A golfing buddy younger than I said to me not long ago, "You know, you're not bad for..."
Then he stopped, and I said, "You mean for an old guy?"
"Well, I wouldn't put it like that," he said, "You're pretty good for your age."
"You just did put it like that," I said.
But it got me thinking about old age and looking around and figuring out if this is a good time to be old. What is considered to be old is relative, of course. 50 used to be old, and is still considered old in several nations with early mortality. These days, gerontologists generally recognize three stages of old agedom; early old — 35-74, middle old — 75-84 (hello, Jack), and late old, which is 85+.
I look at the world of sports and see that we're in kind-of a golden age of old guys, if such a thing is possible. Not so much in the playing arena, of course, but in coaching. The absurdly youthful-looking Pete Carroll is coaching the Raiders at age 74, though the way the team is going, he won't have that job much longer. At age 71, UConn women's basketball coach, Geno Auriemma, is still winning and irritating the hell out of everyone. Bill Belichick returned to coaching at age 73, though let's be honest, he's become better known for having a 26-year-old girlfriend.
So, what stops one from continuing at a job into old age, or, in my case, middle old agedom? I consulted three experts: my wife, ex Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim, and myself.
My wife taught elementary school for 25 years and was at the top of her game when she left 20 years ago in her mid-50s. "Could you still do it," I asked her.
"No way," she said.
"Why?"
"Well, a very simple reason: stamina. I think I could keep up with changes in education and still keep the kids engaged, but I would run out of energy by the afternoon, and energy is what makes a teacher click."
Boeheim coached Syracuse for 47 seasons and retired two years ago at the age of 78. During his final years, when Syracuse wasn't as successful as many hoped they would be, Boeheim's age became a topic of conversation, which is quite often the case in the life of a coach or an athlete. "I couldn't be coaching now," says Boeheim, who turns 81 next month, "I think what your wife said, stamina, comes closest to being the accurate word. The first year I was retired, I went to some early season practices, and it wasn't long before I thought, 'Holy hell, no way I could be doing this!' It wasn't changes in the game or the thought that players wouldn't listen to me, because in some ways, you're smarter than you used to be. But it was a total disengagement from wanting to do it; that fire you need to get into the gymnasium. See, there's physical stamina, but mental stamina is just as important, maybe more important."
The job I've done for the better part of 55 years has two distinct parts: the gathering of information and then writing it. I really believe that I can write as well as I did 50 years ago, or 30 years ago, or 10 years ago. But what is different is the energy required to gather the information — setting up interviews, getting on a plane or into the car for an in-person, transcribing the material, and doing a pre outline to organize it. That requires stamina.
So, if I had one message about this brief rumination on age, it would be to younger listeners. To not mistake lack of stamina or mental fatigue for mental weakness. Old people, and this comes from the voice of a middle old man, can still perform mentally, we just might get tired getting there. Hey, one day you'll find that out.
