Yesterday, Cristiano Ronaldo left the football world shaking after his official transfer to Juventus was complete. The rumors spreading online became undoubtedly true, the 33-year old Galactico was sold for a little over 100 million euros. This captured all the headlines across the sports world: "CR7 is trading Madrid for Italy."
Crazy enough, this (not so) surprising transfer is oddly familiar to another seismic change just last week... LeBron's move to LA. Now, while I recognize these are obviously two different sports and are different circumstances, the main point stands, they both share the same essence.
LeBron James and Cristiano Ronaldo are both 33 years of age. They are no longer the youthful and energetic figures that captivated awe and fear as they ran down the basketball court or the soccer field. As they are on the opposite side of their prime, they now play a different style than before. Ronaldo doesn't sprint 70-80 meters with the ball or take on multiple defenders at once, he's transformed himself into a pure center forward, to become the target man for Real and take an absurd amount of shots.
LeBron doesn't have the youthfulness of his prime years: he can't spend 48 minutes running up and down the court at full speed, and neither can he defend, attack, run, shoot, block, and steal all at once. He's become the ultimate floor general for the Cavs, and when he is on the court he demands the ball and only he calls the shots. That equals to his astronomical usage rate the last four seasons.
With that being said, the fact that both dominate their respective sports at such an old age is quite remarkable. Players at age 33 shouldn't be averaging 28 points, 8 rebounds, and 9 assists per game over the course of an ENTIRE 82 GAMES AND THE PLAYOFFS. Neither should they score 44 goals over the course of the entire season in ALL COMPETITIONS.
You see, LeBron and Ronaldo are those "once in a generation" talents and as a result, any time that there is movement, the rest of the world responds to it. (Look to: CR7's historic transfer from ManU to Madrid, LBJ signing with the Heat).
Two 33-year olds changing teams in the offseason shouldn't create as much buzz and polarity as these two stars create, and it's witness to their greatness. Neither LeBron nor Ronaldo have anything to prove anymore. In fact, they have plenty enough to show:
- LeBron James is a 3x NBA Champion and 3x Finals MVP, 4x MVP and 14x All-Star. He's widely considered the GOAT, or at least runner-up to Jordan.
- Cristiano Ronaldo is a 5x Ballon D'Or winnner, 5x Champions League winner, Euro Cup 2016 champion, and holds countless scoring records across Spain and European competitions. Ronaldo is also regarded to some as the GOAT, others prefer Messi over him (myself included)
As a result, both players are starting a new chapter in their lives. And they have nothing to prove to us. LeBron is moving to LA for his family and his personal life, after finally bringing an NBA championship to Cleveland. It's a move that benefits his professional career, and other interests such as his brand and a possible venture into Hollywood.
Ronaldo has now moved on to Turin. He'll continue expanding his global brand into Italy, yet another market after conquering England and Spain. He won 16 trophies in his 9-year career in Madrid. He's their all-time top scorer as well. His time at Real was over soon anyways, he just made the decision to move on to another European Giant and continue to get his money.
They've came and conquered, and now they are moving on. Instead of hating, we just have to embrace their final years as elite athletes.
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