At one point, they were the toasts of their sports. They are of the same age bracket. And they started their careers at about the same time ? in the mid-1990s. They would become crossover superstars that commanded 8-figure salaries and incomes every year at the peak of their careers.
Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees, Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers and golf?s Tiger Woods burst into professional sports scene exactly in the same year ? 1996. One of dynamic duos of contemporary boxing superstars ? Manny Pacquiao (the other is Floyd Mayweather Jr) ? turned pro a year earlier, in 1995.
Jeter, Kobe and Tiger immediately made impacts in their sports. Jeter was Rookie of the Year in his first full season as Yankees shortstop. Tiger Woods was also professional golf?s 1996 Rookie of the Year and won the US Masters ? one of golf?s Grand Slam events ? the following year. In 1996, Kobe Bryant became then the youngest player to ever play a game in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In 1997, he electrified pro hoop?s fanatic world when he won the Slam Dunk contest.
Pacquiao, however, toiled in steamy and decrepit boxing gyms early in his career before catching the attention of sports fans when he crushed boxing?s golden boy Oscar de la Hoya in 2008.
At one point in their professional careers, all of them were big product endorsers and shared one common brand name ? Nike.
They have sterling accomplishments. Kobe and Jeter have each won 5 championships in their sports. Pacquiao owns a record 8 world boxing crowns in eight different weight divisions. Tiger already has won 14 Grand Slam events and is just 4 shy of Jack Nicklaus?s record of 18.
All of them also shared the same passion for beautiful women. Jeter has been linked to actresses and models and still is New York?s most eligible bachelors. Tiger married a Swedish model but was embroiled in infidelity issue. He now dates a beautiful champion skier after a divorce with his wife. Kobe Bryant was once accused of assaulting a hotel employee after having sex with her. Pacquiao, well, his rumored womanizing has been object of gossip columns as well as celebrated news of his siring the daughter of a pool attendant. He was also linked to several Philippine starlets.
All are also coming off their off years.
Tiger Woods is trying to break a 5-year Grand Slam event drought and is still smarting from the bad press he got because of the scandal that hit him in 2010 after an injury a year before.
Except perhaps for Tiger Woods who was born on December 30, 1975, all 3 sports superstars are admittedly in the twilight of their sports career.
They are afflicted with assortment of ailments that are reminders they are already old in the sports of the young.
Derek Jeter, born in 1974, is coming off a career-threatening ankle injury and may only have a couple of years left before he hangs his gloves and bat. Kobe (born in August 1978) is also coming off an ankle injury and only a quest for 6th NBA championship to equal Michael Jordan is preventing him from retiring his jerseys.
Pacquiao, too, knows the end is near. He is likewise still hurting from two losses that left him inactive since December last year.
Of the four, however, Pacquiao already has a second career after having been elected as member of the House of Representatives in Philippine Congress in 2010 and re-elected this year. No other world boxing champion, past and present, has done so.
But among the four, only Tiger Woods has a shot at still playing his chosen sports 10 years down the road.
That cannot be said, with certainty, of Kobe, Derek and Manny.
Pacquiao (born December 17, 1978), may be the most ?damaged good? of the four having fought a total of 61 professional fights even though he is the youngest of the gang. It is understandable, however. Boxing is a full contact sports and long-term effects of banging heads and bodies more often lead to early loss of faculties with Parkinson?s disease and blindness the more common ailments of aging former boxers.
These 4 specimens of athletes will be remembered when it is time for future sportcasters and writers in between quarters, innings or rounds to ask some inattentive watchers, readers and listeners for some trivia.
All of us should be thankful we savor them now.
