How soon we forget Joe Montana!

Joe Montana??? Uh, he was actually pretty decent at KC.

How about Willie Mays? How many people have seen the picture of him in a Mets uniform sitting on second base holding his arms outstretched looking to the sky as if he was praying. .211 in his final year in 1973.

You could include a lot of baseball players, in part, to the DH rule. Many players go to the AL just to get AB's holding on to that final shred of "dignity" of a ball player. Then you look at some managers, GM's, and even owners who should quietly walk away.

Unfortunately, (or fortunately depending upon your take) sometimes it is hard to walk away from a career, whether it is in athletics or any other job. There's a lot of CEO's in major companies who should walk away, but are driving their companies into the ground.

There is a pride issue, one that is ego driven, where people feel they are defined by what they do and if they are unable to do it, they still want to leave on their terms. Teams can help these players out by not signing them. Look at Rickey Henderson, the only reason he isn't playing anymore, is no team wanted to sign him. Barry Bonds still wants to play, but no team in their right (or wrong) mind will sign him. Sometimes, it does take some one else to say to them, "It's time for you to walk away."

LARRY BIRD - I had the joy of watching his incredible skills on the court and can only remember seeing the 3 point shot attempts fall short of the rim in his last season. It was a sad ending to a great career.

Jerry Rice. The distance between him and the 2nd best WR in history is staggering. But when you're that great, and then you become merely 'good', and later merely 'okay' ... well, I'd rather not see it.

Are you listening, Brett? Um, no, I guess not.

Willie Mays should definitely be here. I remember telling my wife back the what a great play he was and then watching him fall down running the bases. That was sad way to end a career.

On the flip side, those who retired at the top, I'd nominate Koufax and Jim Brown.

Money drives a lot of players to work well beyond their prime. But more than that, I believe the true love of the game drives them to play.

no problem with the top five except roy jones should not be there. bob foster would have knocked roy out easily. foster lasted 15 rounds with ali giving away 41 pounds. archie moore would easily have outpointed jones. ray robinson is probably the best of all time. eder jofre (bantamweight) belongs in at least the top 10 of all time. so does hank armstrong. mike tyson probably is in the top 10 also.

okay got the wrong post. ali wins hands down. he would probably still have all his facilties had he got out on time. mays stayed way too long, he looked awful his last season. kareem stayed too long too. brown and koufax stopped in their primes due to circumstances as did barry sanders.

Johnny Unitas. Anyone who remembers the best quarterback to ever play the game, bumbling around in Charger blue, still cringes at the memory.