(Sports Network) - Hall of Fame outfielder Rickey Henderson was still stealing bases in the big leagues at the age of 44, and in a quest to continue doing what he was clearly born to do, played for seven different MLB teams after his 37th birthday.

One of his baseball contemporaries, Julio Franco, was still getting major league base hits at the age of 49.

In the NFL, future Hall of Famers like Johnny Unitas and Warren Moon were opening-day starters past their 40th birthday, and fellow QBs such as Vinny Testaverde and Doug Flutie were effective spot-starters into their 40s.

If a cross-section of the populace was arguing at the time that any of the above past-their-prime players had worn out their welcome, those voices were in the distinct minority.

Yes, their skills had diminished, but in most cases, the players were celebrated for their obvious love of the game, their will to compete, their fortitude and resolve in hanging in there against players that were young enough to be their children.

The same type of sentiment doesn't seem to exist for Brett Favre, who appears on the verge of signing with the Minnesota Vikings.

Favre still has his supporters, but even some of those who have loved to watch the guy play during the better part of the past two decades are greeting this latest episode with an eye-roll.

Mostly, it's because Favre has played the Boy Who Cried Wolf often enough to make us wish that the Wolf would just devour this guy already. We don't like it when our heroes lie to us (hear that, A-Rod?), and we can't stand it when they're indecisive, whether on or off the field.

Unlike the sycophants at ESPN, we're just a little bit sick of celebrating Favre's storied career, when we know that anything short of death or dismemberment fails to rule out the possibility of an un-retirement. There will be another Rocky sequel, my friends, and No. 4 will trot out on another NFL field. We'll just have to see whether Favre will require as much HGH to get the job done as Stallone did.

The rest of the anti-Favre sentiment derives from the fact that the league's all-time leading passer has been exposed in recent years as something less than the amiable hillbilly most of us were conned into believing he was. He may own a tractor, but he's as much a prima donna as pretty much any high- profile athlete of our time.

Complains about his supporting cast, coaches, GMs, has trouble communicating with coaches, teammates, and front office personnel, uses the media to leverage his self-serving contract demands, squabbles pettily with the organization that made him who he was...the only thing keeping middle America from hating Favre is a garish Italian suit and 50 pounds of diamond-encrusted jewelry.

As it is, most of middle America, and America in general, feels less hatred for Favre and more nausea over the way his continued antics have tarnished his legacy and tainted our image of him.

But that doesn't mean we should wish him to stay away.

Let's remember that Favre, who will turn 40 in October, is still capable of playing football at a reasonably high level. He looked pretty good through the first three months of 2008, when the Jets were 8-3 and Favre was in the discussion for league MVP honors. Then, a biceps injury took all the life off his fastball and seemed to impact his decision-making abilities.

The Vikings are going to want some assurances that Favre's arm is healed, but if they get them, is there any reason to believe he can't be at least as effective as he was during the first 11 games of 2008? Is there any reason to believe that, even at 75 percent of his powers, he's not better than Sage Rosenfels, Tarvaris Jackson, or John David Booty?

Favre was instrumental in taking the Jets from four wins to nine last year. A five-game improvement with the Vikings would make them 15-1, and if that happens, unless Gary Anderson is doing the kicking, I like their Super Bowl chances.

It's difficult on May 7, 2009, to greet Favre's "return" as the historic event that it is and could continue to be.

But on May 7, 2019, when Favre is long gone from the league (presumably) and the unseemliness of his tired offseason shenanigans has eroded, we'll be left with a Hall of Fame quarterback - whether he wins big as a Viking or he doesn't - who we know gave everything he had to give.

If the marriage with Minnesota doesn't happen, well, Favre isn't Jim Brown or Barry Sanders walking away in his prime, but you could sure compare his case to that of Joe Montana before he became a Kansas City Chief.

Montana, 37 years old and with an airtight Hall of Fame resume', could have moseyed off into the sunset when the 49ers made it clear that Steve Young was going to be their future. Instead, Montana went to Kansas City, took the Chiefs to the playoffs twice, and generated some magic that wasn't quite his 49ers magic, but was magic nonetheless.

The football world was better for Montana's two years in Kansas City, just like we'll be better for watching Favre as a Viking. The chapter gave both Montana and the NFL public some closure, and with the Minnesota opportunity hanging out there, there's no way we'll get closure now if Favre stays on the farm in Mississippi.

You wouldn't want to look back in 10 years time and wonder what might have happened had the best quarterback of his generation seized on a chance to play with the potential No. 1 running back of his generation, Adrian Peterson, a couple of talented receivers in Percy Harvin and Bernard Berrian, behind a better offensive line than he's had since the glory years with Green Bay, and alongside a high-quality defense.

There might not be more glory in Favre's future, but there's no un-ringing this bell either.



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