Jerry Rice Retirement

That’s right, the Greatest WR of All Time is packing in hiscleats, taking off the number 80 and saying goodbye to the sportthat he loved and that loved him for so many years. Sure, theywill say that the age finally caught up to Jerry Rice and thathe really is missing a step, that his cuts that once were breathtaking have been slowed. But come on, has he really lost thatmuch? The answer is no, not in his mind and he's refusing to goout by way of slipping into obscurity being a 4th or 5th widereceiver for the Denver Broncos.

The 42-year-old receiver, a first-round draft pick out of MississippiValley State in 1985, leaves the field with 38 league records,including the most career receptions (1,549), yards receiving(22,895) and touchdowns receiving (197). He led the 49ers to threeSuper Bowl titles and helped make Joe Montana and Steve Youngnot only look great but was a big reason for enshrining them andsoon himself in the National Football League Hall of Fame. Hewas the master of the West Coast offense and made his career ofturning short catches out of the slant into long gains, struttinginto the end zone like no other wide out in the leauges long history.

After 16 years with the Forty Niners, Jerry went to Oakland,where he had three semi-productive seasons. But it became clearthe end was getting near last season when the Raiders let himgo which prompted a midseason trade to the Seattle Seahawks.

In his retirement announcement jerry Rice said ``eventually,everything is going to catch up with you.''

Everything finally did catch up with him. With the end uponhim, he was sad, overwhelmed and maybe even a little bit surprisedas he stood behind the microphone to announce his retirement.

``I never thought I'd ever see this day,'' he said.