After posting my last article, I was convinced that I was ready to call it quits. My run on TSD was a good one: I have won 2 out of 4 courtroom debates, and am a whopping 3-1 on King of the Hills (Thanks again to all my Bleacher Fan brethren!).
Despite that success, I felt tired. However, having taken this time away from TSD since noon yesterday, I realized that I have a lot more left in me, so it gives me GREAT pleasure to announce that I am coming out of retirement to continue debating! Effective immediately, I am declaring myself once again eligible for participation in newest phenomenon that is The Sports Debates!
As my first act of business, I am honored to tell you that I have made a decision regarding the topic of whether or not the manner in which an athlete retires affects their legacy. I’m awarding this ‘W’ to…
Loyal Homer!!!!!
If I’m being completely honest, I came into this debate a little one-sided, actually in favor of Sports Geek. I was pretty convinced before I even heard this debate that a player’s exit from the game would HAVE to influence their legacy. How could a guy like Brett Fah-vruh, who retired from the Green Bay Packers as a hero, EVER be remembered as fondly after his retirement saga?
But, Loyal Homer hit the nail on the head with his argument, an argument I never even considered. When you ask who the greatest basketball player of all time was, the majority of the responses are “Michael Jordan.” When you think about guys like Jordan – or Hank Aaron, or Joe Namath – no one ever talks about how they retired (except maybe as a punch line). I actually had forgotten that Aaron retired as a Milwaukee Brewer!
Sports Geek raised some interesting counterpoints, such as the fact that Jordan’s stats may have been even greater had his career gone uninterrupted. However, thinking about “what might have been” with Jordan’s career does not change the fact that his career is still widely regarded as one of – if not THE – greatest in basketball. Consider Jim Brown or Barry Sanders, arguably two of the greatest running backs in professional football history, and two people who ended their career shockingly early. Both left fans reeling with “what might have been” thoughts running through their heads, but both are still remembered for amazing careers.
Sports Geek’s other counterpoint, the fact that a lesser percentage of people from Favre’s “neck of the woods” want to see him play some more, doesn’t truly address their thoughts regarding his career. Just because the good people of Hattiesburg, Mississippi don’t want to see Favre play another season, that doesn’t mean that they think less of his career.
Whether the decision is a faux retirement, staged only so that you can call your next fight a “comeback” in the hopes of making a little extra money (I’m talking to you, Floyd Mayweather, Jr.), or a refusal to admit you’ve no longer got it, it is what you did on the field that will ultimately be your legacy.
Read Loyal Homer and Sports Geek’s opinion.
Posted by Bleacher Fan 
