Tom E. Curran • E-mail

Well, that does it. Brett Favre’s done and he ain’t coming back.

Any loose ends that people imagined, Favre snipped cleanly during his Thursday press conference in Wisconsin.

He knows he could keep playing.

And he’s gonna miss it like hell.

But he’s heading for 39, he’s worn down and he just can’t do it anymore.

Two minutes into Favre’s emotional and introspective talk, Favre said, “I’ve given everything I possibly could give to this organization and to the game of football and I don’t think I got anything left to give. That’s it. I know I can play. But I don’t think want to, and that’s really what it comes down to.

“(People might be) fishing for different answers and (wondering), ‘What if,’ and, ‘Will he come back?’ and things like that. What matters is, it’s been a great career for me. It’s over. Hard as it is for me to say, it’s over.”

Retirements are moving. Especially those of decorated athletes. They are our culture’s mythical heroes. Our Achilles. We know the mythology behind them, their flaws and their greatness. They have moved us emotionally – to joy, to anger, to sadness, to sympathy – maybe hundreds of times.

I’ve seen some moving press conferences – Wayne Gretzky’s when he left Edmonton. Cam Neely’s when injuries forced him from the NHL. Carl Yastrzemski’s when he retired from the Red Sox (“People say, ‘Say it ain’t so, Yaz.’ I wish it weren’t” still gets me.). Favre’s was as moving as anyone’s. He started choking up about 90 seconds in. I started going bad about 20 seconds later.

“I will wonder if I made the wrong decision, sure,” he admitted. “On Sundays I will say, ‘I could be doing that, I should be doing that.’ I won’t sit here and say I won’t miss it because I will. I just don’t think I can give anything else aside from the three hours on Sunday, and in football you can’t do that. It’s a total commitment. Up to this point, I have been totally committed.”

So why? Favre went into that at length.

“I think last year and the year before I was tired and (the decision) took a while but I came back,” he said. “Something told me this time not to come back. It took a while once again.

"Once again I wonder if it was the right decision. But I think … it’s a unique situation (that) in 17 years (in the NFL) I had one of the better years of my career. The team had a great year. Everything seems to be going great. The team wants me back. I can still play. That’s a unique situation going into your 18th season. …

"Last year and the year before I questioned whether or not I should come back because I didn’t play at a high enough level. I didn’t question my commitment. I just wondered, ‘Could I play anymore?’ (Now) I know I can play. But this year, the stress part was more noticeable. It’s demanding. It always has been, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become much more aware of that. I can play but I’m not up to the challenge. You can’t just show up and play for three hours on Sunday. If you could, there’d be a lot more people doing it.”

Favre said the offseason training wasn’t the motivating factor.

“It was more in-season strain,” he explained. “There were numerous in-season Saturdays where I was here at night watching film before the game. I’ve never done that. (The preparation seemed) never enough for me. Sunday, I’d come home and within hours start watching film of our upcoming opponent. At some point you have to relax and enjoy it. It’s fun to win, but you have to enjoy it and relax a little. That more than anything, that was taking its toll on me."

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Asked if the way the 2007 season ended – a loss in the NFC Championship to the Giants after an overtime interception thrown by Favre – left a sour taste, Favre said no.

“I didn’t think about (the end) when I walked off the field,” he said. “Would I have liked to have finished that game and this season differently? Absolutely. But one game, one play, one season doesn’t define me. I’m going out on top. Believe me. I could care less what people think. I’m going out on top. Losses and bad plays and ups and downs to me were all important. (Without them) you never appreciate how tough it is to get there.”

Earlier this week, Favre’s agent, Bus Cook, intimated that the Packers brass didn’t try hard enough to convince Favre to stay. Favre addressed that too.

“I know there’s been comments in the press lately about why I’m leaving, whether or not the Packers did enough, whether or not (GM) Ted Thompson and (coach) Mike McCarthy tried to convince me to stay. None of those things have anything to do with me retiring. And that’s from the heart.

“Believe me, I question my decision,” he added later. “I think it’s the right decision and nothing they could do or say (could) change that. It could make me wonder, but I think that’s part of it. I think it’s the right decision. …

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"Because it’s been made, don’t think I won’t question it. But that’s life. Anyone who’s never had to make a decision like this one I had to make, I can’t begin to explain how difficult it is. But I made it and I gotta be at peace with that.”

He doesn’t know exactly what he’ll do. “Nothing” was one answer he gave.

“People ask me, ‘Do you have a plan?’ No I don’t. This is all I’ve ever done. I’m proud I’ve done it this long and at a high level. This is a new phase in my life. I don’t know what that means, but it’s been a good ride.”

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