According to Him, Career in NFL Is a Dog’s Life

John McClain of the Houston Chronicle writes that Green Bay Packer quarterback Brett Favre is only 29, but he sounds as if he can already see the end of his playing career.

“You’re playing all the time, so it makes you feel a little bit old,” Favre said. “Football is kind of like dog years. A dog might be 80 years old, but he’s only been around six years.

“It’s kind of like that in football. If you play to 37 or 38 you’re considered really old. Most people [that age] are just starting the prime of their life in their jobs.”

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Trivia time: During the 1970s, there was a Canadian boxer named Horst Geisler who had a very unusual ring name. What was he known as?

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More appealing: Hubert Mizell in the St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times: “I wouldn’t walk across U.S. 19 to watch today’s tennis males, but the women’s game has mushrooming intrigue and bombast.

“The guys are right when they shout that women do not deserve equal Grand Slam purses. Women should get more.”

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Creepy park: Give the Pittsburgh Pirates credit for honesty. Their daily media notes include a 20-year flashback to the 1979 championship season. Sunday was the anniversary of a 13-inning home victory over New York that drew 7,621 fans.

The note sheet reported this postgame comment by former Pirate Richie Hebner, who was then playing for the Mets: “My father’s cemetery has more life than this place.”

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Tough guys: Bob Kravitz of the Rocky Mountain News writing on scarred, stitched and bruised hockey players:

“These guys look at other athletes, see the soccer players acting like they’ve been shot after a kick in the shins, or the whiny baseball and basketball players, and barely can contain their laughter.”

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Busted: The Associated Press wrap-up story on a troubled NHL team began this way: “The Pittsburgh Penguins wrote a memorable chapter in their intriguing history this season. Too bad for them it was Chapter 11.”

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Here we go again: Rick Gosselin of the Dallas Morning News reports that Seattle Seahawk wide receiver Joey Galloway has had 40-yard dash times ranging from 4.15 to 4.23 seconds.

If so, he’s the new “fastest man in the world.”

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Stable boy: Bernie Lincicome in the Chicago Tribune on Scottie Pippen’s struggles with the Houston Rockets:

“If Pippen was Tonto to [Michael] Jordan’s Lone Ranger here, in Houston he has been exposed as the guy who holds the horses.”

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Trivia answer: Geisler was billed as “Him.” He had 14 bouts, all of which ended in knockouts, eight by Him and six by opponents.

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And finally: Drivers soon will be allowed to grill anything they kill on Tennessee highways. A measure before Gov. Don Sundquist, the so-called “road-kill bill,” makes it legal for motorists to take home the deer they kill on state highways.

All the driver has to do is tell the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency or local authorities.

Small game like raccoons and possums are not affected by the legislation; motorists already can take them home.