Thoughts About Retirement

This past NBA season was all about Kobe's last hurrah. Kind of a joke but the Lakers had nothing else going on anyway (and were playing to save their top 3 protected draft pick), so letting Kobe run roughshod of everyone one last time seemed fitting. Also fitting was that Tim Duncan did not give us a farewell tour, choosing to ride off into the sunset by issuing a minimal press release in August. Personally I thought Duncan had one year left in him, I thought his decline last year had more to do with changes in Spurs personnel than in his deterioration, but I can't say I'm surprised he decided to move on or that he treated his retirement like an afterthought. Kobe is perhaps the most self-important athlete of my lifetime (at least I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate anyone else being suggested for that title!) and watching him chuck 3 pointers at an embarrassing rate was predictable. Going for 60 in his final game was probably predictable: no one else had anything play for and if Kobe had gone 3-35, 6 turnovers, no assists or rebounds, well...that would've been every bit as fun to watch, so might as well keep feeding the guy who has never fed anyone else in his life. Who was the better NBA player all in all? I'll take Duncan. He was a quiet badass whereas Kobe was the ultimate attention hog. Both had top flight careers so frankly choosing your favorite personality is as good a tiebreaker as any.

Alex Rodriguez, one of the greatest baseball players of all time (whether you like it or not), was summarily drummed out of the Yankee lineup about a month ago and while no one would be shocked if he turned up on a spring training roster next year, his career is pretty much done. 697 home runs, only three other dudes in the history of the game hit that many, clearly ARod was one of the greats, right? Why does everybody hate ARod? He's a cheesy guy that needs to be loved (like Kobe) but is a rather low key personality that doesn't want to do stuff just to be liked (like Duncan). He's not an abrasive personality, he's not a shameless self-promoter, he doesn't endorse every product that comes down the pike, his private life is not something I know anything about, and, yes, he was busted for steroids but a) I couldn't care less and b) so was every other good player of his generation. So why does everybody hate ARod? I dunno but I will say when the career highlights were mentioned, I must confess I totally forgot he won 2 MVPs with the Yankees. I barely remember him with the Yankees though that was the bulk of his career. ARod is a guy that I tuned out so long ago that I didn't remember most of his best moments. Honestly, baseball is still in the steroid phase where its trying to undermine itself and demean its own stars for no real reason. ARod is going to be the face of the self-loathing period longer than the rest. I think he's a pretty good TV personality, we'll see how that changes the perceptions of his career over the next 20-30 years.

Michael Phelps won 14 more gold medals this summer in Rio and capped another brilliant Olympic run by announcing his retirement (for the 3rd time if I'm not mistaken). Yes, he's getting older, and, yes, he's already won 80 (roughly) gold medals, so maybe he's had his fill of guts and glory. But I gotta ask: why should he retire? He swims. That's the best exercise your body can get, why would he stop doing that? Why would his game deteriorate? Allen Iverson took a lot of abuse, you knew he'd wind down eventually; Deion Sanders had the best first step in the history of football and once that left him, you'd knew his game would suffer; Rafael Nadal throws everything he's got into returning every ball, you know these hard courts are going to shred his knees and ankles; even Tiger Woods played a game of repetitive motions that could lead to all kinds of nagging injuries. But why would Phelps ever deteriorate? He doesn't face defenders trying to physically stop him, there aren't any kooky herky jerky motions that might lead to muscle deficiencies or injuries, his body can still grow stronger (or at least not get weaker) for another decade or so (damn, he's not that old). I can understand that kids will come along and be better than him, than can happen. But I think he can still be better than what he's done so far, so why not keep coming back?

Meanwhile, Tim Tebow is trying to play baseball  after many years of NOT trying to play football. The guy who never really had a career--and yet never went away--is still trying to be something he's not. And what of Serena Williams? She's at that point where the up-and-comers of women's tennis are lining up to lay beat downs on her, how much of that do you think she'll endure? I suspect her retirement will come quickly and out of the blue probably in the next year.

I'm gonna miss Duncan. I guess I'll even miss Kobe. I'd already forgotten ARod before he left, I never thought twice about Tebow and honestly Serena is probably my all-time least favorite athlete. But I got a feeling Phelps will be back again (and again and again).