Retirements Have Lost Their Luster

There was a time, not too long ago, when a retirement in sports meant the time had finally arrived for an athlete to move on to the next stretch of his life, leaving behind years of dedication, loyalty, and commitment to a franchise and its city. 

The retirement speech would be carried on all local, evening-news channels, as families would crowd around the television, listen in, and watch their home-team guy in his last team-related public appearance.

Emotions would run high for both the athlete retiring and for the fans who watched him go from being a lost and confused rookie to a city’s most loved representative.

That was then. This is now.

In today’s world, almost every player that announces retirement is met with skepticism by both fans and the media. No one takes retirement seriously anymore because the term “retirement” has become synonymous with “extended vacation” or “brief hiatus”.

It is hard for fans and media members to say goodbye and have it carry the same emotion as it normally would when in the back of their minds, they know they’ll probably see the athlete back on the field or court in a matter of months. It happened with Michael Jordan, Jerry Rice, and numerous others.

This fairly new trend doesn’t apply to players only. Coaches are guilty of it as well. Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs come to mind. Pat Riley and Phil Jackson are another two off the top of the head. 

What exactly has caused players and coaches to remove the finality aspect of retirement?

For one, players often come out of retirement to join a different team in search of the title that had eluded them pre-retirement. Junior Seau could never win it in San Diego, so he figured riding the coattails of Tom Brady might be the best way to add the final accolade to his career.

Another reason is often a player is too disappointed from a late-season loss that left him short of his goal and retires prematurely out of frustration. It’s similar to a kid throwing down his Xbox controller and swearing to never play again after getting beat by USC in the final three minutes off of some ludicrous fumble that only happens in the fourth quarter of NCAA 2009 for the fourth straight time! (Okay, so maybe that "kid" I'm referring to is me, and maybe I'm harboring some pent up rage, but you get the picture. Back to my point.)

Working through training camp and going through all the regular season and playoff games all over again seems too hard once the final horn has sounded. It is an understandable emotion.

We are seeing this with Brett Favre, and we will certainly see it again with different players and different sports. That is why it is of the utmost importance to take as much time as possible in deciding when it is the right time to go. 

Also, being one of the most famous people in a city and having thousands of fans cheering for you constantly, asking you for autographs and snapping pictures with you is flattering, but sometimes taken for granted. When all of that goes away a few months or a year after you have retired, it is a humbling experience. 

Imagine being told you are the best to do whatever it is that you do for 12 years, then suddenly having no one reminding you of your greatness at every moment. It’s a major shock to the system. 

However, an even bigger reason for coming back from retirement is that athletes are still humans, and humans are easily addicted. We are creatures of habit. When you have been going through the same routine for a decade or more, it becomes a part of whom you are. 

Having to start a new daily schedule when your mind and body are used to doing something else is a very difficult challenge. The athletes become addicts and the sport is their fix. 

Is there a "best way" to leave the game and retire? 

That depends on who you are and what you view as perfect. People often say that it’s best to go out on top, the way Michael Strahan has (for now at least) or John Elway did.

But what if you have another two good seasons left in you? Should you still retire just for the sake of leaving at the highest possible point?

There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to when one should retire. Each player’s career and circumstances are unique, and it is only that person and their family’s right to decide when it is the best time to retire. 

Fans often get to the point of obsession in their desire to have a player retire because they don’t want to see someone who was once untouchable get embarrassed or seem mortal.

The fans don’t want to see their favorite player hang on too long and instead hope for the perfect fairy tale ending to the career.

It’s painful to watch.

Even so, at the end of the day, the athlete has to decide when he’s ready to hang them up, and we as fans, media, or on goers should respect their right, while keeping a safe distance with our opinions.

Will retirements ever have the same meaning that they once did? 

Quite frankly, no. The only way that would be possible is if the next 15 or 20 superstars in each sport retired and stayed retired. Then, maybe, we could start taking retirements for what they really are. 

Similar to how a liar has to tell 100 truths to gain back the trust lost in one lie, it will take numerous legitimate retirements for fans to place a grain of salt in them during the coming years, and you can’t blame them. 

For those who have forgotten what an emotional retirement can feel like:

Look no further than July 4, 1939, the day Lou Gehrig retired. An excerpt from his retirement speech is as follows:

Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

…So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for.

The art of retirement; that is how it’s done.

To hear the audio of Gehrig’s retirement speech, as well as the full transcript, please click the link.