I’d hate to be Brett Favre right now. Okay, I probably wouldn’t hate it. He does, after all, have millions of dollars in the bank, an unquestionable entry into the NFL Hall of Fame one day and, well, he’s Brett Favre. So that’s worth something—even if it’s not worth what it probably was just a year ago.

Ah, yes. A year ago. That’s when things were all good for Favre. One year ago today, Favre was the starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. He was about to lead the team through the NFL Playoffs to the NFC Championship Game and give himself one last chance to get to a Super Bowl. After almost 20 years, he was past his prime but still managing to muster up the strength to play better than he ever had before. He was a national hero in the eyes of most sports fans and a guy that every guy wanted to be. He was Brett freakin’ Favre!

Just one year later, he’s still Brett Favre. There just aren’t as many italics attached to the words used to describe him. His name has lost some of the luster that it once had now that it’s been dragged through the mud by blogs and tabloids and just about anyone looking to prove that, sometimes, things aren’t exactly as perfect as they seem.

Most recently, Favre’s younger sister Brandi did her part this week to hurt the Favre name further by getting busted for allegedly running a methamphetamine lab in Brett’s home state of Mississippi. Yes, despite the fact that her brother has made money hand over fist since his first NFL start in 1992, Brandi Favre is the latest person to help hurt the legacy that Favre has worked so hard to build.

She’s not the first one, though. Jenn Sterger, the girl who accused Favre of sending her racy (read: NSFW!) photos back in October, did it, too (not that we blame her, if what happened to her is true!). Former Vikings coach Brad Childress helped do it as well, by not publicly standing behind Favre enough during the 2010 NFL season and by basically making Favre’s final playing days more of a farewell tour than a legitimate playoff run.

But, most importantly, Brett Favre hurt Brett Favre’s legacy over the course of the last year. He toyed with the idea of retirement and decided to make one “last” comeback—a tired routine that we’ve seen play out about six too many times. He refused to acknowledge Sterger’s accusations and eventually got off with a $50,000 fine—but he provided very little information about what really happened between the two, which only increased speculation about the kind of guy that Favre really is off the field. He turned every press conference into a long-winded speech about how long he’s been playing and how much he’s endured. He stopped being the Brett Favre that we’d all grown to know and love.

There have been a million stories written about Favre in the last month or so, let alone the last year. But with this story about Favre’s sister now making national headlines, I can’t help but think that you couldn’t pay me enough to be Brett Favre right now (okay, maybe if you gave me….dah, nevermind). From the scandals to the deteriorated skills on the field to the fact that he now has to figure out how to transition gracefully—if that’s possible—into the next stage of his life, Favre may be facing the toughest uphill battle of his life.

Things were all good just a year ago, Brett. If you could go back and do things differently, would you? I sure hope so.

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