GREEN BAY, Wis. – Archie Manning says Brett Favre loves to get up in front of a crowd when they’re together to tell people this story.

When Favre and his brothers were growing up in southern Mississippi, they had jobs mowing lawns on Sundays. But Favre didn’t much care for the chore so he would ditch his brothers and sneak back to the truck to turn on the radio and listen as one of his idols played quarterback for the New Orleans Saints.

It’s not that the Saints were any good, either. Manning never played a winning season in New Orleans from 1972-82. Still Favre, in elementary school and middle school at the time, followed the two-time Pro Bowl passer who was from Drew, Miss., and played his college ball at Ole Miss.

“I know there’s different parts of the country that say, ‘This is football country,’ ” Manning said. “But I can definitely say this is football country. Mississippi, Louisiana. Down here it’s pretty big to a lot of kids.”

How funny it is then, that almost 30 years later, Archie Manning will be at Lambeau Field on Sunday to watch his son, former Ole Miss star Eli Manning, and the New York Giants battle Favre and the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game. With Archie Manning, as it probably is for the entire state of Mississippi, there’s actually admiration for both quarterbacks.

“If you’re a quarterback and you don’t like Brett, something’s wrong with you,” Manning said.

Manning first became aware of Favre in his last year or two at Southern Miss and began following his pro career even in that first year in Atlanta.

“Oh sure, I’ve always enjoyed Brett,” Manning said. “I’ve always taken a little pride in the fact that he’s a Mississippi kid. Always enjoyed his company, always enjoyed watching him play. You can’t help but like Brett.”

That didn’t mean that Manning’s sons, Peyton and Eli, adopted Favre’s unconventional style. Peyton Manning is especially known for near perfect mechanics, even better than Archie’s. If anything, Archie Manning and Favre had some similarities.

“In college I was every bit a runner as much as a passer,” Archie Manning said. “I also had somewhat of a sidearm so I had a big transition to become a pro and pocket passer. So I really had to work at my mechanics and I was never as good mechanically as my two boys.

“But I’ve told Brett we have a football camp down here for high school quarterbacks we’ve done the last 13 years, and I told him, ‘Anytime you want, you can come to our camp, but I’ve got to tell you, we don’t teach our quarterbacks to throw like you.’ “

Still, Manning is impressed with the season Favre has put together this year.

“This is a great story,” Manning said. “I’ve followed him close for years. He had a great career. When you evaluate his play, you’ve got a few years there where he was struggling a little bit and I think most people wrote it off to old age. In football, quarterbacking is not tennis or golf. It’s not an individual sport. And the majority of the time, if you’re a good quarterback it’s because you’ve got a lot of help around you. A bad quarterback is, many times, because of the fact you don’t have enough help around you.

“So people didn’t really know if Brett’s struggles were old age or just the environment, if you will. I think he’s kind of put away the fears that it’s old age. You can’t help but feel good about what’s happening with Brett this year.”

“I hope it’s a good game,” Manning said of Sunday’s matchup.

“The Giants are kind of a blue-collar bunch, so we’ll see.”