Why do professional athletes have such a hard time doing what most other people look so forward to doing? Retiring!

The most recent athlete to publicly say goodbye on multiple occasions and later decide to have a change of heart is Brett Favre. After spending 16 seasons with the Green Bay Packers he announced his retirement on March 4th, 2008. He returned to play one season for the New York Jets and announced his retirement once again in February 2009. Not so fast...Favre's back yet again, this time as the field general for the Minnesota Vikings.

So why is it so difficult for athletes to say goodbye and actually mean it? New retirement.com list 4 common reasons why: age; addiction to lime light; addiction to the thrill of the game; depression after retirement.

Let's take a look at some of the better known retirement announcements that went astray.

Michael Jordon - Jordon, arguably the most talented NBA basketball player to ever play the game retired from the NBA and later decided to play baseball for Major League Baseball. He then went back to the NBA in a managerial role and finally returned once again to the play in the NBA in 2001.

Lance Armstrong- Returned to racing in 1998 after announcing his retirement and won 7 consecutive Tour de France tittles. Armstrong recently returned from retirement once again for another run at the Tour de France, he finished a respectable third.
Roger Clemens- Clemens has had a change of heart 3 times over the span of his career.

George Foreman- After the infamous "Rumble in the Jungle" bout in 1974 in which he loss to Muhammad Ali he retired. He returned to the ring in 1976, only to call it quits again in 1977. He returned to the ring 10 years later in 1988 and retired for the third time in 1998.

There probably aren't many sports fans that are caught off guard when it comes to professional fighters and their retirements and eventual return to the ring. This type of activity seems to be more of the norm than not.

For the rest of us, that time can't get here fast enough.

1 Comments

BillyBob said:

"He then went back to the NBA in a managerial role and finally returned once again to the play in the NBA in 2001."

No...he came back from his first retirement as a player and won 3 more championships. Then retired for a 2nd time. Then he came back in a managerial role...etc...

August 19, 2009 2:24 PM

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