Alex Rodriguez Quotes

Getting past 30 as a sportsman, the end could be just around the corner.

I got into pro ball at 18 and played until I was almost 39, non-stop.

Had I been a great athlete, I'm not sure I would have even gone into coaching. I may have turned out feeling that my life ended when my athletic career ended, as happens so many times with various athletes.

Every year it happens. When I'm not putting up big numbers, I start hearing it - that I'm too old, that time finally has caught up with me.

I realise every swimmer has a shelf life. No, I haven't given any thought to when I will retire, but I also know I won't be able to swim forever.

Every athlete, I think, would like to play forever. They never want to acknowledge that they've lost a step or they can't quite do what they did before.

I think one has to understand that there are stages in life, and that the life of an athlete has its limits. It's short, and then it stops, and sooner or later you have to accept that.

It's been over 15 years since I toured... over 12 years since I did any recording under my own name. I never really intended to take that long of a hiatus.

You can't do sports for the rest of your life; I don't care how good you are. You can be the best ever, but it's still going to go away.

All ballplayers should quit when it starts to feel as if all the baselines run uphill.

Your body's really only meant to compete at the highest levels of combat sports for a few years.

In sports... you play from the time you're eight years old, and then you're done forever.

I think there's nothing sadder than a pro athlete who plays past his prime.

In track years... track is not like other sports. You do have track athletes that stay in this sport until, like, 35, 36, but I think when you get to 28, it's really difficult.

A sort of sadness shall always remain in my mind that I was not allowed to retire while playing, but anyway, it's all a part of life for a sportsman who, while playing, never realises when he should retire, but he starts thinking about it when he is dropped.

Ideally, I want to get out of the sport at least when I'm 30-31. I don't want to be one of those guys who stays around too long, so I want to get as many fights in as I can.

I want to see Ronda coming back, her finishing her career with a win. Every athlete deserves that.

As a running back, when you get the ball year after year - and I would say three years on the short end and seven on the long side - you reach a point where it seems like overnight, your body changes and you can't do what you used to do anymore. We see those drastic declines more at running back than any other position.

Boxing does not favor boxers over 35 who rely on reflexes.

It's always cool to make a comeback like 45 Michael Jordan did, or like Marshawn Lynch.

It's hard to know when to call it a day as a footballer.

Some fighters had blinding speed and reflexes in their heyday but faded badly with age.

As a fast bowler, if you are out of the game for five months, then that can be catastrophic, but to be out of the game for five years was very tough, and to make a comeback after such a lengthy period with no cricket behind me was a difficult ask.

I feel like I have reached the stage where I can no longer produce for my club, my manager, and my teammates. I had a poor year, but even if I had hit .350, this would have been my last year. I was full of aches an pains and it had become a chore for me to play. When baseball is no longer fun, it's no longer a game.

I mean, the best thing for my knee, for anyone's knee, is to never play again and retire. But I'm not going to do that.