You can get lost in Brett Favre’s numbers. The touchdown passes, the wins, the playing streak, the awards. Amazing, mind-boggling numbers. But like mirrors in a carnival funhouse, they reflect greatness as well as distort it.
We play a silly game when measuring our sports heroes. It’s not enough that a football player has a great career, a record-setting career, even a Hall-of-Fame career. No, we are compelled to compare him to all others who have ever played the game.