My disdain for the NBA is well known. But I will admit that I watched the end of the Lakers game on Wednesday night, mainly because I wanted to see what Kobe Bryant would do for his final act. And it was awesome! 60 points! Are you kidding me? That has to rank up there among the top farewells any athlete has ever had.
The craziest thing about Kobe's 60-point goodbye is that it was the second ridiculous goodbye for a future Hall of Famer this year. Just like Kobe, Peyton Manning wasn't even close to the Peyton Manning of old this season. He wasn't even good in the Super Bowl. But he was good enough. The Broncos won and Peyton went out a champion. Just like his boss, John Elway did 17 years earlier. Although, Elway's finish trumps Peyton's because Elway was the MVP of Super Bowl XXXIII.
There are plenty of football players who won the Super Bowl in their last game. Hall of Famers Jerome Bettis and Michael Strahan immediately come to mind, as does sure-fire future Hall of Famer Ray Lewis. For a football player, that really is the ultimate way to say goodbye. I'm sure Peyton Manning won't be the last player whose last stop on the way to Canton is the Super Bowl.
In hockey, there's one great example of hoisting the Stanley Cup in the final game of a legendary career. After 21 years in Boston, Ray Bourque was traded to the Avalanche in 2000. One year later, Colorado won the Cup in seven games, giving Bourque his only title.
David Robinson also went out a champion. He announced prior to the 2002-03 season that it would be his last. Then he went on to post a 13-point, 17-rebound double-double in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, as the Spurs beat the Nets for the second (and last) title of the Robinson-Duncan Era. They were Sports Illustrated's Sportsmen of the Year for 2003.
Pete Sampras had a similar ending. He won the US Open in 2002, then called it a career. Sampras didn't officially retire after the US Open, but the final was his last career match. He officially retired just before the start of the 2003 US Open.
Plenty of Olympians have gone out on top, too. The most notable that I can think of is Dan Jansen. Heading into the 1994 Olympics, his career was known mostly for heartbreak. From his fall in 1988 hours after finding out about his sister's death to his 26th place finish in 1992. But in Lillehammer, Jansen finally had his Olympic moment. After finishing eighth in the 500 meters, his best event, he won the gold and set a world record in the 1000, then skated off into the sunset.
Michael Johnson also won gold in his final Olympic race, defending his title in the 400 meters at the 2000 Games in Sydney. Four years earlier in Atlanta, Johnson won double gold in both the 200 and 400 (a feat Allyson Felix will try to match in Rio). But the most memorable track & field moment of those Games was Carl Lewis winning his fourth straight gold medal in the long jump. Lewis didn't officially retire until 1997, but that was his last time he ever competed in a significant meet.
Another recent one is Abby Wambach. The all-time leading goal scorer in international soccer, she'd won three Olympic gold medals, but there was still something missing. She'd never won a World Cup. No longer the star, she played a supporting role last summer, as the U.S. won the World Cup and filled in that missing piece. Other members of the team (Lauren Holliday, Shannon Boxx) retired after that game, too, but none was as significant as Wambach. Everyone knew it would be her last World Cup, and they wanted to win it for her.
I didn't forget about baseball. There are three baseball players who come to mind who wrote the perfect ending. The first is Derek Jeter. It's as if his biggest moments were scripted, and his final game at Yankee Stadium is case-in-point. Why wouldn't David Robertson blow a save for only like the third time all year so that a bottom of the ninth would be required? Why wouldn't Jeter come up with the winning run on third? Why wouldn't he hit a walk-off single to the same place he always did with that trademark Jeter swing?
Jeter's fellow Core Four member Andy Pettitte had a pretty spectacular ending, too. The 2013 season was all about Mariano Rivera's farewell. Pettitte just kind of sneaked his retirement in there as an "Oh, by the way." His final start was on the second-to-last day of the season. In Houston. His hometown, where he spent the only three years of his career he wasn't a Yankee. So how did his final game go? He threw a complete game, his first in seven years, and got the win.
But if you're looking for a finale similar to Kobe's, I give you Ted Williams. In the final at-bat of his career, on September 28, 1960, he hit the last of his 521 career home runs. If that wasn't enough, he managed to top it in what was really his last public appearance at the 1999 All-Star Game, when he was the last player introduced as part of MLB's All-Century Team. Who can forget him riding a golf cart to the pitcher's mound, where he was greeted by both teams, then tipping his cap to the Fenway Faithful, something he had never done as a player.
Kobe's finale was pretty spectacular. But it's just the latest in a long line of memorable farewells for some of sports' most legendary figures. It's incredible how often the biggest stars rise to the occasion on the biggest stage. I guess that's especially true when they know it's the last time.
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