Retirment...?

   

            

  When you think of retirement, what first comes to mind? Age 65? Social Security? Grandchildren? These are just some of things associated with retirement. When a professional athlete retires, they are not really necessarily retiring. You may be thinking, “What the hell is he talking about?” There are many of professional sports athletes who have done other jobs besides playing sports. Some of them are “Set for life”, just look at Peyton Manning, Kobe Bryant, and Derek Jeter. Peyton is set for life with Papa Johns, Kobe with Nike, and Jeter with Ford. The real question going around is who had the best retirement out of these 3 athletes? Honestly, it is hard to decide on this topic.

    Knowing all of these athletes, it is in their blood to win. They want to go out on top. For the 2012 season, Mariano Rivera was out for the season and that was the year in set out to retire. He said he was coming out in 2013 so he could go out on his own terms(and attempt at 1 more World Series). Peyton Manning only had 1 Super Bowl before the 2015 season. Midway through the season speculation was that he was going to retire at season’s end. He wasn’t playing like his normal self and he was getting older. Unlike Jeter or Kobe, he didn’t announce anything before or during the season. The Denver defense was beyond great this season, which is why the won the Super Bowl. Peyton figured that even though he was not on top of his game, he can ride this defense as much as he could without having his best season. At the end, they were Super Bowl Champions.

    At the very same time this Broncos team was riding high, we knew that the Lakers were not going to be very good this year, even if Kobe had a magical rebound of a season. Like Jeter before him, we knew that Kobe was not leaving the team he started with at the beginning of his career. There’s 2 things Kobe was about this season: 2^nd year of 25 million deal and the mentoring of these young players. He pushed through the season the best that he could do. Kobe knew he didn’t have much game left, but he still scored 60 in last game (even though it was on 50 shots)! It just so happens that Kobe was playing on the same night as the Warriors making history winning 73 games. Initially, people did not know which game to watch. The next morning more people tuned into the Kobe game. How can you not? 60 points and “Mumba Out!” Kobe had a game for the ages!! Definitely a way to go out.

   There are 2 things Kobe and Derek Jeter have in common: they stayed with 1 team for 20 years and they both have 5 championships. With that said, Jeter’s game to end his career couldn’t have been more scripted (not done on purpose) and unexpected. You may be thinking, “Kobe was more scripted than Jeter’s last game.” What I mean by this is that Jeter’ game is the way Jeter would have wanted to go out (but doing it Game 7 of the World Series.) It is the way that he wanted to do it. The reason why Jeter’s last game is the best was because he was so humble about it. There was no “Mumba Out” or “I’m going to go have a Bud.” He went out on the field, like any other day, to do his job.  He went out there to be “Mr. Clutch” without saying it.

   The great thing about all 3 of these athletes is that when it is time to go in their respective Hall of Fames in Cooperstown, Canton, and Springfield, they will be going on the first time. They are all winners and were at top of their games. They all finished in some top 10 categories in their sports.  I hope people of this generation realize what we are going to be missing. Derek Jeter is my all-time favorite athlete, I remember when he came up in 95 and his last game 2014. Peyton Manning is arguably the best quarterback of all time. Kobe is definitely a top 15, if not top 10 all-time basketball player. I remember watching Michael Jordan playing in those back to back finals against the Jazz and was like “WOW!” I would have loved to watch his career from beginning to end. We never know when we will come across these kind of athletes again. Yes we have Lebron James, but he doesn’t have the same likability that Kobe, Jeter or Peyton had when they played! Take advantage!