Wisconsinites are a proud lot.

Often overlooked by the rest of the country as little more than a northern flyover state in the rust belt, when we have something good, we claim it as ours. Lacking the flash of New York, the glamor of California, or the boastful pride of Texas, we circle the wagons around our borders when we feel we have been done wrong by an outsider.

Brett Favre did us wrong.

Or so the story goes. Of course, there are two sides to every story, but few in our state cared what the Ol' Gunslinger's history was once he put on that hideous purple shirt. Oh, it was palatable when Favre spent one season as a New York Jet; after all, the Jets and Packers could only meet in the Super Bowl, and even that was the longest of shots.

But show a Packers fan purple, and all that is seen is red.

Of course it is inconsequential that what drove Favre to Minnesota in the first place was a disagreement with one guy that evolved into a feud. The guy, Ted Thompson, had a different vision than Favre did as to how to make the Packers a champion once again. Favre, knowing that his window as an elite NFL quarterback was closing, wanted the Packers new general manager to be active in the off-season to surround the aging superstar with established talent.

Thompson felt the best way to build a championship-caliber team was to do so through the draft. Obviously it is hard to quibble with the results of that vision, even if it did take longer than impatient Packers fans would have liked at the time.

When one really puts themselves in Favre's shoes, however, it is hard to not understand where he was coming from. After all, the one Super Bowl championship he was a part of was built on the backs of players not drafted by Green Bay.

Favre himself was the product of the single most lopsided trade in NFL history. Reggie White was arguably the most highly sought after free agent ever and landed in Titletown, too. Super Bowl MVP Desmond Howard was also a free agent, as was Andre Rison. And while both were cast-offs, they both made significant contributions during their time with the Packers. Keith Jackson came to Green Bay via trade. Santana Dotson, Sean Jones, and Eugene Robinson all brought veteran leadership to the Super Bowl XXXI Champions as well.

This was Favre's vision. Draft well, but add pieces as needed.

It was a disagreement. An honest one that both men felt in their hearts was best for the team, and in Favre's case, best for him as well. But lest fans throw stones at the notion that Favre shouldn't have had an opinion, keep in mind that the last Hall of Fame player drafted by the Packers was James Lofton in 1978.

But Favre was not the man in charge. Thompson was hired to run the Packers, and that's all that mattered. It was his that was the final word, not Favre's or anyone else's.

From there, we all know what happened.

As in football, as in life, there are two sides to every story. And while the popular narrative on the kid from Kiln is that of pariah in the Badger State, both sides have culpability in the case of Favre vs. Green Bay Packers, Inc.

In a nutshell, the Packers were sick of Favre taking his own sweet time deciding whether or not he was going to play each season. Green Bay had this kid named Rodgers they knew was going to be great and wanted to look toward the future.

Favre, hurt by Thompson's organizational decision, still wanted to play.

What happened over the next three years was ugly and unnecessary, but it is like the bell you desperately want to un-ring. It is too late. What is past is past. The only thing anyone can do now is try to repair the damage.

Mike Holmgren was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame late last month. Favre was invited, but did not attend, preferring to not become the story when the stage belonged to his mentor and former coach.

"I hear from (Favre) maybe once a year," Holmgren told the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "But he did text me and wish me well tonight, (said) some very nice things. We had a nice exchange."

The subject of when Favre will take his rightful place among the greats of Packers history is a touchy one to many. And to be fair, Favre himself has not been very proactive in the past about trying to mend fences and take accountability for his part in the feud that led to his departure and ostracization by his former fans in Wisconsin.

But time heals all wounds. Of course, the deeper the wound, the more time must pass before the scabs heal. Some have suggested that Favre and the Packers organization will never reach detente until Thompson is gone from the organization, whenever that may be.

In a horribly uncomfortable interview with Deion Sanders on NFL Network last month, Favre looked visibly shaken when talking about the state of his relationship with his signature team, still unable to bring himself to forthrightness on how much his legacy means to him.

"Why?" Favre asked Sanders when queried about how meaningful it would be to have his No. 4 retired alongside the likes of Reggie White, Bart Starr, Ray Nitschke, Tony Canadeo, and Don Hutson. "You know what; I don't know what the future holds. But I do know this: Whether anything ever happens . . . people think I'm crazy, but I don't need to have a day. I don't need to have a retirement, retire your jersey, all that stuff, to solidify my career."

No, because the record books are what they are; devoid of feelings, grudges, vendettas, or intangibles. The numbers never lie. And even though the empirical evidence states that Brett Favre (along with White, Holmgren, and former GM Ron Wolf) lifted the Packers from obscurity to champion, his departure is all many Packers fans choose to recall.

"I wasn't here," Holmgren said when asked about the situation last month. "But I know this. I know the principals involved, everybody involved, they're all good guys. They're all good men. My feeling is time will heal anything."

"I think time will pass and everything will be made right," former Packers coach Mike Sherman recently told Greg Bedard of the Boston Globe. "Green Bay has meant too much to him as a player and as a person and he's been too much for them.

"The dust just has to settle a little bit and the pain of his exit has to heal a little bit and I think he'll be what he was," Sherman continued. "He was an icon."

The first steps have been laid. The groundswell for Favre's return to the good graces of Packers fans is unquestionably still in its infancy, but is also entirely in his own hands. Deference to his successor will behoove his case, and has finally begun.

"I knew that when I left, this guy (Rodgers) has all the tools," Favre told Sanders. "He can beat you with his feet; he's got a great arm, extremely accurate. (He) handles the cast around him perfectly."

Hey, it's a start.

Whether Packers fans like it or not, Brett Favre is part of their history. But just like the celebrity arrest garners more attention than the celebrity dishing out meals at a soup kitchen, we tend to focus on the bad. This is merely human nature.

Yes, Favre broke many hearts when he donned purple and flipped us the collective finger while doing it. But sometimes we all do things we regret later in life. Sometimes we all, in a moment of hurt, act before thinking. Regret over actions is a part of life and something that we have all been guilty of once or twice. Should we all be persecuted forever for moments of weakness?

Someday, No. 4 will be affixed to the north end zone wall of Lambeau Field. When exactly that day is no one can say. But Brett Favre is too big of a part of the revival story of the most historical franchise in football history for it not to be so. Whether Packers fans like it or not, Brett Favre will forever be remembered in Green and Gold.

"That day will come. I haven't lost any sleep over it, nor have they, I think," Favre said of his day to be honored once again at Lambeau Field. "What I did speaks for itself. What I left behind speaks for itself."