Brett Favre’s consecutive start streak is officially over and ends at an unfathomable 297 games as he will not play in tonight’s game for the Minnesota Vikings. Regardless of whether I approve of his handling of the allegations surrounding offensive text messages and photos sent to former Jets hostess Jenn Sterger I can’t help but admire the man for continually picking himself off the turf week after week and punching the clock no matter how many times he had his own clock cleaned.

I was just ten years old and preparing to vote in a mock election for Bill Clinton when Favre suited up for the Packers on September 27, 1992 and there hasn’t been a week where I didn’t expect him to play since then.

He was a sure thing.

CHECK OUT A CLIP FROM HIS FIRST GAME IN 1992 HERE

Presidents and wars, economic disasters, terrorist attacks, and terrible reality shows passed us by but Brett Favre kept on coming back for more.

Favre doesn’t just hold the record for quarterbacks, either. His streak is the best all-time among all positions, the second best ironman being former Viking defensive End Jim Marshall, who started 270 consecutive games.

Counting playoffs Favre had started in 321 consecutive contests.

Here are a few reactions from around the league, courtesy of ESPN:

Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald tweeted: “Even after the reports about Brett Favre being inactive I STILL won’t believe that he’s not playing until I see it w/ my own eyes!”

“It’s beyond reason. It’s ridiculous,” said Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck, who backed up Favre in Green Bay years ago. “He’s gotten lucky a little bit too, but he’s just the toughest guy in the world.”

And a few quotes from SI.com:* *

“I think about my streak of 116 games, and all the injuries I had to play through. To go to 297, with the players now, bigger and stronger and faster. What he’s had to play through during that streak has been just unfathomable.” - former Philadelphia Eagles QB Ron Jaworski. * *

“Such a privilege to have seen one of the greatest accomplishments in sports history. Hats off to Brett.” - Tiger Woods tweet.

CHECK OUT HIGHLIGHTS OF FAVRE IN SUPER BOWL XXXI HERE

The list of QBs who have started more than one-hundred games is incredibly slim, consisting of just Favre (297), Peyton Manning (205), Ron Jaworski (115), Tom Brady (111), and Joe Ferguson (107).

There have been 238 different quarterbacks to start a game since his streak began, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Yahoo! Sports also reports that Favre has been sacked an astronomical 560 times in his career and it took a freak injury that Favre sustained after being leveled by Buffalo Bills linebacker Arthur Moats.

There was hope that Favre could play tonight after receiving one extra day to heal following the Metrodome roof disaster, especially after he had played with a broken foot and elbow tendinitis, but it was not to be.

CHECK OUT A CLIP OF FAVRE HIGHLIGHTS FROM SPORTSCENTER HERE

It’s probably better that it came down to this, in a way, as having your streak end because of suspension is probably not the way Favre wants it to go down.

You have never been my favorite player, Mr. Favre, but I was privileged to watch you operate during your prime, MVP-caliber seasons, and can’t deny your place in NFL history as one of the all-time greats. Your start-streak is one to admire and I was lucky enough to watch you play at your best during it.