Without Regret

Looking back on the greats who have stepped away from the game ( of any professional sports really), I have contemplated how I am going to bow out. Will I be like Hershel Walker, and retire at my prime? Or be like Mike, and struggle to let it go? Or will I never really quit like George Foreman? I could just sell shoes, or grills. Maybe appear on TV shows, be an analysis, or be on a reality TV show. I have had second thoughts, even third and fourth thoughts, thus I haven't stepped away from the game.

I have had a lot of injuries as of late on the basketball court, and I am wondering if it is all worth it. I am not that good.... SIDE NOTE...In high school, we're playing in a tournament, we are down by 2. Coach calls a play for me to set a ball screen, then screen for our best shooter, who was waiting down on the block. I ran the play then gravitated to the three point line. Somehow, by design, the missed shot came right to me. There was hardly any time left. As I shot I heard Coach Williams yell, "NO!!!" and then his face became permanently red. I missed, front iron. Coach Williams told me I was never to shoot at the end of the game again.... BACK TO THE POST....., and getting hurt sucks. If it isn't my front tooth being jacked out of my face, by an elbow that seems to have come from Anderson Silva, it is my ankles, getting broken down into jello minus the gelatin-- or its my jaw, that feels like it is made of china, after it gets hammered by a forearm shiver. I am breaking down like a 1989 F-150. It was bound to happen, I just thought it would be later, like after I had developed a decent jumper, and had dunked it once; not to mention having a gut. This, issue, whatever you wanna call it (because it ain't age, I'm not even 24), came in the overnight express mail.

Here I am, sitting at a desk, with an ankle the size of Joan Foster's lips, and I am wondering if its all worth it. Is it worth it to throw on the Nike's and play? Is it worth paying 90 bucks for a pair of Kobe zooms, just to get my body broken? At the end of the day does it really matter, is my life enhanced because I played a pick-up game to 11?  What would I do instead though? Master Rock Band? Work on my impersonation of John Stamos? Am I ready to become a puppet of the people?