stabler, Favre two legends we can relate to as people

As sports fans, we are guilty of putting our heroes on such a pedestal that we forget they are still regular human beings.

One thing I scratch my head at is when I hear people grovel, “They make millions, they should be able to deal with that!” To quote Lee Corso, “Not so fast, my friend!” As working middle-class stiffs, we can’t relate to making millions. However, if you are sitting in a restaurant having dinner with your family and someone asks for your autograph or picture, I doubt you would be in the best mood either.

I had a chance to cover sports at virtually every level, from NFL to youth. When I covered the Oakland Raiders for six years as a freelance writer (from 1999-2005), I would frequently get comments to the effect of, “You must be in awe being around those stars.” Honestly, nothing could be further from the truth. What I found is that if you treat them like regular human beings, they like it much better.

We think so much of how we can’t relate to professional athletes that we often lose sight of how we can. Take the two quarterbacks that will be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016 – Brett Favre and Ken Stabler.

Each one led their franchise to one Super Bowl title but their paths to Canton, Ohio, are a little different. Favre played for 20 seasons, was an 11-time Pro Bowler and three-time NFL MVP. Favre retired as the NFL’s all-time leading passer and was named first-team All-Pro three straight years. Favre’s resume was so off the charts that he is a first-ballot Hall-of-Famer.

Stabler played 15 NFL seasons and compiled an impressive winning percentage of .661. Stabler was the first quarterback since the NFL-AFL merger to lead his team to five consecutive conference title games. He was All-Pro and NFL MVP in 1974 and 1976. Stabler’s induction is sort of bitter-sweet in that it comes after passing away in July 2015.

I don’t think there’s any question that Stabler’s passing played a huge role in swaying voters that were against his candidacy in years past. However, I also think that because his resume is similar to Joe Namath’s, it begged the question of “If Namath is in the Hall of Fame, Stabler should be there as well.” I’m guilty of having such a stance.  

Like Stabler, Namath led his team to one Super Bowl championship that Namath is best known for “guaranteeing a win.” Namath was selected to four AFL All-Star Games and one Pro Bowl.

True, the average working class adult can’t relate to becoming NFL quarterbacks but when you look at how Stabler and Favre did it, they become much more relatable.

Think back to when you were a kid throwing the football around in the backyard. The scenarios you often played out in your mind was being a quarterback leading your team to victory on the last drive. When it came to baseball, you dreamed of hitting a game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. When it came to basketball, you dreamed of hitting that buzzard-beating shot to win the game.

When it came to quarterbacks, I pretended to be Joe Montana. I would take the imaginary snap from center and drop back to pass while uttering in my brain, “There goes D’Adamo back to pass.”

Long story as to why the common person can relate to doing what Favre and Stabler did is this, how many games did you watch Favre or Stabler throw a pass and say, “What the hell are you thinking?” Then when you need to go 80 yards with no time outs and two minutes left, those guys could flawlessly march their team down the field on the way to victory.

The average person, however, can’t fathom completing 28-of-35 passes for 375 yards and five touchdowns like Tom Brady or Peyton Manning.

However, you can relate to Favre and Stabler throwing back a few cold pilsners and, in Stabler’s case, lighting up a Marlboro, then going out the next day to play a game.