Athletes should have the choice without other people popping off and saying "he should go out in a high note , " or "he's ruining his legacy by playing when he is just a shell of himself."
Dude, it's his choice. He's earned it. If he wants to squeeze the last drop of talent out of himself because he just loves it, that's admirable.
We don't say that about other fields. "He's a great restaurant owner, but he should retire. I want to remember him in his prime." "He's one of the great plumbers of all time. He should be content with that and not spoil it."
I don't know why we even say it. Well, yes I do. It's because a sports career is part of our lives, too, so we feel we should have some say over it. We don't.
At least with scientists and other scholarly types, even though they reliably do their best work in youth, no one tells them it's time to quit. They ust slowly fall out of fashion and lose relevance. I suppose it's because there's no element of performance and public quasi-ownership such as you describe with sports
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