Professionals Find It Hard To Walk Away

Tuesday morning, Brett Favre came out of retirement for what seemed like the hundredth time. In recent years, he is one of many big name athletes to struggle with the retired life. This begs the question: Why can't some athletes stay retired?

In a recent poll on espn.com, the same question was asked. The four choices we had to choose were 1) competitive fire, 2) Ego, 3) Fear of Boredom, 4) Money.  The majority of Americans said that athletes come out of retirement due to their competitive fire. Apparently these athletes feel that they can still compete at the highest level even though their bodies and hair color tell a different story.  

Ego was the second most popular choice, and yes I believe rightfully so. Ego is a very big stain on many professional athletes these days. But clearly the older you get, the more trouble you're going to have boosting stats, with the exception of the Single Season Steroid King Barry Bonds. Brett Favre threw 22 INTs last year, he knows he's not what he used to be.

Fear of Boredom slotted in at number 3. Fear of Boredom? Seriously? Retired 40 year old multi-millionaire's do not get bored. I simply refuse to believe that Brett Favre couldn't get a pick-up game of football going, or that Roger Clemens felt upset because his HGH shots weren't being used to there fullest, nor do I believe that Lance Armstrong ran out of roads to ride on. 

Unbelievably, "Money" was the least popular choice. Money, what the world runs on, what everyone must have to survive, what athletes get an absurd amount of in return for their services, why athlete's sign endorsement deals, why kids skip college to go pro, why athletes come out of retirement. Money. Simply put, money is why Brett Favre came out of retirement.  A guaranteed $12 million this year and $13 million next year for a quarterback who last season lead a team straight to the off season.

In 2007 when Roger Clemens came out of retirement again, a statistic came out that showed how much per pitch he was making. If he threw 80 pitches in a game, he was making over $9,000 a pitch. So, in 5 innings (we'll assume he had to work a little), Roger Clemens would've made more money than 96% of American's make in a fiscal year.  Was he worth it? 

We all know why Lance Armstrong came out of retirement. But then again he also told us why: Money. Professional Cyclists don't make nearly as much as athletes from baseball, basketball, or football, but Lance is a different story, all together. His post-retirement funds are all headed to support cancer research. That's a very noble cause and yet proves my point.

We all know the Vikings aren't going to win the Super Bowl. In fact, I bet they don't even make the playoffs. The Minnesota Vikings organization apparently didn't watch the last half of the Jets' season in 2008. If they would have, they would've witnessed a 38 year old quarterback surrender to old age. If he didn't have what it took after 11 games last season, if he didn't have what it took to attend 2-a-days 3 weeks ago, what makes Brett Favre believe he has it now? I can give you exactly 25 million reasons he thinks he has it now, and they all have a $ behind them.