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Aging Superstars

TheHype posted 2/13/2009 from ballhype.com

Ah, youth.

Remember that feeling of invincibility?

When you could play basketball outdoors from two in the afternoon ‘til 11 at night and still beg your teammates to stay for one more game?

When you could keep playing ultimate frisbee even in a downpour?

When you could eat 33 hotdogs in one sitting?

Or, when you could do a simple dunk on a breakaway?

Those days are over my friend. Or should I say, Mr. T-Mac. Just the other day, Tracy McGrady was unable to finish a simple gimme shot when he couldn't take off strong enough.

It is a bit upsetting to see our childhood heroes go from this:

to blocking his own layup/failed dunk attempt.

Even the greatest of them all, in a comeback no one really wants to remember got the treatment of the cruel Time Lord.

What are we to do? Look to the youn'uns in Kevin Durant or the immortal LeBron James in hopes/awe that their internal clocks run about 1/500th second slower than the rest of us?

Or are we doomed to face the reality that the greatest of athletes are--*gasp*--human after all?

I say we look to a third alternative: denial. Just whip out the dusty VHS's and forget that T-Mac can't do a simple layup. It's carthatic is what it is. Especially with talks of him leaving Houston:

Yeah we might be satisfied in knowing our mortal limits as we age and just can't hit that corner jumper the way we used to when we were in high school. But asking us to accept the aging superstars of yesteryear? Nay!

This isn't Shawn Kemp:

.

This is: