The (Sports) Life Cycle – A Memoir

In a little over two months, I will be 26 years old. 

I'm not quite sure where the time went, but lately, I've often found myself thinking about my life and how it has always been connected to the world of sports.

In 25 years, I've gone from hitting a ball off a tee, to actually being half-way decent at baseball, to now – getting winded legging out a double in a softball league that meets once a week. 

As a kid it always seemed unbelievable, but I'm beginning to understand how and why the players I grew up watching and/or idolizing are now nearing their collective extinction thanks to all of this lost time.

I watched Antoine Walker at the FleetCenter (aka the Shawmut Center, aka the TD Banknorth Garden, aka the TD Garden) wiggle the Celtics to the Eastern Conference Finals in ’01-’02. 

Today?

Walker is an overweight slumlord who just recently was cut from the Guaynabo Mets in his Puerto Rican basketball league. 

I’ve watched Ken Griffey Junior’s for his entire career. 

When I first started watching baseball Griffey was the most exciting talent in the game.  He was put on Major League Baseball’s All-Century Team in 1999, and his stats from real life actually rivaled the numbers I could get from him while playing Ken Griffey Jr. Baseball ’95 on my Super NES.   

Today?

He falls asleep in the clubhouse and when he’s at the plate he looks more like Jose Offerman did in the latter stages of his career (minus the assaults.)

I remember many aspects of my life based on what's happening in the sports world at that given time. 

Based on this connection, what do I expect the future to hold for my favorite current players’ as they move towards retirement?

Simultaneously, what will be happening in my personal life?

I've got a few predictions:

Prediction #1: Tom Brady

There's little doubt that Tom Brady is the biggest icon to emerge in the current era in New England sports:

Three championships, one MVP and an 18-0 season (at least that’s how I remember it). 

My hope is that Brady is akin to Richard Alpert from Lost and he doesn’t age at all.  This would ensure that I won't have to deal with the certain pain I am going to feel when Tom finally does decide to hang ‘em up. 

But of course, Brady was never brought to “The Island,” and someday – he will leave the Patriots behind. 

Although Brady has said before that he would like to play until he’s 40, that’s pushing it.  Let’s say he plays for another, say, six years?

Two more championships, one more baby from a supermodel celebrity – all by the time the guy is 38. 

Not to shabby.

Six years from now? I’ll be 32.  My beer belly will have gotten just big enough, I'll decide I need to start exercising.  This will be a major part of my life between the second week in February (once my Superbowl hangover has been cured) and the first week in March (before March Madness starts picking up). 

Man, those three weeks are gonna be rough.

Prediction #2: Rajon Rondo

Rondo has become the leader of the Boston Celtics this postseason. 

Paul Pierce is absolutely my favorite Celtic, but the things Rondo has done on the court the past two months have been incredible. 

Rondo is 24 and has at least 11 or 12 more years before retirement.  At that point,  the Celtics roster will surely look drastically different (it probably won't  even include Rondo) and by this time, Rasheed Wallace will have missed an additional 17,000 3-point attempts with only one year left on the contract Danny Ainge signed last summer.

With Rondo, Deron Williams, Chris Paul, Derek Rose, John Wall and Devin Harris–the NBA could have the strongest core of point guards in league history.

When Rondo retires, I'll have a kid old enough that he or she is getting on the school bus every morning.  I’ll help with homework and art projects.  In return, they will be old enough to go to the kitchen to make their dad a sandwich and bring him a cold one. 

They might be six, but we'll just call it "rent."

Prediction #3: Kevin Durant

Durant is my favorite non-Boston athlete today. 

He’s a pure shooter who has the same kind of quiet swagger that Ken Griffey Jr. did when he started to break out with the Mariners.  Durant is barely old enough to buy a beer, but I’m sure he and Eric Maynor can drink me under the table. 

Side-note: How funny would it be to see Durant, Maynor and Nenad Krstic sitting around the a table playing drinking games? It would last until around 8:30 when Krstic would pass out and Durant and Maynard would sharpie him.

Durant could conceivably play for another 17 years, which puts me in my early 40’s. 

By then I will probably have been laid off at least once, blown an awkward amount of money playing blackjack and betting on sports.  My kid and I will be playing catch in the yard, which of course, means I will pick up my old chewing tobacco habit.  I can only dream, right?

Life (and Sports) Goes On…

Still, one thing is certain:

My kids will one day root for the"Ken Griffey Jr" of their era, and I will cheer along with them, allowing them to learn for themselves that even the most talented players- even the brightest careers, come to an end.