The quarterback's challenge

Sporting News, The, May 27, 1996 by Michael Bauman

Favre had never been hypocritical about his habits. He had never touted one lifestyle and lived another. He liked to party, and he didn't mind admitting it. In his rookie season with the Falcons, Favre's nickname was "Barfly."

Irvin Favre, while maintaining that his son's primary substance-abuse problem is with painkillers, also says Brett will be evaluated for alcohol abuse.

"I think at times I might have looked at it like he drinks too much," Irvin Favre says. "I've questioned him on it. I think that's as far as it's gone.

"Some people say, `Well, I understand he's going in for alcohol, too.' The only thing I can say is, he may. I've wanted him to go in, and I want them to test him from head to toe. Somebody mentioned that one could stem from the other. You could be drinking too much and that could cause you to maybe say, `I want to pop some pills.' That's not what he's in there for. He's in there for the dependency to painkillers. Alcohol could affect it, and I think they'll be checking that, too."

Whatever the mix, it was serious enough that Favre suffered a seizure during a hospital stay after ankle surgery February 27. There is considerable debate about the precise cause of the seizure, but there is no doubt that it was the wake-up call. Favre checked with team physicians and then league officials, and eventually sought treatment. As a result of his self-referral, he will face no immediate league discipline.

On the source of Favre's Vicodin addiction, there were more questions than answers. "The amount of medication that we give out through team doctors, no one's going to be addicted to," Packers trainer Pepper Burruss says, adding that the medical staff must document the distribution of medication to the league.

People close to the team suggested that Favre was getting the drugs through friends. If only the quarterback selected friends as well as he picked out receivers.

Favre's father raised the question of whether the Packers had adequately monitored Brett's painkiller intake. "They may be telling the truth or they may not," Irvin Favre says. "It's unfortunate, but the name of the game is to put them on the field and win ball-games. I'm not being critical on the handling of Brett. I just wish we could have had a closer eye on him."

Apart from this one area of potential disagreement, the Packers and the Favres were a united front on the issue of Favre's rehabilitation. The term "supportive" understates the team's relationship to Favre's recovery. The announcement of the problem, with Holmgren and general manager Ron Wolf in attendance, was something of a model for handling these difficult situations. There was so much support for Favre that you half-expected Holmgren and Wolf to check in with the quarterback for treatment. Any more support and Favre might have developed an addiction to empathy.

"He needs to be lauded for his decision," Wolf says of Favre's move to seek help. "For a person to do that is admirable. Some people refuse to accept the responsibility. I think this is a situation of a young man stepping forward and asking for assistance. That's something to be recognized."