Know when it's time to leave

There was a time when basketball -- a sport created in Massachusetts but perfected in Indiana -- had a star. \nHe wore his trusty No. 23. He won three championships for the windy city before jumping on his Harley and trying to be Barry Bonds. He returned to the game and won three more for his favorite Zen leader, Phil Jackson. He left basketball after swishing the game-winning shot of game six of his final championship, vowing never to return. \nHe left on a high note, and will always be remembered as one of the finest players in the history of the game.\nThe fans cried. The championship team scattered across the country. The coach left. And the NBA, despite all the Shaqs, Kobes and adolescents it could steal straight out of high school, was never the same. \nSports in general, from the NFL to the NBA to the dreadful joke of the XFL, are losing viewers and have a future even the cocky Kobe Bryant or the violent Ray Lewis seem unable to save. \nSome positive media coverage is all they want. Professional sports teams want an audience about as badly as the Pacers want that last playoff spot. So someone, maybe NBA Commissioner David Stern or maybe the Wizards' executive staff (the team has only won 18 games this season) pulled out the only card left, good old No. 23.\nThe word spread fast and far that Michael Jordan, the saving grace of the NBA and the world of professional sports, said he's "90 percent sure" he will return to the game. Later, the Airness himself dismissed all claims of a return, refusing to say never but telling The Washington Post there was "a 99.9 percent chance" he would not return. \nAnd he shouldn\'t.\nThe hype around the possibility that Jordan might spice up a game that is wallowing in its misery overshadows the real lesson that Jordan himself should not be so quick to forget. \nAlways quit when you're ahead. \nThere are no exceptions.\nWhen Larry Bird retired, he said he would much rather leave being remembered as a good player and leader of the game, than to be a washed up, over-the-hill has-been. \nJordan's last moment in the sport was a buzzer-beater. Any return, especially to a team in which he would be the only solid player, could never outweigh that moment of greatness.\nJordan's leaving while he was on top of his game is a lesson that need not only apply to those with a tall vertical or a killer three pointer. As Bird and even former President Bill Clinton have been quick to say, there are times to go and times to stay. \nAs I hung on for dear life to a now-ex-boyfriend during the past few months, I only wish I had the nerve of Bird or Jordan to just walk away. Holding on to what is known and what is familiar can become so easy and seem so safe. It is much harder to take a bold step and let go, to say the times have been fun, even great, but now it is time to move on.\nGraduation is certainly one of these times where a leap of faith and the strength to start something new -- something that can eventually be great and you can eventually be great at -- is mandatory. \nBut there are times in daily life that aren't necessarily milestones, when it is important to just walk away. \nIn confrontations, I tend to push issues into the ground. Instead of stating my side, listening to the other side and then walking away, I have to fight till the death, making myself look like an idiot in the end.\nThere are so many moments when it is time to start something new, turn over a new leaf, and begin a new day truly as a new day. \nSure, Jordan went back to basketball after a short absence and won as many championships in round two as he did when he first played. \nThe point isn't that nothing will last forever. It is just about knowing what will and what won't. What matters is knowing when to leave and when to return, if ever, so that as much of life as possible is experienced in the best way possible. \nI have never been an NBA star and certainly never will be. I will never grace the covers of magazines. But everyone is great at something, most people at many things, and those things should only be done as long as they are fulfilling. The moment they aren't, they should end. When the fights start to last for days, when the sound of applause is further away, when the feeling of satisfaction is no longer frequent, it is time to try on a new pair of shoes.