Documentary to show tense Mark Gastineau-Brett Favre rift from '23

Former New York Jets star Mark Gastineau, who has carried a grudge against Brett Favre for two decades, confronted the Hall of Fame quarterback last year at a memorabilia show and accused him of deliberately taking a sack that cost Gastineau the NFL's single-season record.

It made for a tense and uncomfortable scene, captured on video. It appears in the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary "The New York Sack Exchange," which premieres 8 p.m. ET Friday (ESPN/ESPN+).

An angry Gastineau attended the memorabilia show in Chicago with two other members of the Jets' "Sack Exchange," a four-man defensive line that dominated the early 1980s. He approached an unsuspecting Favre at a table where the Green Bay Packers legend was signing autographs.

They shook hands. Favre mentioned how they had met once before.

"Yeah, right -- when you fell down for him," said Gastineau, alluding to former New York Giants star Michael Strahan -- the record breaker. "I'm going to get my sack back. I'm going to get my sack back, dude."

Favre looked bewildered.

"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 shot back. "You really hurt me, Brett."

At that point, Favre was escorted away by one of his handlers, leaving a seething Gastineau by himself. He was miked up by a camera crew, which was following him.

Reached by phone, Gastineau explained why he confronted Favre.

"I wanted to let him know it was a trash sack," he said.

"I've been wanting to do that for a long time -- many, many years," Gastineau added. "I've only got one more guy to go to" -- meaning Strahan, who Gastineau says he believes conspired with Favre on the record-breaking sack.

Gastineau had no idea Favre would be at the show until he and his wife, Jo Ann, arrived in Chicago and saw Favre's name on a list of attendees. Lyons, who was in Chicago and witnessed the confrontation, said he tried to convince his former teammate to stay away from Favre.

"I said, 'Mark, let it go, just let it go. That happened years ago,'" Lyons said in a phone interview. "But he had this little crazed look in his eye."

Later that day, Jo Ann Gastineau returned to Favre's table to smooth things over. She