ESPN dropped a trailer for its latest 30 for 30 Tuesday and it quickly went viral for showing an incredibly tense scene involving former NFL stars Brett Favre and Mark Gastineau.
The new documentary, The New York Sack Exchange, features the New York Jets’ feared defensive line of the early 1980s. Gastineau was the biggest star of that group. He set the NFL single-season sack record of 22 in 1984 and held that mark until the final game of the 2001 season, when New York Giants star Michael Strahan set the record with 22.5 sacks.
However, Strahan recorded that record-breaking sack against Favre, who went down fairly easily on the play. Gastineau and many others have accused Favre of flopping to let Strahan break the record.
More than 20 years later, Gastineau is still bitter about that moment. The documentary trailer shows a scene where the former defensive end confronted Favre at a memorabilia show in 2023. Favre told Gastineau he remembered meeting him before.
“Yeah, right — when you fell down for him (Strahan),” said Gastineau, who was on hand that day when Strahan broke his record.
“I’m going to get my sack back. I’m going to get my sack back, dude,” Gastineau said, emotion in his voice.
Favre seemed clearly stunned.
“You probably would hurt me,” he said.
“Well, I don’t care,” Gastineau said, pointing at Favre. “You hurt me. You hurt me! You hear me?”
“Yeah, I hear you,” Favre said.
“You really hurt me,” Gastineau replied. “You really hurt me, Brett.”
Thankfully, someone ushered Favre away from Gastineau. This was clearly not an artificial moment, manufactured to build hype for a show. This was 20-plus years of pent-up resentment and frustration pouring out of Gastineau.
Gastineau told ESPN he didn’t even know Favre would be at the memorabilia show until he saw a list of attendees, and made the decision to confront the former quarterback.
“I wanted to let him know it was a trash sack,” Gastineau told ESPN.
It’s worth noting Pittsburgh Steelers star T.J. Watt tied Strahan’s record with 22.5 sacks in 2021.
Gastineau, along with fellow New York Sack Exchange members Joe Klecko, Marty Lyons and the late Abdul Salaam, will be featured in the new documentary, which debuts Friday at 8 p.m. (ET) on ESPN/ESPN+.
[ESPN]
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.