Brett Favre: Why All Athletes Need a "Not To Exceed Expiration Date" Clause

(Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

Have you ever pushed the "use by" date on your milk, salsa, or beer way past the limit and then tried to use that product and found it was moldy, spoiled, or flat? 

That will be what the Vikings experience over the next season in the NFL with their "expired" quarterback, Brett Favre.

Everyone knows what happens when you push that date too far and then end up wishing you hadn't opened the carton and let all that stink out. But, like trying to put that morning-after smell back in the bottle after devouring six greasy tacos and four beers too many, you just can't undo the olfactory damage.

A "putrid" metaphor for the Vikings and their "past expiration date" quarterback?

Maybe, but if they let this continue to fester over the rest of the NFL season, they are exposing their team and Favre's legacy to a rot that may never be recoverable. 

They will have effectively destroyed any chance for developing a future quarterback prospect. They will have allowed themselves to be the team that cares nothing about the future, just current ticket sales, and they will become the laughing stock of the league.

They have allowed the career of a once great player to circle the drain like other "well-past-their-prime" players that have streaked the bowl that also held it in just a bit too long.

I am not sure if this is an individual ego of a once-great player that has colored the view of a once-great franchise, or just a front office worried more about the almighty dollar than the integrity of their team and that of a player a year, or three, past his prime.

Whatever the reason, please Minnesota, do the honorable thing and pull the handle and kindly flush all this overripe sediment where it belongs before the stench becomes too much for all of us fans of the game and Favre to bear.

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