GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- The Green Bay Packers have had preliminary discussions with recently retired quarterback Brett Favre about retiring his number during the upcoming season, team spokesman Aaron Popkey confirmed Wednesday.
Popkey said the team and Favre will choose a game for the retirement ceremony after the NFL regular season schedule is released. Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy first discussed the team's plans to retire Favre's number in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
In announcing his retirement earlier this month, Favre talked about disappearing from public life and said he wasn't sure how much he would remain involved with the team.
"Will I watch games? I'm sure I will," Favre said. "Will I be involved? I always made the joke about being here for the honorary coin toss. Well, that time may come. So I may be back for something like that. But as far as giving advice, I don't think that will happen."
The Packers have retired five uniform numbers: Tony Canadeo's No.3, Don Hutson's No. 14, Bart Starr's No. 15, Ray Nitschke's No. 66 and Reggie White's No. 92.
I was there when Reggie White's number was retired.
That was very poignant because Reggie had passed away relatively recently and so unexpectedly. Although his wife and two children were there, the fact that Reggie was not was heartbreaking. It was a celebration but tinged with loss. There were all those wonderful memories of Reggie's career in Green Bay but they were unavoidably mixed with a palpable sadness.
When Favre's number is retired, I expect the mood to be more celebratory.
I hope the Packers choose to honor Favre during a regular Sunday afternoon game and not during a prime time broadcast.
I wouldn't want national TV hype to get in the way of the honor of being only the sixth number in the Packers' storied history to be retired.
I think it's fitting for the occasion to be primarily a Green Bay moment between Favre and the fans, not an NFL spectacle.
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