When you interview a former athlete about their career, their final game often comes up. Because the end of an athlete’s career is a lot like death—it’s the point when the singular pursuit they have dedicated every waking minute of their life toward since they were a child is taken away from them, for good—that final game is like witnessing your own funeral. It’s the moment when an athlete’s life ends, and they have to start becoming whatever it is they’re supposed to become next.
Special attention is paid to the final games of superstars, because no matter what you’ve done in your career, even if you’re a top-shelf Hall of Famer, if your final game is a disaster, there’s always going to be a tiny voice in the back of your head that makes you feel like a little bit of a loser. The worst-case example was Dan Marino, famously the best quarterback to never win a Super Bowl; his last game, back in 2000, was a disastrous 62-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. Afterward he sat at his locker and stared at the floor; "I've never experienced a game like this in my life," he said. "Even as a kid, I've never had a game like this." Brett Favre’s final playoff game featured an interception so horrific that he played one more ill-advised season just so he wouldn’t have to scream at himself in the mirror every time he thought about it. It’s a dangerous game: Everyone wants to keep playing, but play too long, and you increase the odds that it’s going to end extremely badly.