DeRae Jones

Newton’s Impending Farewell

The internet will tell you Barry Bonds retired in 2007, when he last played a game. But there was that moment in 2008 when he proclaimed to the baseball world, “I’m not retired”. Unfortunately for Bonds, baseball had already determined otherwise. A classic example of the game being done with you before you are done with the game. Something we see often, most notably the black quarterback. It seems we only hear about black quarterbacks retiring years after the phone stops ringing. Similar to the line from the old G.I. Joe cartoon I watched as a kid, they don’t retire, they just fade away. See Kordell Stewart, whose retirement came seven years after his final game. See Aaron Brooks, Michael Vick, Daunte Culpepper, Byron Leftwich, David Garrard, and even Colin Kaepernick. How is it that the same athletes that changed the way the position has been played and added so much entertainment value to the sport always seem to have their careers end so quietly and uneventful?