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Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre has been described as looking like a kid out there when he’s playing pro football. He seemed as if he was just goofing around and having fun with his friends. As it turns out, even referees weren’t safe when it came to his child-like enthusiasm.
Former NFL ref Bill Carrollo told Gary D’Amato of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel one story about Favre back in 2003 when Favre’s Packers were playing the Denver Broncos. Then-Broncos coach Mike Shanahan expressed his concern that Carrollo was working a game in his hometown even though Carrollo actually lived in Milwaukee and not Green Bay.
As the Packers were about to score on a long touchdown run, Favre came up to Carrollo and tried to get the ref to celebrate the huge play with him.
Article Continues Below“Brett keeps hitting me, ‘Carollo, give me five, give me five!’” Carollo said. “He’s trying to high-five me. I tell him, ‘I can’t give you five, Brett.’ He’s hitting me on the butt, on the shoulder, on the back. He’s yelling, ‘He’s going all the way! Give me five!’ I’m ducking away from him and yelling, ‘I can’t give you five.'”
Carrollo didn’t give in to Favre’s pleas, but Shanahan still saw the two seemingly being all buddy-buddy and wasn’t pleased.
“We run right past Shanahan, and he holds out his hands and yells, ‘Carollo, I told you you shouldn’t be working this game!'”
Favre and the Packers didn’t really need preferential treatment from Carrollo and his crew as they ran out comfortable 31-3 winners. Carrollo’s story is just another reminder that even with Favre’s greatness, he was just a kid at heart who knew how to have fun out there. That, more than anything else, should be his enduring legacy in the game.
