ESPN- Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre says he played through a concussion during the 2009 NFC Championship Game against the New Orleans Saints.
On a nationwide conference call Wednesday ahead of the premiere of Favre's documentary "Shocked: A Hidden Factor in the Sports Concussion Crisis," the former Vikings and Packers quarterback was asked by Minneapolis radio station KFAN about his memories of that game, which he said was the most violent he'd ever experienced after playing 20 years in the NFL. That game later came under investigation as part of New Orleans' bounty scandal in which several members of the Saints' franchise were accused of paying out bounties for intentionally hurting opposing players. The NFL determined the allegations to be true in 2012, which led to Saints coach Sean Payton's suspension for the entire 2012 season, among a handful of fines and other sanctions. At the time, a number of Vikings players and coaches accused the Saints of deliberately trying to knock Favre out of the game. The quarterback said the Saints "came after me with everything they had" but detailed the symptoms he was experiencing as they related to the hits he took that game, which appear to be the sign of a concussion. "A concussion doesn't necessarily have to be knocked out cold and removed from a game, although the new protocol is in place to remove you from a game even if you're not walking sideways or your arm goes stiff or whatever," Favre said. "You may even be able to function as if you didn't have a concussion, but if you have head ringing or fireworks or any kind of fogginess, protocol says you should be removed from the game. In that game, there was some head ringing, there was some fogginess. There were two times in which I was hit by [former Saints safety] Darren Sharper late. He lunged at my head and both of them were pretty devastating hits, but I stayed in the game. One they threw a flag, one they didn't. Why they didn't throw the other, I have no idea. If head ringing or fireworks is a concussion, yeah, I did have that." Favre's documentary will air at 5:30 p.m. CT Thursday on Stadium Network. --------- You know what, I have no choice to tip my cap. My first instinct was to say "oh, not this shit again" when I saw that the then quarterback of a team that - by their own admission - also had a bounty system in place was once again referencing BountyGate as it were some isolated scandal as opposed to an obvious scapegoating. Unfortunately, as much of a hypocrite as Brett Favre is for pandering to unjustly scorned Vikings' fans just days prior to their long-awaited playoff re-matchup against the team that bullied them out a chance at Super Bowl glory so many years ago, he's equally as much of a salesman. You can probably count the number of football fans that want to watch a documentary about concussions during the middle of the fucking postseason on one single hand, never mind one in which the focal point is a guy who knew damn well he was ignoring injury as he did whatever possible to extend his ironman streak well into his 40's. That's why it's nothing more than smart marketing to cater to an entire fanbase during the specific week in which they are desperately seeking for even the most illogical and overblown reason to conjure up hatred for the New Orleans Saints. I bet that the Minnesota faithful set their DVR's to a channel that they didn't even know existed at a time that they typically wouldn't yet be home from work, and it's not because they give a shit about Brett Favre's mental health, but rather because want to walk into U.S. Bank Stadium as drunk, loud, and thirsty for some sort of overdue vengeance as possible. Time has a way of healing wounds, but poorly timed documentaries about brain damage that may or may not have been inflicted within hours of those wounds has a way of opening them back up. I'd imagine Vikings' fans will gladly relive the pain and frustration of eight years if it could make the high they are hoping to have this upcoming Sunday even slightly more euphoric. And if not, Brett Favre can't say he didn't exhaust all options in trying to get the most amount of people to open up their mind to the worst part of football during the absolute best part of football season. He valiantly played to his crowd, even if it makes said crowd that much more susceptible to downright depression in a few short days.
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