Welcome To The Club

He'll have great fans ... but great fans pay awfully close attention. The same goes for the media, local and national, who will dissect every audible, every snap, every throw. "That's the biggest difference today," says Domres. "Back in our time every reporter was a homer. Now you get watched every which way. Hopefully [Rodgers] won't pay attention to that, but it's hard not to."

It is, though, an area in which Rodgers feels prepared. He grew up admiring how athletes like Montana, David Robinson and Michael Jordan handled the press, and he can already mimic their measured, bland responses. He even has a checklist of sorts for interviews: Be available, be friendly, be brief and be "mostly honest."

On occasion, however, he forgets his own checklist and is perhaps too honest. Asked whether he feels pressure to connect with the fans the way Favre did, Rodgers answers unequivocally. "I don't feel I need to sell myself to the fans," he says. "They need to get on board now or keep their mouths shut."

While such sentiments probably won't encourage much in the way of shrine construction in Green Bay—or recommend Rodgers's services as a "media adviser"—they are consistent with the advice the old QBs provide: Don't change a thing. "I remember going out there in my first game, versus the Seahawks, and I think my first pass hit the dirt around the receiver's feet," says Fiedler. "From then on I said to myself, Jay, just go out and play the way you've been playing for the last 20 years. Because that's all you can do."

Of course, it's easier said than done, especially if, as in Rodgers's case, you haven't been playing much these last three seasons. Still, now is his time, even if his long-awaited debut, Sept. 8 against the Vikings at Lambeau on Monday Night Football, just happens to be ... the night they retire Brett Favre's jersey.

Just perfect, right? The kid finally gets a chance to take the spotlight, and Favre will be there, looming over him, not just metaphorically but physically. It's best for Rodgers to get used to it. Because that's how it is in the NFL: Legendary quarterbacks never go away, even when they go away.