Athletes: To Retire or Not to Retire?

It seems like in the last decade or so athletes have tried to redefine what it actually means to "retire." I've seen a number of athletes who have left the game, and then come back to the game. Some to play for multiple years, and others to perhaps play one last year, only to retire again. Now there are athletes who are retiring multiple times! I don't claim to know everything about retiring, but isn't it the point to stay OUT of the game? What gets me is that the people who are doing these multiple retires are stellar athletes and hall-of-famers in their own right.

Now, to be fair, some have retired and unretired (if that's even a word) due to health reasons and I think that's a reasonable cause to return to the sport. I think about Alonzo Mourning who had kidney problems and needed to leave basketball for health reasons. He actually did return and was able to make a great impact to his team. I also think about Magic Johnson, who retired back in 1991 after announcing he had HIV. He returned to the NBA for a couple of brief stints, both as a player and as a coach. He even played on the 1992 Olympic basketball team. Then there was Mario Lemieux who retired once in 1997 for battling lymphoma, returning in 2000, then retiring again in 2006 for health reasons.

On the other hand, there are those who seem to not be able to make up their minds if they want to stay in or get out. The latest one being Brett Favre who apparently is going to play for the Minnesota Vikings. He retired from Green Bay a couple of years back and then came out of retirement to play for the New York Jets. He played all of one year and supposedly retired again. So now he's out of retirement? I mean come on people! Either you're in or out, hot or cold, just make up your mind!

Okay, time to be fair again. I can't imagine what it must be like to go into an industry you know you're only going to be in maximum twenty years or so. For pro athletes I'd imagine sports is their life, even though they only play half of the year or so. The problem is that you're so engaged in it that it's become like family. It's more than work, it's who you are. Then to leave that, you have to deal with what to do with your time, how to acclimate to your family, how to manage money. Hopefully you managed your money well during the time that you were working otherwise you'll need to look for work! For some athletes, broadcasting seems to be the next step from retirement. It's a way into the sport without being directly in the thick of the sport. For others, it's coaching - teaching others how to do what they were able to do. For some, it's education. Some athletes fall off the grid altogether. The psychology of the matter is that it's real-life transition that some athletes have a problem with.

Athletes, your fans want to enjoy your last days in your sport, especially if you were a stellar athlete, but we get tired of your moments of indecision. It takes an emotional toll on us and then it becomes a media circus of which we have little to no interest in being a part of. We enjoy the entertainment you've provided and want to continue to support you. But you will lose some of our support and respect if you have no valid reason of continuing this schizophrenia of decision-making. My advice - retire once and only once. Have a plan for what you're going to do after sports. You knew you weren't going to do this forever. You didn't enter in multiple times, so how are you going to exit multiple times?

Sources for this article:

Mario Lemieux - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Lemieux

Magic Johnson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Johnson

Alonzo Mourning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alonzo_Mourning