Life after football for Brett Favre
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (CBS 58) -- In an exclusive interview with Brett Favre, CBS 58 covered a wide range of topics with the Packers legend.
Our crew met him on the football field at Oak Grove High School in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the town he went to college in and now calls home.
Favre helped Oak Grove to a state title in 2013 as a volunteer coach.
That’s one of the many ways he’s kept busy since retiring. Favre is an avid hunter, traveler and outdoorsman.
“[People say] ‘I bet you get bored,’” he said. “I don’t get bored. I got a group of guys that I bike with and we enjoy that, trying to stay in shape.”
Favre remains a familiar face at his alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi, and it’s not just because he’s all over signs, shrines and banners on campus.
The former Golden Eagles star spends a good deal of time on campus. His daughter, Breleigh, is on the school’s volleyball team, and he says he attends most football games.
It’s always a thrill for students to see the homegrown hero.
"Just having somebody who's in the football Hall of Fame that you can see on campus, and I've given him high fives and he's always been very nice to me,” said Sawyer Walters, a USM senior.
Favre still pays attention to the NFL too, especially the conversation surrounding Packers linebacker Clay Matthews and his numerous roughing the passer penalties this season.
Many fans think Matthews has been victimized by an excessively strict new rule meant to protect quarterbacks.
“The Clay Matthews hits to me were textbook,” Favre said. “I don’t know what else he could've done and I don't know what else he can do from a mental standpoint in that process.”
He believes penalties like that should be reviewable by officials.
“It’s too confusing like so many other rules that they have,” Favre said.
A part of the Hall of Famer’s life that is no longer confusing is his relationship with Aaron Rodgers.
The Packers star visited Hattiesburg this summer to interview his predecessor for a documentary.
"Man, we reminisced, we laughed, we told stories,” Favre said. “It really was good. I felt good about it. I don't know if we thought it was needed but after the fact we both have said to each other that we're so glad we did it. It was a good visit."
Life for Favre doesn’t always have the glamour of getting to hang with the best quarterback in the league.
He stays down to earth spending plenty of time with his wife Deanna and the rest of his family.
When we visited, Favre had his grandchildren back at his house.
So when I leave here, there will be no riding or outdoor stuff,” he said. “Three grandkids will test your patience."
Favre also says he misses Green Bay and the Badger State, calling the people of Wisconsin his second family.
He recommended a lunch spot in town he eats at often called Cotton Blues, and it didn’t disappoint.
"He does get mobbed a little bit,” said Whitney Nelson, the restaurant’s manager. “He tries to hide in the bar around the corner but he's just a little too recognizable so almost always there's a picture or handshake or something."
Talking to people in Hattiesburg, it was the personal touch Favre has given that impressed, even more so than his football career.
It’s a community he clearly loves.
"We had a tornado devastate our football field house in high school,” Walters said, a Hattiesburg native. “[Favre] helped build a new facility, a volleyball facility, one of the best in the area."
Nelson also says Favre is very involved in the community and makes everyone who crosses his path feel special.