COLUMBUS — The football sensitivities of the entire state of Wisconsin may be heightened this weekend, but few people will have as much reason to be conflicted as Brian Anderson, owner of Cardinal Framing.
Anderson also handles the shipping for www.Fan4Ever.com. The Fan 4 Ever operation, which refers to quarterback Brett Favre, moved to Columbus in September after four years in Sun Prairie. It was started there by owner David Thomason.
“It’s a tough one,” Anderson said about this weekend’s Packers-Vikings game. “I’m a Packers fan, but Brett has meant so much to me and my family over the years. It’s hard not to root for Brett. In reality, (the Vikings) have a good chance of going deep into the playoffs.”
For several years, Anderson and Thomason have enjoyed a very special relationship with the historic quarterback.
“David (Thomason) started out with Brett back in ’94,” Anderson stated. “We handled Brett Favre’s fan mail for about five years.”
Thomason, who is originally from the Madison area but now lives in Arizona, initially served as Favre’s pilot. That led to him to become the sole supplier of Favre autographed memorabilia for several years.
“We are not completely exclusive anymore,” Anderson explained. “There are other companies that also buy and sell his autograph.”
Anderson said that operations moved to Columbus due to the slow economy, as he and Thomason were in search of a smaller retail space where they could combine Fan 4 Ever with Anderson’s custom framing. He said the move was unrelated to Favre’s departure from Green Bay in 2008 after 17 seasons as a Packer.
“Favre leaving Green Bay actually didn’t impact us much at all,” he stated.
Fan 4 Ever handles all kinds of sports merchandise, including many other autographed items, but Anderson said that the store’s biggest sellers to this day, in order, are Favre’s Green Bay Packers items, Favre’s Minnesota Vikings items and Favre’s New York Jets items.
“He is just unbelievable when it comes to what people buy,” said Anderson.
“We wanted to downsize and go more online, so it didn’t really matter where we set up operation. I live here, so it was an easy decision,” he said.
Fan 4 Ever continues to sell Favre autographed items both retail and wholesale. Anderson said that Favre is featured less prominently than he was in the old Sun Prairie store. He said he is not sure if people realize that this small store has such a unique connection to Favre.
“Cardinal Framing is really what I came here to set up,” he stated.
He emphasized that Cardinal Framing handles any type of work.
“It doesn’t have to be sports related,” he said.
Anderson previously operated Deck the Walls, a custom framing shop, for 11 years in Madison’s East Towne Mall. He left that endeavor and got involved with Fan 4 Ever in 2004.
Anderson said he has met Favre more than 40 times.
“He is just a nice, ordinary guy,” he stated.
When asked about Favre going to the Vikings, Anderson said: “I was happy for him. I think he has certainly shown everybody that he can still play at a pretty high level.”
On Favre’s leaving Green Bay, he stated, “Both sides could have handled it much better.”
As for the Packers – they are just not quite the same for Anderson with Favre gone. He said he used to go to a lot of games, but that it is different for now.
“Brett’s not there – a little bit of the excitement is not there for me right now,” he said.
pscharf@capitalnewspapers.com