Brett Favre is sure making us old folks feel good.

Hair graying? Don't know an iPhone from an IHOP? Struggle to use one of those World Wide Interweb thingies? Think a fine afternoon is spent mowing 20 acres of grass?

Don't you fret anymore. Favre is showing that life does indeed begin at 40.

The grizzled veteran, the silver fox, the crafty gunslinger carved up the shiny, young and polished Dallas Cowboys defense for four touchdowns in a 34-3 rout in the NFC playoffs Sunday.

Favre has led the Minnesota Vikings to one game away from the Super Bowl.

His four TD tosses doubled the touchdown total of all 40-year-old quarterbacks in the playoffs.

At the time when most QBs are mere backups or fragile coaches in shoulder pads, Favre is getting 'er done and beating up on the whippersnappers in the process.

As a dude getting long in the tooth myself (and getting some disturbing growth of gray hair), I found myself rooting for Favre.

I've always been a Favre fan, even through his waffling and indecision about playing, his I'm retired, I'm not retired, I'm retired, oh, wait, I'm not retired song and dance grew old.

Even though he hasn't.

Favre is timeless.

It got me thinking of other 40-plus athletes who looked Father Time in the face and laughed.

•

Barry Bonds*. I put an asterisk by Bonds name because, well, anything Bonds did after the age of 40 should have one.Two words: Ster-

oids.• Gordie Howe. Played professional hockey in five different decades, and performed at a high level into his 40s.The fact he did that in such a physical and violent sport says something about his ability.When most people are worried about falling on the ice and breaking a hip, Howe was skating across it and scoring goals.•

Randy Johnson. If anything, he had the best 40-and-over mullet.•

Greg Oden. Woops. He only looks 40.•

Julio Franco. Who knows how old he

really was. He could have been 80 for all we know.Franco's career had two parts: the young part when he was a flashy shortstop and the seasoned part when he returned from a two-year hiatus to collect 429 hits after the age of 40.He hit .309 at age 45 and played until he was 48.Maybe the Pirates should sign him now at 51 — allegedly.And the winner is ...•

Satchel Paige. The dude was a rookie in the major leagues at age 42. He pitched professionally for 40 years. He threw his last Big League pitch when he was 59.Most people at 59 can barely pick up a baseball let alone throw one.Now if Favre is still playing when he is 59 (don't count that out just yet), he will replace Paige as the best old dude in history.Mike Kilroy is a staff writer for the Butler Eagle