"Runners whom renown outran And the name died before the man"

We say goodbye to three players who gave us a lot of great memories.

Peja Stojakovic , Antonio Mcdyess and Brandon Roy. 

While we will miss all three of these great players, your heart has to ache for Brandon Roy who retires at the young age of 27 after doctors told him if he kept playing, it could keep from him walking one day. 

Thanks for the memories guys.

Whenever I see some well respected athletes hang it up , I always return to this poem. 

To An Athlete Dying Young

by A.E. Housman

The time you won your town the race
We chaired you through the market-place;
Man and boy stood cheering by,
And home we brought you shoulder-high.

To-day, the road all runners come,
Shoulder-high we bring you home,
And set you at your threshold down,
Townsman of a stiller town.

Smart lad, to slip betimes away
From fields were glory does not stay
And early though the laurel grows
It withers quicker than the rose.

Eyes the shady night has shut
Cannot see the record cut,
And silence sounds no worse than cheers
After earth has stopped the ears:

Now you will not swell the rout
Of lads that wore their honours out,
Runners whom renown outran
And the name died before the man.

So set, before its echoes fade,
The fleet foot on the sill of shade,
And hold to the low lintel up
The still-defended challenge-cup.

And round that early-laurelled head
Will flock to gaze the strengthless dead,
And find unwithered on its curls
The garland briefer than a girl's.