Saddest decline of a professional athlete.

oliverbrown wrote:

Who is Tom Brady? (I am serious).

Greetings from a Swedish Badass

Who is (insert incredibly famous American here)?

(Insert fake justification for “not knowing who it is” here)

Don’t like football too much, but this one was pretty lame.

Not sure if it was a decline or a descent, but Hope Solo's career ended in such an upheaval it was a bummer to witness. Wish she could have gone out gracefully.

.Trump2020OP-ther real one........ wrote:

Rosie Ruiz just wasn't the same runner after her Boston win. It's hard to live up to past glory.

T.M.A.D.D.H.A.S.F.N.E.

Your stupid acronym is annoying.

Mac Fleet and Leo Manzano

A lot of these pro athletes are making a killing financially in those last years, relative to the rest of their career, even if their skills have declined dramatically. Willie Mays, according to Baseball-Reference.com, made $165K in each of his final 2 years (age 41 and 42). That's significantly more than he was making during the years when he was one of the best players in history.

I think it's all too easy to say so-and-so should retire because it's sad to see them playing like that. Athletes have to think about their bank accounts. Unlike Brady, they aren't all so rich that it doesn't matter. They want to pad their bank accounts. What would you do in their position - retire as soon as your skills begin to decline so that you can begin working in the "real world" for normal money, or keep hanging on in a pro sport for a couple of million $?

MMA wrote:

Lots of professional fighters end up like this. BJ Penn is the most recent example to come to mind.

Roy Jones jr stands out...seemed he totally lost all his quickness after moving up to heavyweight and moving back down to light heavyweight

This thread reeks of Rojo starting it under a fake name.

ryan halls decline was pretty sad. You still wish he could come back

Dan Marino.

Couldn't run at all.

Couldn't throw long.

Couldn't throw an out pattern.

His last year he threw for 12 TD's and 17 Interceptions and fumbled 5 times.

His final game he only completed 16 of 41 (with 2 picks) and lost 62-7.

It was pitiful a display of ineptness.

Dan (Not Quite) The Man wrote:

Dan Marino.

Couldn't run at all.

Couldn't throw long.

Couldn't throw an out pattern.

His last year he threw for 12 TD's and 17 Interceptions and fumbled 5 times.

His final game he only completed 16 of 41 (with 2 picks) and lost 62-7.

It was pitiful a display of ineptness.

Sounds like what I'm seeing from Philip Rivers presently.

Henry Rono?

Ken Griffey Jr. was pretty rough. He reportedly fell asleep in the clubhouse during a game and missed out on a pinch hitting opportunity.

To whoever said Vince Carter, I don't really find his case to be sad. He seems to be happy to still be playing and occasionally throws down a dunk that hypes everyone up. Sure, he's not the same "half man, half amazing" Vince carter of 20 years ago, but he doesn't seem like a broken old man like Griffey did.

timetosaygoodbye wrote:

Looking at Tom Brady last night, it occurred to me that lots of great ones have not known when to hang up the spikes, gloves, balls, whatever.. Muhammed Ali and Mike Tyson come to mind. Who you got?

Jim Thorpe.

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM wrote:

This thread reeks of Rojo starting it under a fake name.

So the real correct answer is: Wejo.

chiefs nation wrote:

Sounds like what I'm seeing from Philip Rivers presently.

Good point.

Rivers could be the most overrated QB in the NFL right now,

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was just a shell of his former MVP self his last year or two. I think he struggled to get 10 points a game at the end.

Somebody mentioned Cain. Most of these other athletes had full careers and then got old. That is not sad. Cain went from world class to hobby jogger during her prime in the span of 1 year.

Ohteesee wrote:

I found it difficult to watch Wheating's last 2-3 years. So much talent, but couldn't seem to get it right.

the sad part was he ran a 3:30 at monaco, and just like ryan hall started thinking he was upper echelon talent....sorry dog but boston that year was fake and monaco is 2-3 seconds fake....so running 3:33's and feeling sh*tty about himself when he believed he was a legit 3:30 guy is what destroyed him.

ryan hall thought he was a legit 2:04 guy on a "tough" course, so he prob thought he was a 2:03 high guy say berlin...he wasnt, but he trained like he was and burnt himself out. prob the same thing with wheating.

"how come i cant do this workout im a 3:30 guy?"

Tron wrote:

MMA wrote:

Lots of professional fighters end up like this. BJ Penn is the most recent example to come to mind.

Roy Jones jr stands out...seemed he totally lost all his quickness after moving up to heavyweight and moving back down to light heavyweight

Mike Tyson too

George foreman maybe not