A sea day off. That means there are no shows to do and no ports to get off and explore. The ship heads back to Tampa and tomorrow this batch of passengers gets off and a new one gets on and the whole process starts over again. These days can be the most lonely.
There isn’t much to do except sit around and kill the time. I chose to work on upgrading and improving my act for 2011, and even though I worked on it for three hours I still had a lot of time left over. The human attention span is only so long, and I maxed mine out.
I took a walk around the ship to get some exercise, and then came back to my cabin to discover an interesting documentary on TV I’d been meaning to watch about a guy named Marcus Dupree. He was a football phenom back in the early ‘80s. I remember him well.
He was supposed to be the next big thing in football - a guaranteed can’t miss superstar. I remember he went to Oklahoma for a year, and then faded out of sight completely. Then he came back and signed with the USFL, and eventually had a very short run in the NFL.
Allegedly he was one of the most gifted athletes ever, but he never came close to living up to his potential. Herschel Walker was another highly touted superstar, but he played in the NFL for several years and had a respectable career. Marcus Dupree quickly fizzled.
I’d never seen him interviewed before, but they showed him today and he’s handled his situation a lot better than most others would have - myself included. He’s not bitter about anything, and accepts how his life worked out. He’s now driving a truck and works hard making an honest living. The guy has a fantastic attitude and I have total respect for him.
He’s right around my age, and part of my generation. Every athlete from our generation is now finished, and we’re all old men longing for the past. Michael Jordan was born the same year I was, as was Charles Barkley. They’re now ‘old school’. It makes me wince.
Bo Jackson was also born the same year I was. He was huge in his day, but now isn’t at the top of anyone’s mind anymore. Those guys are all has beens, while myself and almost every other person from our generation are a never was. Brett Favre is looked at now as a senior citizen, but he’s six years younger than me. My athletic days are LONG behind me.
Marcus Dupree’s heyday was in his late teens and early 20s. He admits he made a lot of bad choices, but who doesn’t at that age? Hell, I still make them now. I felt bad for him as he told the old story of how a ‘friend’ mismanaged his money and a knee injury ended his career in one play, and before he knew it he was out of football and completely broke.
There are a lot of athletes like that, but it really hits home when it’s a guy from my own generation. It reminds me I’m getting older too. I’m still waiting for my tiptoe through the tulips of glory, but it sure won’t be as an athlete. Not unless I join a senior bowling league or tiddlywinks tournament. I’m just a dung beetle comedian trying to earn an honest buck.
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