Summer of #4

For those of us old enough to remember the movie "Summer of '42" the Brett Favre/Green Bay Packers fiasco isn't much off the mark.

In the movie a 15-year old boy (Hermie) falls in love for the first time. His love interest is a 22-year old housewife who's soldier husband is off fighting in WWII. So you have a lonely woman and a horny young boy on an island with a summer full of time and dreams. There's also the tearjerker theme song that pulls at your heartstrings and begs you to shed a tear for Hermie.

Well in this summer of '08 love story the soldier (Brett Favre) has come home to find his wife (Greenbay Packers) has moved on with life and is committed to the young man (Aaron Rodgers) a quarterback who's been courting the older woman and given the green light.

In the movie, "Summer of '42," the husband, after a short visit home, is killed in the war and the young boy learns about love and loss of love all in one summer. When the summer is over the girl leaves and the boy is left to ponder what he had, how it was lost and will he ever have it again, Love.

Today our story has a bit of a twist. The focus isn't on the young man who finally gets his chance to love, but on the old war worn soldier who's return was met with contempt. As with all good soldiers, duty and honor are what makes him a respectful man. When that respect is no longer felt, its time to move on to your next battleground. As the soldier walks off into the sunset you can hear the theme song playing in the background.


For the old soldier Brett Favre, that battleground will be in the Meadowlands where he'll wear the green and white of the New York Jets. Many are asking if Brett will ever get over the dishonor the Green Bay Packers have shown him this summer. Ask any man who's had his true love taken away from him, I don't think you ever get over it. As with the young man Hermie in "Summer of '42", only time will heal that wound.

But this summer's biggest NFL story has something that the hit movie never had, a sequel in the form of a football season. We football fans now have some drama to watch for this season. The emergence or downfall of a young Aaron Rodgers as he tries to fill the shoes of a legendary quarterback, and the emergence or downfall of a legendary quarterback as he tries soldiering his new team to respectability.

Whatever the outcome for these two quarterbacks come end of season, we fans have sure been given a "Summer of 08" that'll stay in our memories for tears.......I mean years to come.

correction: the movie "Summer of '42" did have a sequel, "Class of '44." It wasn't as good as the first one. It never is.