Best Brett Favre column. Ever.

We have read a lot of columns about Brett Favre by national writers during his 17 seasons in Green Bay.

Most are dreadful, dredging up the usual cliches about Favre, the Packers and Green Bay.

But late last night -- and no disrespect intended toward Press-Gazette columnists present or past -- we read the best column ever written about Brett Favre.

It's by Chris Erskine of the Los Angeles Times. Some excerpts are below, but you really must go read the whole thing. It's terrific.

It starts with this:

NBC has "Bionic Woman." The NFL has Brett Favre, the bionic man. Guess which one is having the better season? I don't know what you're eating, Mr. Favre, but pass the candy dish.

And this is near the end:

Yep, you're us all right, and we couldn't be more thrilled. You don't like to miss work under any condition. It's just the way you were raised. A guy thing. You don't miss work. In almost 300 games, including two Super Bowls, you haven't missed a start. It is the sports stat of our time.

And we certainly don't mind your sense of craft, your safecracker's cool. One moment, you're zinging thunderbolts across the middle. The next you're looping 9-iron shots in the end zone. The laser bomb that beat the Broncos? Boom! Brilliant.

You're what we all hoped to become in the backyards of our youth. You play as if you're hanging with your pals, and the sun is setting and the moms are calling everyone home for supper. Come on, Brett, your buddies say. One more. One more series ...

Yeah, you really must go read the rest. (The link to the column has been fixed. One of the drawbacks to blogging late at night. Sorry about that.)

-- Jeff Ash, jash@greenbaypressgazette.com