Favre still looks good, but don't count on seeing a comeback

WILLIAMSBURG

Could be this is a sliver of light in the mournful existence of the Green Bay Packers fan: Your "retired" quarterback Brett Favre was spied working out Tuesday, throwing passes to a gaggle of aspiring receivers behind William and Mary's Zable Stadium.

For the better part of an hour, Favre lofted footballs in the late-morning sun, looking as strong as ever. Nobody counted, but a loose estimate says the future Hall of Famer, who played an incredible 275 consecutive games over 17 seasons, connected on probably 80 percent of his tosses.

Hold your water, Cheeseheads, as I conservatively report that Favre was superb, so spot-on that this retirement thing could truly be another false alarm from your man.

Now, sadly, full journalistic disclosure also requires me to note that Favre's receivers were kids about 10 or 12 years old. And that Favre's spirals traveled no more than 20 yards in their rainbow arc.

And that, well, Favre wore camouflaged cargo shorts, sneakers, a black Nike cap and didn't move his feet or sweat a droplet.

Still, his guest appearance at Tribe coach Jimmye Laycock's annual football camp raised the mirage of an encore to Favre's 2007 season, one of his finest. At least, that is, until Favre smirked away such summer silliness during a 15-minute huddle with the media.

"You're kidding me," Favre deadpanned about his name "coming up" in various comeback discussions. "Regardless, it's gonna come up, wouldn't you think? Meanwhile, while it's coming up, I'll be on the tractor or something like that."

Unfortunately for admirers of the last bold, throttle-out QB, that tractor will be at the Favre estate in Hattiesburg, Miss., an Eden where Favre's biggest daily call is which pair of Wranglers to put on.

Favre, 38, ruminated on the joys of no worries and no hurries during a rare public outing since his March retirement announcement. At first glance, it seems odd he did so at William and Mary, but not quite.

Laycock routinely snares huge names through his longtime friend George Balanis, a Nike rep and the college's former basketball coach. Favre, in fact, has appeared a few times and claims he has never done anyone else's camp.

"Only for Jimmye Laycock," said Favre, who used his latest visit to note he's happily doing a bunch of nothing at the moment.

"I've had people ask me what about TV and what about coaching. I've thought about all of that stuff," he said. "But why jump into something that's gonna take up as much time as football did when, more than anything, that's the biggest reason I got out - just the demand of it.

"I'll always be a football player at heart.... But, in football, there's a window. I'd have been able to play another year or two or three or whatever. But at some point, early, you gotta stop."

And if, come training camp or the regular season, it turns out Favre hasn't stopped after all, he at least hinted at another clue why - the power of genetics.

"Some people are born to sing," he said. "Some people are born to jump, run or throw a football in my case.... I'm not gonna be a genius, you know. I'm not a reader. I'm never gonna be a reader. I was born to throw."

Favre also was somehow wired to get up, show up and consistently produce for a record-shattering run of games in the most bone-shattering of sports.

It's the feat he quickly references as his fondest.

"To do it every week - yeah, there were bad games here and there - but for the most part that position they never had to worry about," Favre said. "That's extremely difficult, not even mentioning the physical part of it. You'd think after 17 years, walking home, you'd slip in the snow or something.

"Or the flu. Seventeen years, I never had the flu, or if I did I don't remember it. So I consider myself lucky, mentally tough and physically tough. It's just something very rare."

As rare, these days, as a Favre spiral slicing a morning sky.

Tom Robinson, (757) 446-2518, tom.robinson@pilotonline.com