Americans are living longer and more productively these days. They have to, too, given the sorry state of their 401K funds.

So it’s not a total shock that Bill Snyder, 69, is going back to work at Kansas State.

The hugely successful Wildcats coach will attempt to reprise his glory days in Manhattan. He is coming out of retirement to replace Ron Prince.

Remember, though, that Snyder looked pretty haggard when he “retired” from coaching back in 2005.

“I’ve not been the kind of father that I should have been, nor the kind of husband,” Snyder told reporters at the time. “I don’t know if I can correct that, but I know what I can do. And believe me, I’m going to spend some time with them, an awful lot of it, because when I have suffered they have suffered.”

Apparently he is feeling friskier these days. Perhaps his family wants to get him out of the house. So he is going back to work.

Is this a desperate move by the K-State camp? Perhaps, but Missouri’s breakthrough in the Big 12 South has forced rival schools to respond.

Ask Bill Callahan about that. Frustrated Cornhusker boosters couldn’t coax Tom Osborne back to coaching, but Dr. Tom used his CEO powers to end the unfortunate West Coast Offense Era.

Nebraska went old school. Now K-State is going old school, too.

What’s next — Bill McCartney returning to Colorado?

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

Questions to ponder while wondering why anybody in their right mind would attend another Rams game this season:

• With Trent Green trying to play well past his expiration date, will Jim Haslett move Brock Berlin into the No. 2 role?
• Are Mizzou fans getting that sinking feeling watching Oklahoma step all over Texas Tech Saturday night? How in the world would MU slow that train in the Big 12 Championship Game?
• With a string of winnable home games with month, will the Missouri basketball team move back into the Top 25?

A REALLY BAD WEEKEND

Dodgers pitcher Chad Billingsley suffered a broken leg, underwent surgery, then celebrated by watching his beloved Notre Dame football team lose to (gulp) Syracuse.

Billingsley’s agent, former pitcher Dave Stewart, gave MLB.com an update:

“He said they had their first snow of the year last night and he came out the front door and just slipped. He was bummed at first when they told him it was broken. But after the surgery, he was fine.

“The doctors said it turned out to be much better than they originally thought, because they thought it might have been really bad. After the surgery, Chad felt well enough to watch his favorite college football team, Notre Dame. But the way that went [a one-point loss to Syracuse], I told him he should let the medication set in and go to sleep. He laughed.”

COMMERCIAL OF THE WEEK

Gotta love this one:

QUIPS ‘R US

Here is some of America’s leading sports pundits have been writing:

Steve Rosenbloom, ChicagoSports.com: “The Rams won the toss, but deferred their choice until the second half, and I’m thinking, presumably because they wanted to vote on whether they even wanted to play the second half. Whatever anybody said about the Lions goes for the Rams. Lousy, putrid, horrible, embarrassing, stupid — it all fits. That might be the only area where the Rams can’t lose.”

Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times: “Should Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech win next weekend (the Red Raiders host Baylor), there will be a three-way tie in the Big 12 South at 11-1, requiring the BCS standings to be used to determine which team plays Missouri in the Dec. 6 conference title game. If Oklahoma finishes ahead of Texas, goes on to beat Missouri, and then finishes No. 2 in the BCS ahead of No. 3 Texas, you won’t hear the end of it. Texas, you may recall, defeated Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. It was in all the papers, but unfortunately, the BCS computers can’t read.”

Gene Wojciechowski, ESPN.com, after Brett Favre led the Jets past the Titans:  “Favre has made a career of driving coaches nuts. He’s also made a career of winning MVPs, a Super Bowl and games like the one the Jets dominated Sunday at LP Field. Favre doesn’t manage games. He hates that term. Said Favre: ‘I think it’s a polite way of saying, ‘Don’t lose it for us.’’ With all due respect to the man Favre replaced, Chad Pennington, now starting for the Miami Dolphins, managed games. Nothing wrong with that. But any NFL player and coach will tell you there are times when a quarterback must win games. Favre helped do that Sunday.”

Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel: “I still don’t understand what the big deal is about ESPN getting the rights to the BCS, and TV critics complaining because the major bowl games will no longer be on ‘network’ television. Stop it. This would be like music critics complaining because Beyonce’s new album is not available on 8-track. Honestly, what sports fan doesn’t have cable?”

Mike Lupica, New York Daily News: “Wait a second: The drama about Brett Favre’s next retirement is starting up already? Doesn’t it seem like last year’s cliffhanger ending in Green Bay was only a couple of months ago?”

Dan Daly, Washington Times: “Did you see Tony Romo, the Cowboys’ heartthrob/quarterback, took a homeless man to the movies recently? Unless, of course, it was just Bill Belichick messin’ with him.”

Dwight Perry, Seattle Times: “FBI agents in Cincinnati arrested a 42-year-old man who they say threatened to blow up several local landmarks, including the Bengals’ stadium. Prosecutors, pointing to the team’s rap sheet and 1-9-1 record, fear they might have to move the trial out of Ohio to get a conviction.”

MEGAPHONE

“I get the luxury of playing with somebody who’s almost my dad’s age. I was watching him when I started growing my adult teeth. When my mom starting to help me walk, he was on the field playing.”

New York Jets nose tackle Kris Jenkins, talking up veteran quarterback Brett Favre to ESPN.com.