No professional athlete likes to admit that he has played too long. There is too much money involved, rarely enough saved, and there is the eternal hope that age has not withered skills.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I don't think longevity gets enough credit when you're talking about a player.
If we carry on filling up the calendar, we keep on pushing the athlete, we shorten the athletes longevity. The risk is to shorten a career that could have lasted 10 years because the athlete is burnt out.
So many people feel that once you reach a certain age then it's time for you to retire from a sport you love. I don't think that's true at all. I think age should not dictate that.
Every athlete, I think, would like to play forever. They never want to acknowledge that they've lost a step or they can't quite do what they did before.
When you're an athlete and you play every day and are conditioning yourself every year, the aging is gradual.
I look at it this way. I'm not putting age limits on what I can do. As long as I can do the job to help the team win and feel like I'm playing at a high level, which I feel I can do for a long while, I'm going to play no matter what my age is.
He's going to be around a long, long time, if his body holds up. That's always a concern with a lot of players because of how much they play. A lot of guys can't handle it. But it looks like he can.
These days, to be seven years in one spot in any pro sport is a pretty long tenure.
I think one has to understand that there are stages in life, and that the life of an athlete has its limits. It's short, and then it stops, and sooner or later you have to accept that.
Any time a running back reaches the age of 31 or 32, he has to lose a step. No one is a freak of nature. No one is going to be able to take the pounding a running back has to take over a 10- or 12-year career and not lose a step.
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