The old guy does it again...he'll sleep good tonight

Brett Favre does it again.

Favre became the oldest quarterback to ever take the field in a post season pro football playoff game today and in doing so he looked like a young boy enjoying a playful day at the park as he led the Minnesota Vikings to a lopsided 34-3 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Minneapolis.

His four touchdown passes ignited the Vikings, who will now head for New Orleans and the NFC championship game next Sunday against the high-flying Saints. Favre, who at the age of 40, is just one win away from the Super Bowl. I'm sure the Saints will try, at least in their minds, to end Favre's career next Sunday.

And what a career it has been. Nineteen seasons! If...and it is a big if...Favre and the Vikings win next week and then compete in the Super Bowl, chances are the heralded quarterback could come close to and even surpass the 70,000 mark in career-passing yardage. My goodness, that is close to 40 miles! Talk about a bionic arm.

When Favre does finally retire, it is going to take him a while to slow his life down to a crawl like the rest of us humans. I know when I retired, I used to dream at night that I was still at work -- still processing paper work...still making sure I got the job done. I used to wake up, thinking this is silly. When Favre does hang it up, I can't imagine what he'll go through when he hits the sack every night. Before he finally goes to sleep, I wonder just how many times in his mind he will fade back to pass and unleash a toss down field. To be honest with you, I don't know how the pro athlete gets any sleep before a big game. As a young boy, I couldn't sleep before a Little League game. In high school, I couldn't sleep before a big baseball game. The same occurred in college. Of course, I never made it to the pros and I'm no Brett Favre, that's for sure. Even now, in my 60s, I'm still restless the night before a big game. After the game...no problem. I'm sure Favre will get a good night's sleep this evening. He certainly deserves it.