Do professional athletes play for the love of the game, or is it all just about the money?

            This question is the subject of a continuous and timeless debate in the sports world about the sincerity of the athletic endeavors of not only the most highly paid professionals, but also the average and more mediocre players.

Putting aside whether or not these athletes actually deserve the amount of money they make, one facet that remains largely unexplored is this question: How many veteran professional athletes actually still enjoy what they're doing?  Studies suggest most Americans don't necessarily enjoy what they do for a living. Who knows how many athletes feel that way? 

If one does not truly enjoy one's work, is there any shame in simply walking away to pursue something else in life?  Veteran athletes, unlike many of us, have a unique ability to do this because of the large amounts of money they have already made, yet great players are often ridiculed, smeared, and even stigmatized for retiring while still in their prime.  Today, I will comment on the early and often scorned retirement of Barry Sanders from the NFL, and explain why his action was really a noble, sincere, and self preserving choice.

            As we have seen in the past from athletes such as Barry Sanders and Jim Brown, who both retired in their prime, as well as from athletes such as Michael Jordan and Roger Clemens, who both retired (or will retire) multiple times after long careers, it takes a lot of courage for a person to walk away from a game he or she loves.  However, it takes the most courage to walk away in one's prime, as Sanders and Brown both did.  Both were true to themselves and who they were; neither was getting the same enjoyment from playing football that made him become a professional football player to begin with, for whatever reason. 

Yet people still ask why: Why did Barry Sanders retire one season short of breaking the all-time rushing record?  Why did Jim Brown, who was arguably better than any running back who came before him, just suddenly decide that he no longer wanted to play professional football?  They must not have loved the game anymore.  Barry Sanders must have been just playing for the money.

            To draw such conclusions is to ignore an essential paradox: Barry Sanders retired from football because he loved football.  That's right.  It wasn't just about contracts, losing teams, bad coaching, or incompetent front office executives.  Yes, those things certainly made football less enjoyable for Barry, but in the end, I contend he retired to preserve his love for the game.

            After 10 seasons with Detroit, Sanders had done just about everything a running back can do in a career, short of winning the Super Bowl and claiming the all-time rushing title.  He led the NFL in rushing four times, rushed for over 1500 yards in a season an NFL-record 5 times, and rushed for over 100 yards in the final 14 games of 1997 (another NFL record), becoming only the third player in NFL history to reach 2000 rushing yards in a season.

            But off the field, a tumultuous storm was swirling for Barry.  Although they selected Sanders with the third pick in the 1989 NFL draft, the Lions had failed for nearly a decade to build a Super Bowl caliber team around him.  In spite of this, the front office and even the coaching staff still expected him to carry the team on his back every Sunday and, along with the local media, seemed to generally blame him (besides the quarterback Rodney Peete or later Scott Mitchell) when things weren't going well.  Like any great player in that stage of his career who had never won a championship might do, Sanders inquired after the 1998 season about being traded to another team, an offer which was subsequently refused and even ridiculed by the Lions brass.

            Yes, the Lions had signed Barry Sanders two years before to a $35 million 6-year contract extension with an $11 million signing bonus, a veritable franchise player tag.  Such an extension should have reflected a commitment from the front office to give their legendary running back the players his team needed to play deep into January.  However, this was not happening as of 1998 in Detroit; on the contrary, the Lions were actually getting worse.

            Not being granted a release from his contract or consulted about any type of trade, Barry began to feel the effects of being constantly underappreciated by grumbling fans and media.  The tide of popular opinion began to turn against the Lions running back as his team's front office waged a public relations war against him.  There was no way Barry Sanders could enjoy playing the game he loved in such an environment.  He was faced with a life-changing decision: Walk away because he could no longer enjoy doing what he loved, or keep playing for the money.  Eventually, he announced his retirement on July 28, 1999.

            This is where things come full circle.  To play without enjoyment is to play only for the money, and thus to risk compromising one's passion for the sport.  Barry Sanders did the right thing for himself; he did not want to lose his love of football by resentfully going through the motions without enthusiasm or passion. Ask any NFL player why he first loved football, and the answer will probably be something like: "Because it was fun."  For most, it is still fun.  But if that ever changes, a player must reassess the sincerity of his motives, and whether or not he wants things to really be all about the money.  

It is anyone's guess how many professional athletes-famous, average, or mediocre-no longer draw satisfaction from their work.  However, one certainty is that despite any possible public resentment or ridicule, it is truly courageous and sincere for a famous athlete to admit in the midst of his prime that he no longer wishes to play his sport professionally.  As for the reasons, such decisions are personal, and should remain personal unless disclosed by the individual who harbors them. 

Since the average veteran athlete has already made a great deal of money in his career at a young age, he has the opportunity to retire and do something else if he so chooses.  If a player is in a situation where he can no longer draw enjoyment from the sport he plays, why should he be criticized for exercising this advantage that most people do not have?

            After all, with the amount of money NFL tickets cost and the amount of time it takes to build a winning team, nobody wants to cheer for players on their favorite team who don't even want to be there.