Annika is everything we want in a star
Posted: Tuesday, May 13, 2008 11:37 AM
At the age of 37 and still in possession of all her incomparable skills, Annika Sorenstam, the reports say, is going to hang up her clubs. She has other things she wants to do.
On hearing that, I had the same thought I did when Sandra Day O’Connor – that’s “Sandy Baby” if you’re John Riggins – retired from the Supreme Court: A man would never do that, not when he’s healthy and still able to do the job.
But that’s because most men who have the only job they ever wanted to have can’t think of anything else they’d like to do. They have hobbies. I like to play golf, drive my two-seater with the top down and spend long afternoons at the barbecue pit trying to turn out the perfect hickory-smoked rib. But at the end of the day, even when I think of retiring, I think about what I’ll write. That’s what I am, a writer. I can’t imagine ever actually retiring from it, much as the folks over at firejoemorgan.com would like me to.
But it’s not that way for many women, who can actually define themselves by something other than winning trophies, writing legal opinions, shepherding corporate mergers or anything else that qualifies as a career. It’s one of the reasons cited for why there aren’t more female CEOs – it’s not that women can’t do the job, it’s that not a lot of them want to devote their entire lives to one job, sacrificing family and hobbies and friends to do it. They’ve got more balance in their lives. They don’t need it.
So O’Connor decided she wanted to spend time taking care of her husband, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s. And Sorenstam wants to start a family, devote more time to her favorite hobby – cooking – and become more involved in her golf course design and other businesses. She’s not going to lie around all day doing nothing. If anything, she’ll probably be even busier than she is now. And she’ll be doing what she wants to do, not what anyone else thinks she should do.
I wish she’d stay. Sorenstam has defined what a professional athlete should be. She’s never embarrassed herself or her sport. She’s never made excuses, never whined, never gave anyone reason to take a shot – even a half-hearted one – at her. While standing on a pinnacle few had ever reached before, she managed to remain human, approachable, decent.
We don’t get people like her in sports or in anything else very often. We want to keep them around when we do.
At the same time, you have to admire and respect her ability to leave the LPGA Tour and do some other things that, in the cosmic scheme of things, are a lot more important. And we can assume that she’ll show up from time to time at one tournament or another. At least we have to hope that she will, if only for old time’s sake.
And if she doesn’t, all we can do is watch the rest of this, her last, season, cheer for her to win one more major and a couple more tournaments, and appreciate what she’s meant to her sport and our lives.
