Living in the golden age

Wildcat File Photo Arizona Summer Wildcat Seth Doria

I know it sounds strange in these days of an NBA lockout and turned-down $9-million-per year contracts, but in about 30 years, the last two decades will be known as a golden age of American sports.

And we've all been lucky to watch it unfold.

Think about it.

The past 18 years have produced Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan as three of basketball's greatest stars of all time.

We've seen Joe Montana, Barry Sanders and Wayne Gretzky.

At the Major League All-Star game last Tuesday, Roger Clemens faced Tony Gwynn, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds in a row. All four are future hall of famers.

No matter what sport you look at, with perhaps the exception of boxing, young stars with previously unseen athletic abilities are flooding the scene.

Can you imagine how good Antoine Walker and Tim Duncan are going to be as seven-year veterans if they keep working hard?

Ken Griffey Jr., who is only 28 and in perfect health, could hit 330 more homeruns on top of the 331 he has already hit if he keeps up the pace of his last four full seasons for another seven years. That would give him around 660 over a 17-year career if he retires when he is 35.

Hank Aaron, who played until he was 42, hit 755 dingers in his 23 seasons with Milwaukee and Atlanta. If Griffey played 23 seasons, he wouldn't just break Aaron's record - he would demolish it.

Through Monday, Bonds was only seven homeruns away from being the first player to ever amass 400 homeruns and 400 stolen bases in a career. McGwire, who had 40 homeruns with 68 games still remaining, is a healthy two months away from breaking Roger Maris' 37-year-old record of 61 homers set in 1961.

Pete Sampras has won five Wimbledon singles titles, which ties him with Bjorn Borg for the most Wimbledon titles ever. One more grand slam victory and Sampras will match Roy Emerson with the most grand slam titles ever at 12.

Even golf, with its legendary past of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, is heading to new places on the backs of Tiger Woods and Se Ri Pac.

Unfortunately, there is a warning associated with this re-emergence of American sports.

The amount of money now involved in every sport forces professional athletes, and even some amateurs, to become businessmen as well as athletes.

The life of an athlete now revolves around commercial shoots and speaking engagements alongside the game, which could eventually bring an end to this golden age.

Maris once said that all he cared about was playing baseball.

Mike Singletary and Mike Ditka were not about glamour. They were about pure football.

Now that professional players have the talent and the national exposure to ensure their immortality as American legends, they need to realize the burden and responsibility they carry.

They need to forget about the cash and just play so fans can admire them for their talent and not have to gripe about their greed.

Seth Doria is Sports Editor of the Arizona Summer Wildcat.