Frank Winters expects Brett Favre to show up. On Saturday night in Green Bay, Frankie "Bag O' Donuts" Winters is being inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame, and Brett is his presenter.
"I just talked to him and he says he's coming," said Winters, who's already in Milwaukee to celebrate his upcoming honor. "It means a lot to me."
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| Frank Winters began the trend of G.B. linemen going without sleeves in the cold. (Getty Images) |
Winters was the guy who began the whole Packer sleeveless thing. In the early 1990s, he just stopped wearing thermal underwear, and the team went along. Favre loved it. Others bowed to the pressure.
"It spread to the receivers," Donald Driver said. "Brett convinced us that it was going to be cold, so to tell our minds that it was going to be cold. He said we could control it."
Does it come any tougher than Lambeau Field? The Ice Bowl, the blast of cold coming out onto the field, the 14-foot statue of Vince Lombardi ... the aluminum benches, the fabled cement plaque on the ground inside the tunnel, chronicling the Packers' record 12 championships that every player runs over on his way to the field.
For 11 years, no matter what the temperature, Winters' goal was to protect Favre.
"The best way I can describe Brett is that he's all about winning," Winters said. "Yes, he likes to have fun. But the reason he wants to come back is that he's so competitive and he still wants to win."
Winters doesn't really understand what is happening. He knows the Packers would like to move on, "But how do you not want Brett Favre -- or ask him to be a backup?"
Winters is extremely close to Favre, and they are made of the same stuff. While Brett was known as the indestructible wild thing, Winters was equally tough, playing in 231 games in 17 years with five teams. He snapped the ball to Favre in every game from 1993-2000.
"He matured in our Super Bowl win (over the Patriots after the 1996 season)," Winters said. "He became our leader that year, yet he still had fun. I cherish having played with him."
The day after Favre retired, he sent a text to Winters that he was boar hunting in the Mississippi Delta. Then Favre started to itch.
"I've seen reruns of his interview on Fox," said Winters, "and I can see his passion coming to the surface. Brett's always in pretty good shape, but now he's mentally sharp."
One of two things can happen. Either a player says "enough" and means it, like Troy Aikman or Steve Young, or he plays a while longer somewhere else, like Emmitt Smith or Jerry Rice. It's an adjustment either way.
"You get used to the regimen," said former receiver Antonio Freeman, who finished his career with the Packers in 2003. "For your whole life, you've lifted weights and gone to meetings and hung around the locker room and celebrated together. It doesn't leave you just because you say you're retired."
Winters and Favre were part of the glorious fabric of the Packers of the '90s, along with Reggie White, Mike Holmgren, Ron Wolf, Mark Chmura, Gilbert Brown, Ryan Longwell and Favre's good friend Doug Pederson.
"No matter what happens, Brett's a Packer," Winters said. "He'll always be a Packer."
But for those who want to sneak into the Lambeau Atrium on Saturday night and hear what Favre has to say? Sorry, the banquet is completely sold out.
