Retiring sports heroes

All my sports heroes* are retiring. Steffi Graf, one of my all-time favorite tennis players, won the French Open today and said she was never coming back. She’s 30 yo this year and might not be playing in too many more tournaments. Michael Jordan is gone. Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, and even Scottie Pippen aren’t far behind him. Wayne Gretsky is gone. The distressing thing is that there doesn’t seem to be anyone coming up to take their places.

Or maybe it’s just me looking at my childhood slowly slipping away and realizing I can never have it back the way it was.

* My definition of a hero is someone who is so good at something that it inspires me to be that good at something in my life.