Ode to the Aging Athlete and GOP: Tulsa Massacre Was Not about Race
Josh Hawley Uses Bogus Quote to Promote Religion, Santos Thinks He's Rosa Parks, Musk Wants His Penis Measured, Tracy Chapman Sings
Ode to the Aging Athlete in All of Us
In 1968, Paul Simon wrote these lyrics to “Old Friends”:
Can you imagine us years from today
Sharing a park bench quietly?
How terribly strange to be 70
He was 27 when the song came out. At 27, his idea of being 70 was to shuffle up to a park bench, hunker down for the rest of the day like birds in a nest, and slowly deteriorate like melting butter. Today, Simon is 81, still writing genius songs (his new album Seven Psalms was recently released), and still performing. What a difference 54 years makes.
I don’t mind a nice relaxing hour on a park bench, but so many of us who have participated in sports since we were children have no intention of giving it up just because we have arthritis, replaced joints, or bunions the size of bison. We may not be able to drive to the hoop, sprint across the soccer field, or knock a ball out of the park, but we can still enjoy the competition and social interaction that sports bring. So what if the cost is a few more Advils and bigger ice packs. So what if we have to be a medical MacGyver just to keep all the parts working.
Once you’ve entered the over-60 Red Zone, which I describe in My Body & Me: A Love/Hate Story, the key to staying fit is to refuse to see yourself as a park bench squatter. Yes, you can’t play sports with the same intensity as you did in your youth, but you can learn to adapt your skills and your expectations to minimize physical risk but maximize physical benefits and emotional enjoyment. You can walk-jog instead of full jog.
I was 66 when I participated in the reality competition show Splash in 2013. Basically, it was a diving competition among celebrities with 5-time Olympic gold medal winner Greg Louganis as our coach. I make no claims about being graceful, but I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge. We spent hours every day in the pool practicing. The workout was so intense that I actually started to see my abs again. We had been estranged for years.
I was 71 when I sort of danced on Dancing with the Stars in 2018. I looked a bit like Big Bird trying to perform Swan Lake. The point for me wasn’t to win—I knew there was very little chance of that—it was just to do it. To challenge myself to do something physical that I wasn’t good at. I had so much fun, met many nice people, and got a lot of healthy physical exercise. That’s the trifecta for us aging athletes.
It’s difficult for highly competitive athletes to adjust to aging, especially in sports with more physical contact. I have friends who still play basketball in their 70s. If they play with younger players in their 30s or 40s, they must adapt to avoid getting hurt. Instead of playing under the hoop where elbows are inadvertently (mostly) thrown, or it’s easy to step on someone’s foot and twist their ankle, they need to either find a group their own age or start shooting threes from the outside. An injury can sideline the aging player for weeks, months, or even permanently.
There’s also the reality that younger players do not want to be shown up by an older player, so they will act more aggressively toward them when they get the ball. Even the younger players on the older player’s team may not pass them the ball as much because (a) they don’t see you because your gray hair blinds them to your usefulness, or (b) they don’t want you outscoring them. The level of ability isn’t the issue; it’s just that—as in mainstream society—you’re becoming more invisible and less relevant to them.
Another aspect of competing with younger players is they will blame any of your mistakes on age. If you miss a shot or a player runs around you, it’s because you’re old. If they make the same type and number of mistakes, it has no meaning.
That’s one reason pickleball has grown so rapidly in the past few years. More than 36 million in the U.S. play pickleball, up from just 5 million in 2021. LeBron James, Tom Brady, and Kevin Durant have invested in professional pickleball leagues.
Pickleball is easy to learn, and most can enjoy playing it immediately. I learned how to play it right away, though I won’t be joining the pro circuit anytime soon. Some locations designate courts for different playing levels, so it’s very easy to find players at your level, moving up levels as your skill increases. This makes it an ideal sport for the aging athlete because they can choose the level of exercise appropriate to them. Plus, there are many senior pickleball groups that will fulfill the need to play and socialize.
Although many unfamiliar with the game think it’s only played by older people lamely meandering around the court, this clip gives you an idea of just how exciting and competitive it can be.
It doesn’t matter what your sport is. You just have to recognize that as long as you still get joy from playing, you need to continue seeing yourself as an athlete and not a bookend on a park bench.