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Ending your career gracefully.....

cch5432
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cch5432

cch5432

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Perhaps the biggest weakness for great athletes (and I am speaking specifically about the players who have truly been dominant) is the ability to end a career gracefully. A few recent players come to mind- Favre (retirement fiasco), Shaq (went to a terrible team and is taking some of the blame for it...), Barry Bonds & Roger Clemens (steroids), and even a guy like Barry Sanders. Perhaps these superstars let their ego's get in the way.

 

Who are some DOMINANT players (in any sport) that have ended their career on a high note?

cch5432

cch5432

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I don't have a problem with how Barry Sanders ended his career.

 

Or any of them for that matter. It's their lives...their choices.

Thanks. Of course it is their decisions to make. I am not proposing a rule on how people end their careers.

 

As for Sanders, he cut his career short when he had a chance to become the greatest running back ever.

 

However, these players were truly great in their times and, for various reasons, their legacy has been a bit tarnished- perhaps they aren't remembered for their dominance, but instead for their downfall.

Jim Schue

Jim Schue

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Thanks. Of course it is their decisions to make. I am not proposing a rule on how people end their careers.

 

As for Sanders, he cut his career short when he had a chance to become the greatest running back ever.

 

However, these players were truly great in their times and, for various reasons, their legacy has been a bit tarnished- perhaps they aren't remembered for their dominance, but instead for their downfall.

 

I don't see how Sanders has somehow been tarnished. He left at his peak, and most anybody who was watching at the time (and is not a Starboys fan) knows he was the superior back to the record-holder.

halfback20

halfback20

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Thanks. Of course it is their decisions to make. I am not proposing a rule on how people end their careers.

 

As for Sanders, he cut his career short when he had a chance to become the greatest running back ever.

 

However, these players were truly great in their times and, for various reasons, their legacy has been a bit tarnished- perhaps they aren't remembered for their dominance, but instead for their downfall.

 

Barry Sanders made the choice that HE wanted to make. Obviously being known as the "greatest running back ever" wasn't as important to him as retiring. I can respect that. Again, I have zero problems with him retiring.

 

Sports are just a part of their lives. Sports are not their entire lives and I'm sure that many fans care more about these "legacies" more than the players themselves. If Barry Sanders cared what people thought of his career so much, he wouldn't have retired early. Obviously there were more important things than football for him.

 

And I never suggested that you were proposing a rule on how people end their careers. I was simply voicing my own opinion on the topic.

cch5432

cch5432

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I don't see how Sanders has somehow been tarnished. He left at his peak, and most anybody who was watching at the time (and is not a Starboys fan) knows he was the superior back to the record-holder.

 

I guess because he was barely 30 years old. He was a bad example though...

BigSpikes

BigSpikes

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Elway had the best finish IMO. I thought Tony Dungy's retirement was very graceful and professional as well-although he's a coach I really liked Dungy's goodbye.

mcpapa

mcpapa

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I'm not of the opinion that you have to go out "on a high note" to end a career gracefully. Sports are full of examples of dominant players who hung on too long. Jordan, Ali, Mays, Unitas come to mind.

 

When I think of sports legends that "bow out gracefully", I think of those who played their entire career that way; and I tend to think of those who spent an entire career with one franchise. Maybe that's unfair. Stan Musial, Brooks Robinson, Jerry West, David Robinson, Walter Payton, etc.

halfback20

halfback20

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I'm not of the opinion that you have to go out "on a high note" to end a career gracefully. Sports are full of examples of dominant players who hung on too long. Jordan, Ali, Mays, Unitas come to mind.

 

When I think of sports legends that "bow out gracefully", I think of those who played their entire career that way; and I tend to think of those who spent an entire career with one franchise. Maybe that's unfair. Stan Musial, Brooks Robinson, Jerry West, David Robinson, Walter Payton, etc.

 

Michael Strahan...:D

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