Top Of His Game

Favre's detachment from his own celebrity has always been his most winning trait. Despite the millions he has made, he remains a man of simple tastes. A favorite date night for Brett and Deanna is to stay home and play Trivial Pursuit, and one of his greatest passions is maintaining his 465-acre spread in Hattiesburg, Miss. Favre doesn't hide his pleasure at the prospect of spending more time on the property, where innumerable oak trees are waiting to be trimmed. "He's obsessed with the land," Deanna said in November. "In the off-season he'll spend all day working out there. He's up early, and I don't hear from him sometimes until he calls, 'Hey, what's for dinner?'" Asked last week what he looked forward to doing, Favre said simply, "Nothing."

That agenda allows him more time for his most important priority: his daughters, Brittany, 19, and Breleigh, 8. On the morning of his press conference, before he flew into Green Bay, he took Breleigh to school in Hattiesburg. "Late as usual," he reported.

In fact, Favre has always had an unerring sense of timing. So many athletes stick around too long, displaying diminished skills and a depressing mortality, but he is leaving at exactly the right moment. How can we be sure? Because it hurts to say goodbye.