Best 'Old Guys' in Sports Right Now
Professional sports often belong to younger stars.
Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton is the reigning National Football League Most Valuable Player. Newton, 27 years old, is theoretically just now entering his physical prime. Stephen Curry, who recently won back-to-back National Basketball Association MVP honors, is 28 years old. Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane won the Premier League Golden Boot award, given out to the league's top scorer, before his 22nd birthday.
With all of that said, there are plenty of older stars and veterans not yet ready to pass figurative torches to the next generation of athletes.
Is there any visual evidence, as of the summer of 2016, that New England Patriots QB Tom Brady is slowing down? Brady's age suggests he should be in the twilight of his career, and yet he led the NFL in passing touchdowns last season. Brady will have some extra rest before he makes his debut in the upcoming campaign thanks to a suspension stemming from the "Deflategate" scandal.
Opposing defenses around the NFL must love that an extra chip now sits on Brady's shoulder.
Brady isn't the only older QB still able to excel in 2016. Arizona Cardinals QB Carson Palmer produced MVP-worthy numbers last season. You can set your watch to Drew Brees throwing at least 30 touchdown passes while leading the offense of the New Orleans Saints.
A pair of Major League Baseball veterans routinely crushed baseballs over outfield walls during the opening half of the 2016 season. Boston Red Sox icon David Ortiz says he is retiring this coming fall. Ortiz is enjoying one incredible walk-off year if that is, indeed, the case. Carlos Beltran, meanwhile, is pursuing what may be his final opportunity to win a World Series ring.
There's something oddly comforting about watching these types of veterans dominate games and chase titles. Perhaps it has something to do with nostalgia, or maybe we dislike change. Whatever the case, enjoy watching these 10 magnificent athletes while you can.
All 10 may be retired by the end of the decade.
David Villa: 34
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Major League Soccer is not the best league in all of world football. MLS, the North American top flight for the past two decades, still trails far behind the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga and other noteworthy competitions. To the league's credit, however, MLS makes positive strides to improve in overall quality with each offseason.
Acquiring a player such as forward David Villa when Villa had so much left in the tank is an example of such strides.
Villa, who turned 34 last December, experienced a roller-coaster debut season as a member of New York City FC in 2015. While Villa knocked home 18 goals last season, he often appeared to be the best player in a team filled with players unable to routinely hang with moderate competition, let alone with the best clubs in MLS. NYC FC finished the campaign well out of the playoff picture.
Things change quickly in MLS.
NYC FC currently sit atop the Eastern Conference standings 22 games into the 2016 campaign, and Villa arguably served as MLS' best player during the opening half of the season. Villa enters the final weekend of July as the league's leading scorer, having scored 13 goals in 22 matches per MLSSoccer.com. As ESPN FC staffers recently explained, nine of Villa's 13 tallies occurred in the first three months of the season.
Villa is everything any MLS team could want in a designated player. Yes, Villa possesses star power and name value among pockets of passionate fans, but he also produces on the pitch. Villa is already worth every dollar paid to him since signing with MLS and NYC FC.
Drew Brees: 37
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Unless you are a fan of the New Orleans Saints, you probably take Drew Brees for granted.
Did you know that Brees, per Pro Football Reference, led the NFL in passing yards in each of the past two seasons? The one-time Super Bowl MVP who turned 37 years old this past January sits atop the list in total passing yards among active players. Only three quarterbacks in history accumulated more passing yards than Brees, and Brees is not that far behind Dan Marino and the third spot on that list.
Don Banks of SI.com recently ranked Brees at No. 6 on his list of the best QBs heading into the 2016 NFL regular season:
"[Brees] led the NFL with 4,870 passing yards last season (in only 15 starts), throwing 32 touchdown passes with a 101.0 passer rating, and still elicited questions of whether his game might be in decline. Some slippage. Brees remains deadly accurate on deep balls, short passes and everything in between, and his knowledge of how to attack a defense is almost unparalleled. If the Saints’ retooled receiving corps is as good as advertised, Brees at 37 will again be one of the league’s most prolific passers, capable of putting his team on his shoulders and winning any game he starts.
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There is one other reason, besides his numbers, why you may want to consider drafting Brees for your fantasy football squads. Brees told ESPN staff writer Mike Triplett in late July that he last heard from the Saints about a new contract roughly three months ago. The Saints could not possibly allow Brees to enter the start of a contract year without locking him down for the duration of his career, right?
Dirk Nowitzki: 38
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Is Dallas Mavericks all-time great Dirk Nowitzki as good as former San Antonio Spurs power forward Tim Duncan?
Those who value championships ahead of any personal accomplishments may scoff at such a notion. Duncan, after all, retired with five NBA titles. Nowitzki won the only ring of his career back in 2011, and it does not appear that Dallas will overtake the Golden State Warriors in a playoff series anytime soon.
CBSSports.com writer Matt Moore compared the two earlier this month after Duncan announced his retirement:
"You can make a relevant case for Nowitzki given how important he was to the Mavericks, how great their 2007 season was before the disaster vs. Golden State, how legendary their 2011 championship was, and the like. But Nowitzki's defense was never anywhere close to Duncan's, and Duncan remained a crucial and vital reason for the Spurs' elite success from the time he was drafted until the time he retired.
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It's fair to say that Duncan is the better overall player for the two basketball legends' entire caree. Let's not, however, pretend that the two are equals as of July 2016.
Nowitzki still averages well over 15 points per game. In fact, that average rose from 17.3 for 2014-15 to 18.3 this past season according to Basketball-Reference.com. Duncan, per Basketball-Reference.com, saw his offensive production decrease in each of his final two seasons.
Duncan also played on better teams than Nowitzki throughout their careers. That was again the case this past season.
Duncan and Nowitzki share one thing in common: Both are future first-ballot Hall of Famers.
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Jaromir Jagr: 44
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Jaromir Jagr debuted in the National Hockey League during the 1990-91 season.
Since then, three different United States Presidents won two elections. The Florida Panthers, Jagr's current NHL employers, didn't exist when Jagr first skated as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Some of you reading may have no memory of a time when Jagr wasn't playing professionally either in North America or overseas.
Jagr isn't signed only because he is a legend living off of past performances. The veteran of 22 NHL seasons continues to contribute for Florida. Harvey Fialkov of the Sun-Sentinel wrote about Jagr this past May after the New York Islanders eliminated the Panthers from the playoffs and Jagr re-signed with Florida on a one-year deal:
""My body doesn't get tired,'' said Jagr, a physical fitness fanatic. "Of course, you're upset. It's more mental stuff [because] it didn't go the way I wanted it to, but physically I don't get tired.''
He was his usual durable self, playing in 79 of 82 games while averaging 17:05 ice time. Jagr's younger linemates, Aleksander Barkov, 20, and Jonathan Huberdeau, 22, missed 16 and six games respectively. The trio combined for 75 goals and 109 assists.
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In those 79 games, the most Jagr played in during a regular season since 2013-14 per ESPN.com, Jagr notched 27 goals and 39 assists. Jagr led the Panthers in points, and he was second on the team in goals and in assists.
Jagr is a once-in-a-generation player in that he continues to excel on the ice long after most ride off into the sunset. Our advice is that everyone should stop predicting when Jagr will retire until he announces that he's done.
Jagr's numbers last season indicate he has more than one year left in the tank.
Carlos Beltran: 39
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How will history remember Carlos Beltran?
Beltran became beloved among fans of the New York Mets after he signed with the Mets following the 2004 regular season. Big moments are what remain fresh in our memories, and Beltran's biggest at-bat of his stint with the Mets, and maybe of his entire career, occurred in Game 7 of the 2006 National League Championship Series. With a chance to send the Mets to extra innings, if not to the World Series, Beltran struck out looking to end the game and New York's season.
The Mets never again came as close to making it to a World Series with Beltran, and he still possesses no World Series hardware.
Beltran is now 39 years old, and he is having the best of his three seasons as a member of the New York Yankees. Per ESPN.com, Beltran leads the Yankees among everyday players in batting average, RBI, hits and OPS.
That, as Brendan Kuty of NJ.com and others have pointed out, makes Beltran possible trade bait before August 1 arrives.
The Yankees unofficially gave up on the 2016 season when the team dealt closer Aroldis Chapman to the Chicago Cubs. Kuty wrote on July 26 why the Chapman trade should be only the beginning of New York's fire sale:
"The Yankees woke up Tuesday 7 1/2 games behind in the American League East and 4 1/2 games behind in the race for the second Wild Card spot. Sure, they're 7-3 in their last 10 games, but their history this season don't suggest that will continue. Whenever the Yankees get on a roll, they slide back. Looking for ways to get better and younger for 2017 and beyond should be the priority.
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Beltran seemingly turned the clock back roughly five years beginning this past April, and he gave the Yankees all he could these past several months. The time for the two entities to part ways is now, when Beltran is worth something on the market to a legitimate contender.
Carson Palmer: 36
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One person prevented Arizona Cardinals QB Carson Palmer from coming close to winning NFL MVP honors for the 2015 season: Cam Newton.
Newton played like an unstoppable force for the majority of the regular season, completing his best year to date while guiding the Carolina Panthers to a 15-1 record. Newton and the Panthers then steamrolled the competition during the NFC Playoffs, and Carolina dominated Palmer and the Cardinals in the NFC Championship game. Nobody deserved the MVP award more than Newton.
Do not, however, lose sight of how well Palmer played in 2015.
Like Newton and two other QBs, Palmer finished the season with 35 passing touchdowns. Only Tom Brady bettered that mark. While Palmer did not flirt with taking the MVP award away from Newton, the 36-year-old did, as Marc Sessler of NFL.com explained, finish second behind Kansas City Chiefs safety Eric Berry in voting for the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award.
It is easy for casual fans to forget that serious knee injuries downed Palmer twice over the past decade. The first occurred during a playoff game back in January 2006. Palmer then suffered a torn ACL for the second time of his career in October 2014.
Nobody would have blamed Palmer for hanging his cleats up following that latest injury setback. Palmer instead returned to the field and played like a QB in the prime of his career.
Palmer looked awful in the postseason loss to the Panthers. Was that merely a one-off and a situation of a QB being overwhelmed by a tremendous defensive effort, or is it a sign that the Cardinals need to be thinking past Palmer if the club is to win a Super Bowl at some point in the next few years?
Palmer hopes to show it's the former beginning in September.
Michael Bisping: 37
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Michael Bisping is responsible for one of the best Ultimate Fighting Championship stories of the past 12 months.
Bisping, who turned 37 years old this past February, began 2016 without a single UFC title on his resume. That same month, the middleweight notched a victory over mixed martial arts icon Anderson Silva. Bisping and Silva fought a bloody and close encounter, a fight so nearly even that UFC president Dana White explained after the match that he believed Silva and not Bisping won, per UFC.
That win alone did not propel Bisping into the title picture. The situation changed in May, however, when an injury sidelined Chris Weidman weeks before Weidman's scheduled championship bout versus Luke Rockhold at UFC 199. Bisping stepped in and accepted the fight on short notice.
The rest, as the cliche goes, is history.
Bisping caught Rockhold with a left hook in the first round that rocked the then-champion. A second hook from Bisping floored Rockhold, and Bisping finished off Rockhold on the mat to win UFC gold for the first time in his career.
According to an ESPN.com piece produced by Reed Kuhn, Bisping's win over Rockhold is fourth on the list of "biggest betting upsets in UFC title fight history." Bisping may, however, find himself on the wrong end of history later this year if he and Dan Henderson compete for the UFC Middleweight Championship in the fall.
Henderson turns 46 this August.
Ray Allen: 41
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Young athletes everywhere can learn two lessons from NBA veteran Ray Allen: Keep yourself in phenomenal shape for as long as humanly possible and excel at one particular specialty in your sport.
Allen turned 41 years old earlier this summer. He last played in 2014 during the final days of LeBron James' run with the Miami Heat. Allen nevertheless made headlines in early July when ESPN's Chris Broussard reported that Allen is considering making a comeback. Allen, per Broussard, reached out to the reigning NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers and also to the Golden State Warriors.
Allen remains a free agent as of the posting of this piece.
You may remember that this is not the first time Allen ever toyed with such a decision. Following the 2013-14 NBA season, Allen left the door open for an NBA return up through March 2015 when, per the Associated Press (h/t NBA.com), Allen finally decided to take the rest of the campaign off and reevaluate his future. Allen, regarded as one of the best shooters in NBA history, did not sign for any team during the 2015-16 season.
We can't say with any certainty that Allen will ever again play in the NBA. That the possibility for another Allen comeback remains alive makes the two-time champion worthy of making this list. Allen would not, if he were to return at some point over the next nine months, be tasked with starting for some random team. Allen is likely only signing with a contender that will use him as a three-point specialist who maybe plays up to 25 minutes a game.
That's a nice way to earn a few million dollars if you can get the work.
David Ortiz: 40
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Don't hold out hope that Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz is considering sticking around for at least one more season because he is currently swinging the bat well. Per Tom Verducci of SI.com in the middle of July, Ortiz's knowing this is his last rodeo is a reason for his success at the plate in 2016.
"The reason [Ortiz] is having such a great year, he said, is because he knows it’s his last year.
“Because I don’t care,” he said. “My mind is free. There is no doubt in my mind that I can hit for the next couple of years at this highest level.”
Ortiz's feet and ankles ache. More than that, however, the grind of the game is beating him down. The schedule to accommodate television, particularly for a team with high ratings like the Red Sox, has grown more difficult over his two decades. “Every getaway game should be a day game,” he said.
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Ortiz should believe he can still excel in the Boston lineup past 2016. According to MLB.com, Ortiz smashed 24 home runs in his first 90 games. Big Papi leads all of MLB in doubles and sits second in RBI.
Ortiz may earn some MVP votes if the Red Sox win the American League East this fall.
It helps, of course, that Ortiz is a designated hitter who doesn't have to worry about playing first base over a dozen times each month. That reality does not, however, take anything away from Ortiz's impressive offensive production.
Ortiz is giving Boston fans one incredible, long goodbye if this is really his final season.
Tom Brady: 38
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New England Patriots starting QB Tom Brady turns 39 later this summer, before the start of the 2016 NFL regular season. You wouldn't know it by looking at Brady or by examining his statistics from last season.
Brady not only led the NFL with 36 passing touchdowns last season. He tossed only 7 interceptions, his fewest amount of picks since the 2010 campaign, according to ESPN.com. Brady appeared in each of New England's regular-season contests for the seventh consecutive year.
Age catches up with every sports legend. Peyton Manning, you'll remember, rapidly declined, throwing 55 touchdowns in 2013 only to then appear a shell of his former self two seasons later. Brady's physical decline is inevitable. Nobody plays forever.
Unlike other older QBs in the NFL today, Brady will have an extra month to prepare for a grueling season this time around.
It seems that the Deflategate matter, our long national football nightmare, is over and that Brady will serve a four-game suspension starting in Week 1. As Vinnie Iyer of SportingNews.com pointed out earlier in July, this could be a blessing for Brady and the Patriots.
"Brady won't lose his mental edge when he's not playing, and he'll ensure there's little physical rust when he returns. When Brady's out, he'll miss matchups against his former teammate Chandler Jones, Ndamukong Suh and J.J. Watt. His body will have extra time to recover, and it will keep him fresher for December and January, giving the Patriots a better chance to play in February.
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Brady is scheduled to start for the Patriots in Week 5 when New England is away to the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland is experiencing maybe its best-ever sports year. The Cavaliers, Lake Erie Monsters and AFC Cleveland are all current champions, and the Indians sit in first place in the American League Central.
Expect Cleveland's run of good fortune to end on October 9 when Brady takes the field at FirstEnergy Stadium.
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