Aging Pro Athletes

Author: Alan Topalian

Legend has it that a young and undistinguished Julius Caesar, passing a statue of Alexander the Great, stopped, knelt before the likeness, and began to weep, ashamed at his accomplishments because, at the same age, Alexander had already conquered the known world. I know the feeling well.
I always knew the day would come, but I managed to remain in denial, as if running from the truth that I knew was unavoidable. I started to perceive its coming last year, when I saw a high school classmate on national TV starting at linebacker for BC. Now that I'm a senior, and I have to face this grim reality: Every football player I see performing on Saturday afternoons, and all those basketball stars we'll be watching in March are now at least as old as I am. My license to criticize or idolize any of them has now been permanently revoked. Last weekend, Auburn faced Georgia before 86,000 rabid fans and untold millions more watching on TV. I was sitting on a couch surrounded by empty bags of Doritos and cans of Pabst, holding a remote in one hand and a slice of pizza in the other, criticizing a running back when I experienced a sobering epiphany: my greatest collegiate athletic exploit was racking up four goals in an intramural hockey game. As sweet as that was (and believe me, it was exhilarating) it's absolutely ludicrous to condemn a college quarterback for throwing a few errant passes or a point guard for bricking a clutch three pointer. Chances are he's probably only 18 or 19, and within a year or two, he'll be making more money than I would earn in five lifetimes, even with this illustrious Middlebury education.
Pro athletes are different. Even when I'm 50, starring in a senior men's no-check hockey league in winter and slow-pitch softball beer league every spring, I'll be more than free to call the Red Sox bums and the Patriots ugly jerks. They are grown men playing kids' games, and being compensated quite nicely for it. Come to think of it, they deserve to be criticized just for that.
College sports are totally different, featuring actual kids playing kids games, being compensated with an education that they might not have been able to otherwise afford. Most will never make those millions in the pros, rendering that college education that much more invaluable. Watching them gives me a new perspective. If I had gone to Miami, I could be sitting next to Ken Dorsey in class or partying with diehard Hurricane fans like Luther Campbell from 2 Live Crew. They're college students just like us, whose faces appear on Sportscenter, and whose performances are subject to inconceivable amounts of scrutiny. Come March, should one of them cause me to lose out on March Madness winnings, hopefully I'll keep that in mind.