redblueamerica.com

The hints are pretty strong that Brett Favre is retiring from football.

I am not, admittedly, a huge sports fan, having let myself more or less retire from most viewing opportunities about a decade or so ago when I realized that a Kansas City Chiefs playoff loss or an early round exit by KU in the NCAA tournament would leave me depressed for days. I was taking it too seriously, and I decided to go cold turkey; I didn't want any part of my emotional life to depend on the running and jumping abilities of a 19-year-old in shorts.

But as I've gotten a little older -- I turn 35 in less than a month -- and my feet and knees have started to ache a little, I've taken satisfaction in the fact that people like Favre, Jason Kidd or Chris Webber were still playing pro sports at a high level. I watched all of them when I was in college -- skipped an evening class, in fact, to see Webber's infamous timeout in the national championship game -- and I figured that if they were still young enough to play, I was still young somehow.

Now Favre is retiring. Webber's hanging on, kind of. Kidd's still doing well, but who knows how long that will last?

Our society's obsession with youth is silly, of course. I'm enjoying my life more now than I ever did. But it's hard not to feel a little wistful, watching Favre depart the scene and know he is taking a little bit of my youth with him.