Find MASN on your cable or satellite provider.

Brett Favre is a first ballot Hall of Fame quarterback. Nobody is more exciting than he is on Sunday, even at age 40.

But somewhere along the way, this good 'ole boy tough guy from Mississippi turned into a whiny, teary-eyed, wishy wash, mush mouth that most of us just wish would go away at this point.

For some reason I have developed this weird love-hate thing with Favre. I hate all his drama and baggage.

How many times is the guy going to go crying off the field at the end of the season? I'm sick of all the press conferences and questions regarding whether or not he's coming back.

At the same time, I love watching this guy play. What he did this year at age 40 is absurd.

His quarterback rating was the highest of his career; he had his best touchdown-to-interception ratio; and he was selected to his 11th Pro Bowl. He had a Barry Bonds-like year - minus the performance enhancing drugs.

All this, and his consecutive game streak reached 309 straight starts. With all due respect to Cal Ripken, Jr. and his remarkable achievement, Brett Favre is the ultimate iron man in the world of sports.

Just look at the beating he took on Sunday. He said he thought his ankle might have been broken after one bone crunching play. He already came into this season with a repaired biceps and a partially torn rotator cuff. If they are playing a game and Brett Favre is around, he's going to strap it up and play whether he's hurt or not.

And that's part of the problem. The man doesn't know how to go away. I think in his mind he's played his last game at least three or four times. But he's so damn tough and competitive that when the season rolls around, no matter how hard he's tried to convince himself that he's ready to hunt deer all winter, he can't seem to stay away.

How do you leave when you've had one of the best seasons of your career and led your team to a game away from the Super Bowl? How many guys play in the Pro Bowl and then retire? It's not like the window of opportunity for the Vikings is closed either. They still have Adrian Peterson in his prime. Their receivers are just starting to blossom. Their front four on defense is one of the best in football and should be ready to dominate for another year. The offensive line may need some help, but they can address that in the draft and in the offseason.

Favre did sign a two-year $25 million dollar deal. I'd love to see him come back and honor that commitment. But not if we have to go through the whole Favre saga for another offseason. If it's going to be a big to-do and another tap dance around offseason workouts and everything else, do us all a favor and call it a career. We don't want to see you resorting to playing catch with high school kids in the offseason to stay in shape. It's got to be a slap in the face to your teammates too. They don't want to spend the majority of their offseason at the team facility either. But it's part of being a good teammate and part of being on a team.

If Favre doesn't want to be a part of a team year-round then I hope he just lets the Vikings and the fans know now so we can all move on. If you want to play, say so. If not, go away quietly. Whatever you do Bret, don't make this another soap opera. Nobody wants another summer of 'As Brett Favre Turns'. Leave with some dignity, whenever you do finally hang it up.