Through the eyes of the American sports fan, obsessed with clean and clear narrative arc, it is maybe better when the body of an athlete begins to visibly break down. In a culture obsessed with seeing the receipts of not only labor, but the toll labor takes on a person, there is some romance in watching a sports career wind down neatly—especially if a person has been great for so long that they’ve flirted with immortality. Think Magic Johnson firing high-arcing three-pointers in the 1992 All-Star Game, slower and heavier than he was in his prime. Or the barely mobile shell of Peyton Manning, dragging himself through the 2015 NFL playoffs because the opportunity to go out on top was glowing on the horizon.
Carli Lloyd Is Not Yet Ready to Ride into the Sunset
