Tim Laun

All About Tim Laun’s Brett Favre Cyclorama

Brett Favre’s record of endurance is legendary. As quarterback of the Green Bay Packers he has started every game from 1991 to the present, an unprecedented accomplishment in football history. The concept of the Favre Era Cyclorama calls attention to a profound shared experience that has emerged parallel to his continuous game streak. Technology has made it possible for a community of poeple in Wisconsin, and throughout the world, to participate in Favre’s ongoing career by experiencing the games not only in stadiums, but also on the radio, over the internet, and particularly through local and satellite television. This is an experience unique to our time, an ongoing event captured in minute detail and beamed around the world.

The Favre Era Cyclorama is composed of a 360-degree bank of television screens, one television for each game of his career. The configuration of televisions, stacked 16-feet high, creates a large circular space, which surrounds the viewer. The audience ascends a ramp or staircase and enters the Cyclorama through a passageway in the floor. The installation of over 200 televisions may be experienced in silence, or with audio content for each of the games, which is available through a wireless headset and keypad. The video content is the complete original broadcast of every game in Favre’s career—one game per screen. Because it includes every second of every game, rather than simply highlights or only the best games, the Favre Cyclorama is a time capsule of popular culture and sports history from 1991 to the present. Through the inclusion of commercials the video content reflects the passage of time, evidenced by changing fads and fashions while Favre’s participation in the sport is constant.

Television editing, commentary, and advertising, all create—and constantly reaffirm—a mythology about the sports hero by framing their careers in terms of winning moments, celebrity status, scandals, and lucrative contracts and endorsements. The Favre Era Cyclorama on one hand embraces the spectacle of sports, and on the other offers something different: a catalogue of every moment—winning, losing, thrilling, mundane, embarrassing or legendary. In the Cyclorama, each game holds equal weight and serves as a building block, both literally and visually, in Brett Favre’s career and a televsion spectacle many fans have experienced. 

Info on Don Majkowski (Above Wall pieces about him)

Majkowski was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 10th round in 1987. As a rookie, Majkowski split time with Randy Wright. He also shared quarterback duties with Wright during the 1988 season.

Nicknamed The Majik Man, Majkowski broke out during the 1989 Green Bay Packers season. He was given the starting job and Randy Wright was released. Majkowski had one of the finest seasons in Packers history. He completed 353 passes in 599 attempts. His 4,318 passing yards led the NFL. He also threw for 27 touchdowns. Notably, the Packers won their first game against the hated rival Chicago Bears since 1984. The key was a touchdown play first nullified by an illegal forward pass by Majkowski; then upheld by instant replay as a legal pass. The season ended with 10 wins and 6 losses; Majkowski capped the season with his being selected to the Pro Bowl.

Majkowski’s success was cut short when, in the 10th game of the Packers’ 1990 season, Majkowski was injured when he was upended and tackled on his shoulder by Freddie Joe Nunn. Nunn drew a personal foul on the play. At first thought to be a bruise, Majkowski’s injury turned out to be more serious, a torn rotator cuff. The Packers finished the season using backups Anthony Dilweg and Blair Kiel. During the course of the 1991 season, Majkowski was benched and replaced by Mike Tomczakas starter, but resumed starting duties at the beginning of the 1992 season. On a play on September 20, 1992 against the Cincinnati Bengals, Majkowski tore a ligament in his ankle. He was replaced after the play by Brett Favre, who completed the game, and started in every subsequent Packers game through the 2007 season.

Fans Steal Brett Favre’s Ball!