Hold on to greatness

You know how you felt last Tuesday night when ESPN utterly refused to break away from an out-of-hand Duke game and finally brought us to the IU-Maryland contest 22 minutes late? Remember how you wanted to break into Pizza Express, set one of their ovens to 450 degrees and climb inside? Well that's how I feel whenever I hear someone proclaim that people need to retire while on top so as to preserve their legacies. Just because someone's skills are diminishing at a quicker rate than Al Roker's waist-line doesn't necessarily mean it's time to walk away. We should preserve greatness as long as possible.\nWe often urge older performers to quit, enjoy retirement, play golf and smoke cigars (or anything you can get your trembling hands on if you're Whitney Houston). This is ignorant and less advised than using Keanu Reeves as a life line on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire." Let's examine the most notorious example: Michael Jordan. Maybe "His Airness" can't leap from the foul line anymore, but every so often, we catch a glimpse of greatness, and our faces are painted with disbelief. What's wrong with allowing the maximum amount of people possible to discover firsthand what all of the hubbub was about?\nThe Rolling Stones have also endured a great deal of criticism for continuing to perform. I'll admit Mick Jagger is currently engaged in a fierce battle with Hubie Brown to see who can stay alive longer (and a team of geologists at Oxford University are eagerly awaiting the passing of either so carbon-dating can commence). But as someone who recently had the opportunity to see a show, they still rock. If the band would have succumbed to their critics, younger fans would have lost the chance to catch a priceless glimpse of a phenomenon that captured the music world for decades. And cut Bon Jovi some slack as well. If I never witnessed a performance of "Living on a Prayer," I would have absolutely no idea that it doesn't make a difference if we make it or not. \nThis notion is not limited to merely sports and entertainment. If your aging professor can still perform her teaching duties at the same level as most of her counterparts, why should she be forced to sacrifice her passion? This mentality should also apply to your family. The moment grandma starts going insane, we don't throw her out of the house, right? Oh wait, actually we do. Well, as long as she continues to entertain us by getting drunk and verbally abusive at family functions, maybe we should stave off her retirement community plans for a while.\nOn the contrary, some eras desperately need to come to a close (like the construction on College Mall Road. Why there can't be more than one worker out there at a time is beyond me). People like Tonya Harding, Vanilla Ice and Mike Tyson should all be stuffed in a sack. And everything great should be allowed to continue until there's nothing left in the tank. I salivate all over at the thought of a new episode of "Seinfeld" (much like a burglar in Bloomington during IU's Christmas break). We need to let people live their lives as they wish and drop the notion of tarnished legacies. The impression imprinted on our minds will always be of that person's finer moments. When we remember grandma, do we only recall her later years when she used to claim she was having an affair with Missy Elliot? Of course not.