New age thinking

Pro athletes redefine concept of "old" in sports

Sports Illustrated senior writer Phil Taylor touches on a Hot Button issue each Monday on CNNSI.com. After you read Phil's take, give us yours.

The old guys struck again last weekend. This time it was Oakland Raiders receiver Jerry Rice, 39, who carved up the New York Jets' secondary like a HoneyBaked Ham in a wild-card playoff game on Saturday. Rice was being covered by players who were in grade school when he broke into the league with the San Francisco 49ers 17 years ago, and with nine catches for 183 yards and a touchdown, he made them look as if they were still in grade school. He's just another player pushing 40 and playing like he's 30, just another old guy.

Funny how the old guys keep popping up at the big moments. Pitchers Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, Sports Illustrated's 2001 co-Sportsmen of the Year, are a couple of geezers who basically won the World Series for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Johnson's 38 and Schilling is 35. There's an old guy who wears No. 23 and has transformed the Washington Wizards from laughingstocks to playoff contenders. This particular old guy will turn 39 in May, but he says he's coming back for at least one more season (when he'll be an even older guy.) We're all about youth in pro sports, just as we are in nearly every other aspect of American society. Teams are always looking for good young players, constantly committing to youth movements. When we worry, we worry about the young, wondering what will become of all the kids leaving school early to enter the pros. But maybe we've been paying so much attention to the influx of kids that we've overlooked another trend: the old guy trend.

Pro athletes, especially the elite ones, are extending their careers and playing at a high level longer than ever before. It's not just Rice and Schilling and Johnson and Michael Jordan. It's Barry Bonds, 38, and Roger Clemens, 40, and Rickey Henderson, 41, and John Stockton, 39, and Karl Malone, 38. They are redefining the concept of "old" in sports. A few years ago an NBA general manager told me not to listen to rumors that his team was interested in trading for a certain aging guard. "The guy's 34, which means you can just about stick a fork in him," the GM said. "After 35, a guard in this league is like an old racehorse. You might as well put him out to stud." That statement now qualifies as old thinking. Nolan Ryan was once considered a freak of nature when he was still firing 99 mph fastballs well into his 40s, but here is Johnson, still throwing gas and showing no signs of slowing down. Never mind Bonds' 73 home runs last season; the mere fact that he had the best year of his career at his advanced age is something that 10 years ago would have been considered impossible.

But now, with athletes taking care of their bodies year-round, with advanced training techniques and greater emphasis on nutrition, chances are that more and more players will last as long as Rice and Bonds and Jordan. Someday soon we'll probably see a 45-year-old still at or near the top of his game. Athletes who are really devoted to serious training, such as Kobe Bryant and Nomar Garciaparra, might play long enough to be grandfathers. More power to the old guys. Maybe it's because my own hair is graying, but it's heartening to see so many athletes extending their stays at the top of the mountain before they are considered over the hill.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Phil Taylor writes about a Hot Button issue every Monday on CNNSI.com.

The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.

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