Stockton's Marriage to the NBA Isn't Quite Over Yet

Sunday, May 5, 2002

BY GORDON MONSON THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE

Some people say John Stockton has passed through the onset of the winter of his career and now is pondering retirement. At some point over the next few weeks, he's supposedly sitting down with wife, Nada, and the kids and talking about what comes next. Pah!Is there really any doubt? ÊÊÊ Should Michelangelo paint and sculpt? Should Shakespeare write? Should Edison invent? Should Einstein think? Should De Niro act? Should Stockton dribble and pass? Why shouldn't he? On account of some worn deference to chronology? Because more than the standard load of sand has passed through the hourglass? Because the pages of the calendar have turned? It's what the man does. It's what he is. What he remains. How would you like to be a big-eared fly on the wall during that little discussion?

John: "Well, gang, I'm, uh, thinking about, well, geez, wondering if maybe I should, you know, um . . . qui . . .. I mean, if I should . . . stop playing basketball for a living."

Nada: "You mean, quit?"

John: "Aaaaauugghh. Please, don't ever, ever say the Q-word around me again."

Nada: "How about . . . retire?"

John: "Naaah, I don't like the R-word, either. It's, like, what kind of on-ramp is that? What kind of road does that lead down? What's next? Drinking Ensure? Applying for AARP membership? Mailing in Modern Maturity subscriptions? Working in the garden with a big straw hat on? Patting my gut and unhitching my pants at the dinner table? It makes me feel . . . old.

" Nada: "You are old."

John: "Age is in the mind, not the bones."

Nada: "OK, Pops."

John: "I'm only 40."

Nada: "Basketball players are like dogs."

John: "No, no . . . We're not all like that."

Nada: "What I mean is, basketball player years are like dog years. You tack on seven for each normal human year."

John: "So, what am I now, some ratty Schnauzer running around at the company picnic? You're saying I'm 280 years old?"

Nada: "Not literally. Just in a comparative sense to other players. For instance, you were already playing for the Jazz when Andrei Kirilenko was barely out of nappies. You were playing before Tony Parker was walking. You're 15 human years older than Quincy Lewis, and he has been in the NBA for three seasons. You're 20 human years older than DeShawn Stevenson."

John: "Nineteen . . . 133 in dog years." Nada: "Self-awareness is good, is all I'm saying." John: "But I still feel strong. I'm healthy. Yeah, the aches linger longer now, but I've avoided major injury. And as long as Jerry limits me to around 30 minutes a game through the regular season, I'm OK."

Nada: "I'm OK. You're OK."

John: "Wasn't that a best-seller in the '70s?"

Nada: "Back before Shaquille O'Neal could read."

John: "Ouch."

Nada: "What year was War and Peace written?"

John: "If I did stop playing, what would I do?"

Nada: "Live a life of leisure off of your fortune . . . swing a flop wedge all day . . . go to the yacht club . . . watch the kids play . . . go out to lunch . . . hang around the house . . . drive everybody insane . . . take up bowling . . . watch 'Passions' and 'General Hospital' and 'Oprah!' . . . put on a suit and tie and get a real job . . . be a coach . . . tend bar . . . become the Greta Garbo of hoop and just fade away."

John: "I think I'll keep playing."

Nada: "Good idea."

John: "No reason for me to qui . . . uh . . . to ret . . . um . . . to stop playing. I'm a gym rat. I'm a baller. I'm a competitor. It's what I am. I can still run with the young dogs."

Nada: "The extra $8 million wouldn't hurt."

John: "I'm OK."

Nada: "You're OK." Take it from a big-eared fly. Here's the closest thing to a sure one you will ever read:

John Stockton will be back playing basketball ,It's who he is.