Sorry, people—I will not allow your negativity to spoil Brett Favre’s accomplishments with the New York Jets. Favre is going to Hawaii, and he’s just as deserving as he’s ever been in his long career.

Why did it take Favre’s first Pro Bowl as an AFC quarterback to bring the fire and brimstone out of NFL fans?

Group-think seems to be be strong within the bunches as people complain about Favre’s tenth Pro Bowl selection.

Take a good look at the photograph above.

That’s Favre asking, “What’s up with that?”

Fans are accusing other fans of not being good enough NFL fans. Someone voting for Brett Favre must not know enough about football, right?

It’s as if there’s a cruel conspiracy behind the voting, cleverly orchestrated to keep every other quarterback far away from a boring, meaningless game.

Is that about right?

After fan voting closed, Brett Favre did lead in the popular vote. But after the other two-thirds worth of votes were counted, Favre was reduced to a reserve role behind Peyton Manning.

To place that in perspective, Thomas Jones, the AFC-leading running back came in fourth after the popular vote. When the next two-thirds worth of votes were counted, Jones was announced as the starter.

This means the weight of the other two-thirds worth of votes are much more significant than that of the fans. Therefore, if everyone believed Favre was unworthy, the other two-thirds would’ve voted against him, removing him from the roster altogether.

Apparently, Favre’s 17-interception season is what fans want to use as evidence against his worthiness.

Is that significantly worse than when Favre was selected to go to Hawaii in 2004 after tossing 21 interceptions in the 2003 season? Or how about his 24-interception season in 1993 that earned him a Pro Bowl nod?

Interceptions come with the territory of being Brett Favre. It’s something fans have learned to live with during his career—or it’s something they’ve called him overrated for doing. But it’s been a part of his identity since the start of his career!

Of the nine times Favre was selected to the Pro Bowl with the Green Bay Packers, his team finished as division champions six times. So what’s uncommon about 2008? The Jets have held first place in the AFC East since midseason, and he’s a big reason for that.

The fact that Favre can bring his identity to a new team, a new conference, and a new city, and still pile on victories makes him worthy of representing the AFC.

If that’s not enough—when everyone thought Favre left his best season in 2007 with Green Bay—the old man responded with providing the best completion percentage he’s had in a long career.

It’s not always pretty, but that’s always been the Brett Favre story. As long as the 4-12 team he took over has a fighting chance, Favre deserves every bit of recognition he receives.

“Oh, but Chad Pennington is doing the same thing in Miami with less talent.”

Good for him. The other two-thirds of Pro Bowl voters didn’t care, either.

Pennington and Philip Rivers both deserve a nice Hawaiian vacation this February, but that shouldn’t take away from anything that Favre has done with a brand new organization at this stage of his career.

Should being an NFL All-Star have anything to do with stats, or should it be based upon who the better player is?

There aren’t many teams that would turn down a chance to have Brett Favre leading their team. And that’s not because he’s overrated—it’s because he’s proven as a winner in a league where so many players come and go.

If you’re going to be angry about Favre being selected to the Pro Bowl, you should be just as angry about Peyton Manning being selected as the starter.

Manning’s individual statistics may look great on paper, but which teams have his numbers come against? He most recently threw for 300 yards on the Detroit Lions.

Aloha!

Angel Navedo covers the New York Jets for Examiner.com. His work can also be found on NYJetsFan.com, where he is the Head Writer, and on MyGridironSpace.com—a premier social networking site built exclusively for NFL fans.

He is also a Senior Writer at the Bleacher Report, where he is one of the New York Jets Community Leaders.