Aging Athletes

[BiteMeElmo]

I know we're not all sports fans, but we've all sat down in front of some televised sporting event, seen some aging athlete, and said, "Is he/she STILL going?" Some athletes refuse to give up, even after their prime. Sometimes to the point of embarrassment. Some of these people get honorable mention here. Which athletes do you think should just give up, or gave up way later in their career than they should have?

Others I can think of:

Gordie Howe (hockey)
Ben Johnson (Canadian sprinter)
Magic Johnson (basketball)

 

[Cardinal]

Michael Jordan.

 

[Belle]

I don't generally follow basketball, so this may be old news...

Caught Jay Leno the other night, and Dennis Rodman was talking about coming out of retirement... at 42.

 

[Richmond Jake]

John Franco, Emmitt Smith, Karl Malone. Guys, check into the old folks home, you're pitiful.

 

[nerudite]

Mark Messier is my number one... he needs to just retire already. I would have also said this about Adam Oates, but he was okay with the Ducks (gag!) last year.

Their example of Paul Coffey was an excellent one... he was one of the best defensemen of all time. Then he had those god awful stints with Philly and Carolina (and after that I just had to plain stop following his game... it was too depressing).

A lot of others that come to mind are goalies in general... it seems they hang on for dear life well past their prime (e.g. Fuhr). I sometimes feel this way about Belfour, but I keep hoping he'll prove me wrong.