In the 1973 World Series, a 42 year-old man was playing centerfield for the New York Mets and was a mere shadow of his former self.
A person who made one of the most amazing catches in baseball history nineteen years earlier was now losing baseballs that he once could catch with no problem in the blinding Northern California sun against the Oakland Athletics.
And arguing about balls and strikes.
That centerfielder was none other than Wilie Mays, who spent the last two years of his Hall-of-Fame career as an undistinguished member of the 1973 New York Mets, who played in that year’s World Series.
And his final two years was a clear example of staying around too long in baseball and trying so hard to convince his peers that he could still play.
Thirty-three years later, the cries among the fans in Green Bay, according to a column that I just finished reading in the Chicago Tribune, is for Brett Favre to give up his quarterbacking chores to former Cal quarterback, Aaron Rodgers.
All this after being shut out of a game for the first time in 15 years and the first time in Brett Favre’s career on Sunday by the rival Chicago Bears.
For most of Favre’s career, any backup that was picked up by the Packers was only in Titletown for only a dinner and a movie.
And a date.
Aaron Brooks (Michael Vick’s cousin), Tim Couch, Matt Hasselback (now in Seattle), Bill Schroeder, and Akili Smith all waited their turn and never got it because first of all, Favre is as big of a legend in Green Bay as Robin Yount is in Milwaukee.
But Yount knew when it was time to hang up his glove.
And now, when you drafted a quarterback and possible heir apparent to a living legend and first-ballot Hall-of-Famer in Aaron Rodgers, you have to wonder this.
If I sit in the stands at Lambeau Field in a $200 seat, do I want to see a quarterback that is nothing more than a mere shadow of his former self?
Or do I want to see a glimpse of the future of the Packers?
Do I want to see TD passes from a legend or do I want to see some snaps from the heir apparent?
Think about it, Packers fans.
What do you want to see more of?
