Retirement

One definition from dictionary.com is: the act of retiring or of leaving one's job, career, or occupation permanently, usually because of age.

So when should retirement take place? The age reason can be looked at a couple of ways. One is that as we get older our skills diminish which leads to a lack of production in whatever field of work we are in. Another way age enters the equation is at some point we probably want to enjoy what time we have left in this world without having to get up and go to work every day. I want to focus on retirement from the standpoint of making a decision based on factors other than just reaching a certain age.

Let’s look at the professional athlete. Age is usually a determining factor only because as our bodies get older the physical skills needed to perform at a professional level diminish. There is no set number that athletes are required to retire when they reach that mark. 40 is an age that gets looked at as a “time to hang it up” age. Then you have guys like Tom Brady who reach that age and continue to perform at a high level with no real end in sight. I’ve heard Mike Golic on the Mike and Mike show (now Golic and Wingo) on ESPN say that some guys get to retire when they want to and other guys get retired by not being able to find a team willing to employ them (something like that). As fans we often want our great players to go out on top. Walk off the field after winning a championship and ride off into the sunset. However, sometimes it doesn’t happen that way. It is very difficult for a successful athlete to walk away from a sport when they feel they are still able to have success or at least help a team have success. A few greats that come to mind are Willie Mays, Chipper Jones, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Dan Marino, John Elway, and Brett Favre. Seeing Willie Mays finishing his Hall of Fame career in a uniform other than the Giants just didn’t seem right. Same with Montana, Rice, and Favre. It would have felt better to the fans if those guys would have finished their careers with the teams that they were most successful with. On the other hand, Chipper Jones, Dan Marino, and John Elway did retire with the teams they were with that made them famous. Those situations just seem to have a nice packaged ending. Of course Elway’s was the best of these because he left after winning back to back Super Bowls. The point being that each of these highly successful athletes retired when they thought it was time. That should be the determining factor when it comes to retirement. When you get to make the decision then it’s the right one. I haven’t mentioned anything about money. The potentially millions of dollars that might have to be turned down in retirement can’t be overlooked but putting that aside I am more concerned about when is it “time” to retire. If Chipper wanted to find a team where he could bat 8^th and come off the bench and play a few games then more power to him. Once again, we want our greats to retire at the right time, we just have to hope their time and out time are in sync.

Why even talk about retirement anyway. Well, it has come to my attention that another blogger out there is contemplating retirement. Back in the day when the newspaper was our main source of information you would have reporters and columnists. The reporters were really supposed to just give us the facts and leave their opinions out of it. After putting your time as a reporter some exceptional writers would get the opportunity to write a column which allowed for more of an opinion on a subject. Obviously truth was important if you wanted to back up your point but you did have the freedom to insert your opinions into the article. With the advent of the internet anyone with a computer and a connection could become a columnist (blogger). In the newspaper world there were editors who at least in theory were supposed to keep writers in line. In the blogging world that position doesn’t exist. It becomes the reader’s responsibility to filter through the junk and pull out the meaningful material. My initial purpose for entering the blogging world was to help keep one certain blogger in check. Spewing all kinds of venom on the internet cannot be allowed to go unchecked. What I discovered is that it takes quite a commitment to post your thoughts (no matter how ridiculous they are) on a regular basis. Since widespread access to the internet is an invention that happened in my adult life, it is hard for me to quantify what defines a successful run as a blogger. If for instance, you have had a run of five or more years, 1500 posts, are linked to multiple other blogs, and have a worldwide following, then perhaps that could be considered a successful blogging career. Hall of Fame??? Maybe. Maybe it’s time to retire, or maybe it’s time to bat 8^th and come off the bench occasionally. The demands of recognizing everybody’s birthday, anniversary, or other special occasion can give way to just posting meaningful thoughts on an as needed basis. Of course since we can be anybody we want to be on the internet maybe a retirement followed by a rebirth as someone else would be in order. All things to think about as retirement is considered. Either way, make the decision that works for you, the fans can and will get over it.

Sonny