CANTON, Ohio – Brett Favre believes his dad would have approved.
His emotional Pro Football Hall of Fame induction speech on Saturday night will be remembered for a long time. Favre just wanted to be genuine and honor his late father, and he feels he made good on both counts.
"Whether I got it right or not, … I do know that it came from the heart," Favre told Packers analyst Larry McCarren in an exclusive one-on-one interview in Canton, Ohio, the morning after the speech.
The interview will be part of a TV special on Favre and his Hall of Fame weekend, produced by the Green Bay Packers. The show is scheduled to air on Time Warner Cable SportsChannel in select Wisconsin markets on Thursday, Aug. 11, and will be posted on packers.com later in the week.
Favre revisited the story of the night after his father's death, flying back with his wife Deanna from his remarkable performance in Oakland, and hearing for the first time that his dad couldn't wait to introduce him as a Hall of Famer.
"He would never tell me that. He would never personally say anything even close to that, to me," Favre said. "So when I heard that, you can imagine at that time how emotional it was. So I wanted to get this right, and even though he couldn't be there, I wanted him to be honored in a way as if he were, and I felt like I did that.
"There's no doubt he's up there going, 'You got that one right. That was a good one.'"
Favre didn't know until he was up on the Tom Benson Stadium stage that Deanna's introductory video was going to include old news clips of Favre's dad, Irvin, talking about Brett.
"Really the emotions kind of started without people knowing," Favre said. "There was a TV camera on me and I was like, this is not a good way to start off. I mean, it is, but it isn't. I don't know if I can make it through the introduction."
But he did, and he made it through the rest in a way that Packers fans, or any football fans, won't soon forget.
"I'm relieved," he said. "No one feels as honored and as thankful as I do, and that's probably a stretch because I know every guy feels the same way.
"I appreciate the fact that people loved watching me play, but life goes on, and reality sets back in, which it will tomorrow. It's a relief that it's over and I feel like I did a good job."
