Documentary to show tense Mark Gastineau-Brett Favre rift from ’23

Former New York Jets star Mark Gastineau, who has carried a grudge in opposition to 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 price Gastineau the NFL’s single-season document.

It made for a tense and uncomfortable scene, captured on video. It seems within the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary “The New York Sack Trade,” which premieres 8 p.m. ET Friday (ESPN/ESPN+).

An offended Gastineau attended the memorabilia present in Chicago with two different members of the Jets’ “Sack Trade,” a four-man defensive position that dominated the early Nineteen Eighties. He approached an unsuspecting Favre at a desk the place the Inexperienced Bay Packers legend was signing autographs.

They shook palms. Favre talked about how they’d met as soon as earlier than.

“Yeah, proper — whenever you fell down for him,” stated Gastineau, alluding to former New York Giants star Michael Strahan — the document 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.

“Effectively, 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 certainly one 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 sport of the 2001 season, when Strahan broke Gastineau’s single-season document with a controversial sack of Favre. With 22 sacks, Gastineau held the mark from 1984 to 2001. Many consider Favre went down on function so Strahan may break the document 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 let you know that Brett Favre took a dive,” Gastineau stated within the documentary.

The 30 for 30 chronicles the rise and fall of the “Sack Trade” and the advanced relationship between the polarizing Gastineau and teammates Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons and the late Abdul Salaam.

Reached by cellphone, Gastineau defined why he confronted Favre.

“I wished to let him comprehend it was a trash sack,” he stated.

“I have been wanting to do this for a very long time — many, a few years,” Gastineau added. “I’ve solely bought yet one more man to go to” — that 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 identify on an inventory of attendees. Lyons, who was in Chicago and witnessed the confrontation, stated he tried to persuade his former teammate to avoid Favre.

“I stated, ‘Mark, let it go, simply let it go. That occurred years in the past,'” Lyons stated in a cellphone interview. “However he had this little crazed look in his eye.”

Later that day, Jo Ann Gastineau returned to Favre’s desk to clean issues over. She stated she apologized, saying her husband “did not imply something by it.”

The document has been a supply of anguish for Strahan as properly.

“The sack document 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 isn’t price it, as a result of everybody seems to be 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 document, 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.” Looking back, Favre stated he sees how the sack document 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 bought his frustration off his chest,” Favre posted.

“It isn’t the sort of second that ought to be filmed and launched. It was a non-public second of frustration between two previous 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.”