Former New York Jets star Mark Gastineau, who has carried a grudge towards Brett Favre for 20 years, confronted the Corridor of Fame quarterback final yr at a memorabilia present and accused him of intentionally taking a sack that value Gastineau the NFL’s single-season report.
It made for a tense and uncomfortable scene, captured on video. It seems within the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary “The New York Sack Alternate,” which premieres 8 p.m. ET Friday (ESPN/ESPN+).
An indignant Gastineau attended the memorabilia present in Chicago with two different members of the Jets’ “Sack Alternate,” a four-man line of defense that dominated the early Eighties. He approached an unsuspecting Favre at a desk the place the Inexperienced Bay Packers legend was signing autographs.
They shook arms. Favre talked about how they’d met as soon as earlier than.
“Yeah, proper — once you fell down for him,” stated Gastineau, alluding to former New York Giants star Michael Strahan — the report breaker. “I’ll get my sack again. I’ll get my sack again, dude.”
Favre appeared bewildered.
“You most likely would damage me,” he stated.
“Properly, I do not care,” Gastineau stated, pointing at Favre. “You damage me. You damage me! You hear me?”
“Yeah, I hear you,” Favre stated.
“You actually damage me,” Gastineau shot again. “You actually damage me, Brett.”
At that time, Favre was escorted away by one in every of his handlers, leaving a seething Gastineau by himself. He was miked up by a digital camera crew, which was following him.
Gastineau was referring to the ultimate recreation of the 2001 season, when Strahan broke Gastineau’s single-season report with a controversial sack of Favre. With 22 sacks, Gastineau held the mark from 1984 to 2001. Many consider Favre went down on objective so Strahan may break the report with 22.5.
Gastineau was in attendance that day, graciously congratulating Strahan. After 18 years of suppressing his anger, Gastineau went public along with his true emotions in a 2020 interview with ESPN.
He doubles down within the documentary.
“Anyone will inform you that Brett Favre took a dive,” Gastineau stated within the documentary.
The 30 for 30 chronicles the rise and fall of the “Sack Alternate” and the complicated relationship between the polarizing Gastineau and teammates Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons and the late Abdul Salaam.
Reached by telephone, Gastineau defined why he confronted Favre.
“I needed to let him realize it was a trash sack,” he stated.
“I have been wanting to try this for a very long time — many, a few years,” Gastineau added. “I’ve solely acquired yet one more man to go to” — which means Strahan, who Gastineau says he believes conspired with Favre on the record-breaking sack.
Gastineau had no thought Favre can be on the present till he and his spouse, Jo Ann, arrived in Chicago and noticed Favre’s title on an inventory of attendees. Lyons, who was in Chicago and witnessed the confrontation, stated he tried to persuade his former teammate to steer clear of Favre.
“I stated, ‘Mark, let it go, simply let it go. That occurred years in the past,'” Lyons stated in a telephone interview. “However he had this little crazed look in his eye.”
Later that day, Jo Ann Gastineau returned to Favre’s desk to easy issues over. She stated she apologized, saying her husband “did not imply something by it.”
The report has been a supply of anguish for Strahan as properly.
“The sack report is nice, completely phenomenal, however I virtually really feel like in a way it was diminished as a result of everybody goes, ‘Oh, Brett Favre gave you a sack,'” Strahan stated in “A Soccer Life,” a documentary aired in 2013 by NFL Community. “I caught a lot flak over it. … It is not price it, as a result of everybody seems as if one sack that they query is the defining second of my profession.”
The Corridor of Famer is now not the only holder of the single-season report, as Pittsburgh Steelers star T.J. Watt matched Strahan’s mark with 22.5 sacks in 2021.
On Tuesday, Favre posted an extended thread on X, addressing what he described as “a small dustup” between him and Gastineau.
Favre stated he did not deliberately take the sack to harm Gastineau, saying, “There was no malice on my half.” On reflection, Favre stated he sees how the sack report might need benefitted Gastineau financially and strengthened his case for the Corridor of Fame.
“Some time again, he noticed me at a card present and acquired his frustration off his chest,” Favre posted.
“It is not the sort of second that needs to be filmed and launched. It was a personal second of frustration between two outdated soccer warriors.”
Favre endorsed Gastineau for the Corridor of Fame.
“I hope this controversy brings consideration to simply how nice Mark Gastineau was. He belongs in Canton.”
