Opinion | Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant show how decline and fall come to us all
NBA star and golfing phenom redefined the meaning of greatness in their respective sports, but now they are consigned to the past
They began in the twilight of the 20th century and proceeded to define the fledgling 21st century. In late August 1996, a 20-year-old golfing phenom named Tiger Woods played as a professional for the first time. A few months later, an 18-year-old Kobe Bryant, fresh out of Philadelphia's Lower Merion high school, played his first professional basketball game for the Los Angeles Lakers.
Last week Bryant officially announced that his 20th season with the Lakers would be his last, while Woods officially declared he has nothing left and will no longer be playing golf, for now at least.
Let's be honest, it's been hard to watch Tiger and Kobe, transcendent athletes in every sense of the word, these last few years. Their mortality is our mortality
"The hardest part for me is there's really nothing I can look forward to, nothing I can build toward," he said, after numerous injuries and surgeries rendered the golfer now ranked 400th in the world completely insignificant.
Let's be honest, it's been hard to watch Tiger and Kobe, transcendent athletes in every sense of the word, these last few years. Their mortality is our mortality. If you were old when they started you are really old now.
That's the bad news. But the good news is you got to witness the entire breadth of their career when both redefined sporting greatness. No team athlete won like Kobe did during this century and no athlete in any sport won like Tiger.