The announcement of Brett Favre as the cover athlete on the cover of Madden NFL 09 changed last night from rumor to fact. As a result, today in New York City, the NFL and EA Spots spent the day honoring the former Green Bay Packers quarterback and NFL legend. The festivities began early, as Favre took some time to do some interviews with the press--look for our talk with Favre coming soon--just before heading into the dining room of the Rainbow Room at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, for a special roast/tribute hosted by his Favre's former wide receiver, Sterling Sharpe.

During the tribute, Sharpe had plenty of stories about his old teammate and managed to bring up a number of special guests, including Brett's former QB coach Steve Mariucci, his previous back-up quarterback (and current man behind center for the Seattle Seahawks) Matt Hasselbeck, as well as former Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens quarterback and 2008 NFL Draft hopeful Joe Flacco.

The tribute was fun, with obvious chemistry between Sharpe, Favre, Mariucci, and Hasselbeck. At one point, Coach Mariucci recalled a story of when the Packers were first evaulating tapes on Favre (who was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons). Referring to Favre's lack of playing time, Mariucci joked that he probably had tapes of two pass plays on Favre to judge his talent. "And I think they were both interceptions," Mariucci said, to which Favre interrupted "Just one... and that was a good throw."

During my interview with Favre, I asked Favre asked him whether he had a play he ever regretted during his career, something he'd go back and time and correct if he had the chance. His response: definitely not. "What's happened has happened," he succinctly told me. That said, he wasn't averse to going back in time to recount a particuarly embarassing play of his then-backup Hasselbeck. Playing Minnesota during a Monday night game, Hasselbeck came in late for an injured Favre, drove the ball down the field and then attempted a fake field goal play, which resulted in a touchdown. Looking to celebrate the TD, Hasselbeck went to jump into the pileup in the endzone, only to miss completely and land flat on his face.

I'm still not quite sure why Joe Flacco was brought on stage with Sharpe and Favre--before today I'd never heard his name. Maybe the NFL Network (who were taping the tribute presentation for airing on Saturday before the draft) knows something about him that I don't. At one point, Sterling Sharpe, when asking Flacco whether he looked to emulate an aspect of Favre's game should he be signed by an NFL team, Sharpe asked "You want the TDs, but not the INTs, right?"

Flacco agreed immediately but Favre, who owns both the career TD and INT records, said with an impish smile on his face, "You gotta have both."

The EA Sports/NFL Network tribute to Brett Favre will air this Saturday on the NFL Network, prior to the 2008 NFL Draft. In the meantime, check out this pictures I snapped from the event: