Brett Favre and Eric Bolling critique sports’ politicization, with Favre rejecting racial tension claims in his NFL era, calling locker rooms "protected spaces," while Bolling slams anthem protests as divisive. Favre defends his Trump support but insists personal beliefs shouldn’t be policed, both agreeing fans now avoid games over politics. Comparing Favre’s improvisational style to Mahomes and Mayfield, they debate dual-threat QBs’ injury risks, with Favre hopeful yet concerned about concussions and divisions, while Bolling predicts the NFL’s financial power will sustain it despite shorter careers. [Automatically generated summary]
So I'm really thrilled to have this guest on today.
Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers quarterback, was hosting Jeopardy.
They're looking for a replacement for the late Alex Trebek.
And Rogers said he knows what it's like to step into the footsteps of a legend.
And he was referring to Brett Favre.
Brett Favre is an NFL Hall of Famer, a Super Bowl champion, a three-time league MVP.
He did it three years in a row.
Now he's a podcaster too.
He's got a show, Bowling with Favre, is co-hosted by longtime media personality, financial analyst, and conservative commentator Eric Bowling, who is also with us.
Here's the interview we did about sports and politics and just sports.
Brett Favre and Eric Bowling, thank you so much for coming on.
It is great to see you.
I'm really thrilled to have you on.
Thanks for having us.
Hey, good to meet you, Andrew.
Nice to see you.
Brett, you've been out of the game, I think it's 10 years since you retired.
And are you surprised to see sports in general becoming this political?
Yeah, and I think both sides, for the most part, want to see it just remain about the sport, not about politics.
At least that's my interpretation.
I know when I turn on a game, I want to watch a game.
I want to watch players play and teams win and lose, come from behind.
I want to watch all the, you know, the important parts to the game, not what's going on outside of the game.
And I think the general fan feels the same way.
You know, you were always known as a big locker room guy, a leader of men type.
You played, look, so many of the great American athletes are black guys.
You played with some of the greats, Reggie White and Antonio Freeman and all this.
When you were in the locker room, was there the kind of tension there now seems to be?
I mean, a lot of the politics, as American politics always does, it revolves around race.
Did you see that in the locker room when you were playing?
Absolutely not.
In fact, that was sort of our protected space, if you will, where we could kind of let our guard down.
We were in something together.
We fought together.
We won together.
We lost together.
And we truly were a family.
So, yeah, to answer your question, we absolutely didn't have issues that I don't know what issues there, if any, in the locker room that they're facing now, other than what I hear or assumptions.
So if there are problems within the locker room, you know, that's too bad.
Yeah.
Eric, you know, you've obviously made your name as a commentator, but you were a big financial guy.
You started out in the financial world.
Is this all part?
I mean, the NFL is big business.
Is this all part of- Andrew, this is bullshit.
I started out in baseball first.
I was playing for the Pirates and then went into business world.
I got into politics.
And unfortunately, politics is now overriding everything.
Sports used to be kind of, there used to be a firewall that whatever happened in DC and in this political world never made it over the firewall into the stadium.
It's bullshit what's going on right now.
Well, this is the strange thing to me.
I mean, I've been an NFL fan for, well, as long as I can remember, and this year is the first year I could not bring myself to watch a game because of the politics.
You know, Brett, you actually caused some controversy when you tweeted at one point that you were going to vote for Donald Trump.
It all seems to be on one side.
You said both sides and I can understand that, but it all seems to be, I mean, it's controversial for you to support Donald Trump, but it's not controversial for teams to, for instance, kneel during the national anthem.
Doesn't it seem that it all goes one way?
Absolutely.
It's very lopsided.
And whatever happened to, you know, your ideas, your thoughts, your beliefs being yours and not wrong, that seems a distant past.
Why Unity Matters00:04:41
You know, I think the people who know me, in fact, I know the people who know me, players that I played with, especially those that I played with for quite a long time, black and white, Hispanic, family and friends would certainly attest to it as well that, you know, by no means are any of us perfect.
But, you know, I'm the furthest thing from racist.
I think I'm a pretty good guy who, you know, cares about other people as well.
And, you know, I knew that it was going to create a firestorm by, first of all, playing golf with the president, which I thought was an honor, regardless of who that president is.
And by tweeting my support for then President Trump, I knew that that would create some more issues.
But, you know, again, I go back to the people who know me, know me, and would speak on my behalf in a positive light.
And, you know, I really don't worry about it a whole lot.
I mean, it's a shame.
It's really a shame that we've come to this.
But, you know, the old saying, it is what it is.
You know, I just find it tough.
I got to be honest.
The thing that I found really tough was the stuff about the national anthem and the flag.
You know, I understand we all understand there are always problems in our country and we got to talk to one another and work them out.
But the flag is kind of what unites us all.
And it's sort of do you do you find this to be when you talk to players, when you talk to guys, does anybody feel that this is a good thing that there should be anti-national anthem protests?
I personally have not really had an in-depth conversation with any present player or for that matter, former players or teammates.
You know, it's been talked about more in passing.
I guess the jury is out on whether or not it will be a good thing or not.
I think it's created more turmoil than good.
But Andrew, I agree with you 100%.
I think something has to unite us.
And the game or games or sport in the past has been kind of a unification.
Now it's almost like a division.
I can't tell you how many people, including yourself, have said to me, I don't watch anymore.
It's not about the game anymore.
And I tend to agree.
You know, again, it's a shame.
It's too bad, you know, but like you said, there's differences.
Always, there's always been differences.
There's always been issues within the world, within the country, within our states.
But again, something has to unify us.
And I felt like the flag standing patriotically because blacks and whites and Hispanics have fought for this country, have died for this country.
And it is too bad.
Eric, you know, you guys have this podcast, Bowling with Favre, great name, by the way, but, you know, and you talk about trying to keep it light, trying to find the funny things and the good things about sports.
Are you finding that difficult?
I mean, even when you were speaking before, you sound like I can hear there's anger there.
I feel it too.
Is it hard to enjoy sports at this point or do you still find a way in?
You know, we still find there's a lot of fun stories still in sports.
And, you know, Brett is so right.
When you look at that flag, you see red, white, and blue.
You don't see black, white, brown, Asian.
You don't see those colors.
You see red, white, and blue.
And people of every single race have died protecting what the meaning of that flag meant.
So it's just very hard to see athletes disrespect it.
I come from an age, and I think everyone here comes from an age where it didn't matter on the sports field what color you were.
Baker Mayhem and Patrick Risk00:09:43
If you were the best pitcher, you're the best quarterback, you're the best third baseman, you're the best defensive hockey player.
It doesn't matter what color you are, you're going to get the job.
And unfortunately, now everything is race.
I mean, how in the world do we get to a world where every single issue has become a racial issue?
If you recite the Pledge of Allegiance, it's now racist.
I have to somehow apologize for being white because of something that may or may not probably happen 50, 70, 100 years ago.
It's just crazy.
I'm blown away and I just, I'm angry right now.
Well, in the hopes that we can get back to sports at some point and in the hopes that this too will pass, I got to ask you some sports questions while I've got you here.
The game, the game of football has been dominated for certainly the last few years by Tom Brady.
And I don't take anything away from Tom Brady, but he kind of plays like a surgeon.
He's a very serious kind of exact player.
When I used to watch you, Brett, you were more like an artist.
You had a kind of spontaneous pleasure in just sometimes doing the craziest thing that you thought would work.
When you look at the game, do you see any players coming up who remind you of yourself?
I think there's a couple of guys that I see some similarities.
Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes would be two that come to mind.
You know, maybe I should have been a little more serious.
Maybe I could have worn some more super.
I say that jokingly.
You know, I wouldn't take anything away from how I played.
You know, I could never be Tom Brady and vice versa.
You know, I think that's what the beauty of sports is it takes all kinds.
And when I always say the good teams are like good gumbo, when the ingredients come together just right, you hit a home run.
And yeah, that seems to be the case for Tom each and every year that he finds a way to bring the team.
I mean, I think we found out more than anything Who more than the other led the charge and was more responsible for winning the Super Bowls?
Was it Bill Belichick, who I think is a tremendous coach, or was it Tom Brady, the gel that really kind of kept those teams together?
He goes to Tampa, misses all of all season because of the pandemic, was throwing in the parking lot at one time to try to get some chemistry.
Was not able to meet in person with these guys for the most part, but yet they won a Super Bowl.
But yeah, Baker Makefield, I think, and Mahomes play like me, seem to have that fun.
Baker, probably more so than Patrick.
And the willingness and the daredeviled side of either to make any throw from any place on the field.
I think, can I jump in watching Brett grow up watching Brett throw the ball all over the field in any which way?
You got a lot of Mahomes in you, Brett.
I mean, it's almost a mentality, and it's almost like a second baseman in a shortstop having that mentality.
I'll get the ball to you whether I have to drop it or flip it behind my back.
Mahomes does, and you had a lot of that.
You weren't always over the top.
They say, get your arm, get your elbow up.
You were over three quarters.
I see Mahomes shuttle passing all over the place.
I see a lot of that in you.
I see more Mahomes than Baker.
When I asked the question, Mahomes was the guy in my mind.
I got to say, I see a lot of Brett and him too.
Do you think these guys who come in who they always, sports casters, especially sports writers, love these running quarterbacks, but it always seems to me that they last for one year, that they run and then they get hit a couple of times, and then the bosses just say, you know, we're risking this big investment.
Is the running quarterback, I mean, the serious running quarterback, is that an overrated player?
Once they get hurt, yes.
Overpaid.
You know, three guys come to mind.
Just right off the top of my head, Randall Cunningham sort of paved the way for running to be a tremendous threat to any defense you face.
Then Michael Vick.
And then Lamar Jackson.
I mean, there's no question that if you can do both and do both well, it puts an extreme set of problems within a defensive scheme.
So what you've seen to counter that is teams have drafted the hybrid players, the defensive ends that run 4'6, but are 6'6, 270.
The big, strong, semi-quick guys don't cut it for the running quarterback.
You know, their tongues are dragging.
So they're drafting linebackers and defensive ends that can run relatively close to what these quarterbacks can run.
And it only takes one hit to change the mindset or change the approach that the offense has taken with what they call these RPOs now, run pass option.
You know, I doubt presently too many defense coordinators want to face Lamar Jackson when he's healthy.
But again, If he ever gets injured, say he sprains an ankle and has to rely on in the pocket and throwing, it remains to be seen how he will play then.
But certainly a dynamic player, much like Vic was and Randall Cunningham.
Randall was a tremendous passer.
So equally a threat running and throwing.
So let me ask, I got one, only time for one more question, but I'd like to ask you both.
Football, especially sports in a lot of ways in general, but football especially has faced a lot of big problems in these last few years.
The politics is one thing.
The injuries and the idea that the game can't be made safe that has led moms and schools to not want to send their kids into football.
Are you hopeful about the future of professional football?
Let me ask you both that question.
Well, I'm hopeful, but I'm also a little bit concerned at the direction in which we're going from a political point of view, but also from an injury, mainly probably more than anything, the concussion issue.
Guys are bigger, guys are faster, guys are stronger.
Rules have changed in favor of protecting against the concussion.
But as you know, they're going to happen.
I mean, you can trip and fall walking out of your house and get a concussion.
So they're going to happen.
There's just not anything from a treatment standpoint until they, you can only do so much to prevent, but they're going to happen.
So I'm hopeful, but I'm also a little bit concerned about the direction we're going in in both of those areas.
I'll jump in because I've been a football fan for my whole entire life.
And look, football is big business.
So by definition, it will survive.
And Brett's right, there's going to have to be some changes made.
They're going to have to continue to invest, if not millions, hundreds of millions of dollars into technology, helmets, et cetera.
And the rules will probably change.
Look what's going on.
I think the, if I'm not mistaken, the minimum salary of an NFL player right now is $610,000.
And that's because, as Brett points out, you can get injured faster.
I'm sure the lifespan of a typical average football player went from what, maybe five or six or seven years, maybe it's down to four or five.
And so they have to compensate that way.
But because of the demand for the sport, which is off the charts, higher than demand for any other sport on the planet, it'll continue.
And I think what we just saw is I think we're going to see an extra game now.
And so there's actually demand for more football, not less.
So I'm pretty sure it's going to survive.
They just really, really need to protect the players a little bit more on their health, as Brett points out, concussion-wise, and also on their money and salary.
So if you're only going to be around two or three years, then jack the numbers up.
They're making tens of billions of dollars profit at the NFL.
So they can afford it.
Eric Bowling, Brett Favre, Favre, one of the greats who ever played the game.