Bob Costas Calls His Shot.

It's hard to find that graceful landing

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The only thing harder than getting to the big leagues is staying there. The only thing harder than staying there is excelling. And the only thing harder than all of it, upon actually producing a great career in the show, is figuring out how to walk away before they make you run.

Most athletes, elite as they are, fail at that last part. For many, the book gets written for them: released by their team, forced out of the game by injury, or simply left unclaimed after one contract expires and another one fails to materialize.

Sometimes it’s a plume of smoke, sometimes a wisp. They fall out of the sky either way.

Maybe that’s why we celebrate the people who figure out how to pull it off. We love the John Elways of the world, who win a Super Bowl, chopper out of the stadium and never look back. The Mia Hamms, winning Olympic gold and then calling it a career. Ted Williams at Fenway. Bill Russell with the Celtics. There are more, but there aren’t a ton.

Bob Costas, who talks about games for living and by so doing has become more famous than many, many of the athletes he’s described, has seen plenty of terrible career exits and a few good ones. Costas decided to call his own shot. That has to be good enough for now.