Favre return leaves Packers fans seeking directions

By Steve Keating

GREEN BAY, Wisconsin (Reuters) - To understand what the National Football League and the beloved Packers mean to the residents of Green Bay you need only ask for directions.

Chances are that sooner or later you will find yourself on Lombardi Ave or Holmgren Way, or might swing by Brett Favre Pass or find yourself on the newly paved Aaron Rodgers Avenue.

In Green Bay, all roads eventually lead to Lambeau Field but on Sunday, many of the city's nearly 104,000 residents did not know which way to turn.

Favre was back in town and the famed quarterback who never missed a start during 16 record-smashing seasons in Packers green and gold, returned for the first time wearing Minnesota Vikings purple and walked away with a 38-26 win.

For some in this tight-knit Midwestern town, where many are shareholders in the NFL's only community-owned team, Favre's signing with the despised Vikings in August for $25 million was a slap in the face bordering on high treason.

For others, the 40-year-old Favre's return represented a chance to thank the future Hall of Famer, who led the Packers to back-to-back Super Bowl appearances, winning it all in 1997.

Many, like Bob Schaaf, who gave up a weekend elk hunting to take his wife and two sons to a game that attracted worldwide interest, did not know how to react.

"It just doesn't seem right but what can you do," Schaaf said as he eyed two men stroll past wearing Vikings jerseys with Favre's name and number on the back.

"I mean, anybody but the Vikings, going to the Vikings it just borders on war.

"We won't cheer him, we won't boo him. We'll do nothing.

"We like to watch him play and when he retires and goes in the Hall of Fame we'll cheer him but not the Vikings."

MESSY DIVORCE

For many Packers fans, Favre's departure was like watching their parents get a divorce, a split that was as messy and as public as any Hollywood breakup.

A generation of Cheeseheads, as Packers fans are known, grew up idolizing Favre, who arrived in Green Bay in 1992 and blossomed into one of the NFL's all-time greats, winning three most valuable player awards while re-writing the record books.

But it was Favre's boyish love for the game, his gun-slinging heroics and remarkable durability that forged a special bond with not only Green Bay but with the entire state of Wisconsin.