Pennington Can still Pen the Proper Ending to His Underrated Career

"Owww."

Athletes sacrifice their bodies for the good of their teams all the time. But, at this point, it would seem Miami Dolphins quarterback Chad Pennington is actually hoping to become a one-armed human-robotic freak over ever actually winning anything of value in the NFL.

A general rule of thumb would be if you're making a bid for a third trophy in your career and it's for NFL Comeback Player of the Year-honours, you probably shouldn't be tempting fate to give you a chance at a fourth. And, yet, Pennington, who suffered his fourth serious shoulder injury in November, is still contemplating returning after his scheduled surgery on Friday and eventual rehabilitation. 

There's got to be a point, one would think, where he would get sick of constantly having to pop painkillers, unless these injuries are just a cover to feed his ever-growing addiction to the stuff. It's no doubt a stretch, seeing as Hollywood sob stories aren't even crafted this well:

After triumphantly regaining the starting job in Miami over teammate Chad Henne, Pennington remained healthy for just one play in a November game against the Tennessee Titans. On the second play, he separated his shoulder. On the third, after popping it back in, he completed a 19-yard pass. There was no fourth.

Maybe Pennington should take a cue and a hint from the unfortunate sequence of events and realize all the extra effort exhausted in trying to test the physical limitations of the human body is all for naught. I mean, for a Dolphin, he ain't too bright. Of course, he was once a New York Jet, so that may explain some things.

Pennington is an unsung QB if there ever was one. He has a career passing percentage of 66%, which, surprisingly, is the all-time best. But when you've only started four games in the last two seasons, all the signs are pointing to retirement. At 34 years of age, no one can realistically call it an early one. Pennington has withstood the test of time long enough. Now it's time for him to walk into the sunset and count his blessings that a wonky shoulder is the worst he has to live with after an 11-year career that unfortunately didn't last nearly that long.

Look at it this way: no one wants to be another Brett Favre and hang on too late, thereby becoming the punchline of every football joke known to man. And that's even considering how returning and likely still ending up a better passer despite a bad throwing arm would constitute well-deserved revenge for having the starting job stolen away from him in New York once upon a time. Favre's made his bed (insert aforementioned punchline here), but that doesn't mean Pennington can't take a well-deserved rest in another.