Why Brett Favre is Basically Oprah

Before I dive into this wild comparison, I would like to start by saying that I understand this notion might be hard to grasp. They are indeed unalike in some ways but who isn’t. Despite that, they are uncannily alike in another aspect. Yes, they are both successful and wildly famous and from the same state, but they are also alike in the fact that they both began with the underdog, benchwarmer repertoire.

 

 

Oprah in 1983 marked her last year at WJZ

Let’s start with Oprah. Born in Mississippi, Oprah Winfrey is one of the greatest talk show hosts of all time; famous for her witty and friendly personality on television. Although her fame began to peak around an early age of 30, her road was not easy, nor bright. According to a biographical story of Oprah Winfrey, she always had the passion for public speaking and being on air. Prior to her career kicking up, her glistening job in Baltimore at a news station told her that she was “unfit for television” and only lasted seven months in WJZ-TV news, Business Insider says. Obviously, Oprah’s tale is one of the many underdog stories that we hear all about in order to gain a little perseverance on our part. These types of stories are supposed to give us motivation and honestly, who knew that it seemingly could have given another Mississippi native, Brett Favre, the same type of hope.

Three hours down the road from Oprah’s hometown, Brett Favre was just another quarterback in a huge sea of football. After going to the only D1 college who offered him a scholarship, Southern Mississippi, Favre wasn’t even supposed to play quarterback. Originally recruited as a defensive back, Favre wanted to play QB and took the disheartening title of being seventh-string quarterback. Eventually after proving himself as a Southern Miss stud, Favre was drafted to the Atlanta Falcons where he was everything but the stud he once was. Favre saw the game a whopping two times! If you would like to know how bad he was, his first pass in the NFL was intercepted and scored for a touchdown, the other passes were incomplete, and one snap resulting in a sack and eleven-yard loss. Needless to say, he sucked and wasn’t anybody to count on. Brett Favre was traded to the Green Bay Packers after a year.

 

After close consideration and thought, both Oprah and Brett Favre are so alike in the fact that they overcame a deep hole that stood in the way of their ultimate goal. After landing the job of your dreams and being told that you’re unfit for it could’ve easily put Oprah back to the drawing board of what she would try and do next but instead, she continued with being a television personality. And Brett, who after being one of the 1.6% of college athletes who go pro, doesn’t play or provide any leverage for himself on the field, certainly could have doubted what he thought was his talent. Both barely lasted a year in their glimmering start up gig. The two Mississippians have classic rags to riches stories, but what’s truly hard to understand is the concept being the benchwarmer. There is always a potential role, but the uncertainty and doubtfulness by those around you are intoxicating and eventually can lead to despair. Oprah and Brett Favre were the underdogs, the benchwarmers, but now they are the stars.

Side note: I for real met Brett Favre and it was for real great.