PRO FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : Favre More in Tune Now

Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre was asked about the biggest difference between him and Dallas’ Troy Aikman going into today’s NFC championship game between the Packers and Cowboys.

“Me living in Green Bay and him living in Dallas is the biggest difference,” he said. “I’m playing football, not doing too much, and he’s down there hanging around country singers.”

Favre paused.

“If I’m in Dallas, I’m doing the same thing, hanging around country singers,” he said. “I know, because I was in Atlanta doing the same thing, and that’s what got me traded.”

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Favre will never forget the first time he faced Deion Sanders.

“It was my freshman year at Southern Mississippi, Deion’s Florida State team beat us, 61-10,” he said.

And he will never forget the second time.

“It was my sophomore year, and I threw a touchdown pass . . . right to him,” Favre said. “Hit him right in the chest. He never had to move. Then he took off and scored and did his little dance and everything.”

Sanders on Favre: “He’s an honest guy who tells it like it is; we’re a lot alike in that area. I’m Prime Time . . . and Brett is Country Time.”

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Favre said he wanted to be careful about saying anything bad about Cowboy owner Jerry Jones, “because maybe eight years from now, I’ll be wanting to play with his team.”

But, well, what the heck . . .

“I don’t know how much Jerry Jones knows about football,” Favre said. “Maybe a lot, maybe nothing at all. But I do know that he is always over there on the sidelines with stars, drinking champagne, wearing nice suits, talking to his players during the games.”

Favre continued with his “careful” comments.

“The whole thing seems like kind of a circus to him, and it shouldn’t be that way,” he said. “I don’t see how they can concentrate on anything.”

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If the Cowboys win today, it will not be Coach Barry Switzer’s first trip to the Super Bowl, contrary to popular opinion.

He said he has been once before, as a spectator in New Orleans.

“And I’m never going back like that again,” he said. “All the crowds, the traffic . . . next time I go back, I’d rather be riding the bus.”

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Fritz Shurmur, Packer defensive coordinator who began his coaching career in 1956 at tiny Albion College in Michigan, talked about his reputation for fooling opponents in big games.

Last season in the first round of the playoffs, his Packers held the Detroit Lions’ Barry Sanders to minus-one yards in 13 carries. Then last week, the defense shut down the San Francisco 49ers’ offense of the ‘90s.

“My adrenaline still gets going a little extra for big games; I guess a guy from little Albion College is still in awe of those things,” Shurmur said. “You still wonder whether you should be there or not. And I guess you want to prove that you should be.”

If the Packers upset the Cowboys, Shurmur, 63, should be a candidate for his first head coaching job somewhere.

Since Arizona Cardinal owner Bill Bidwill said that allowing Shurmur to leave after the 1993 season was the biggest mistake he has ever made--that’s saying something for Bidwill--Shurmur could receive consideration there.