Data picture: Vince Carter bids farewell to fans. Image source: Osports All Sports Pictures
Vince Carter left in such a quiet way, who is not.
On the 25th, the 43-year-old veteran Carter announced his retirement in the silence of the NBA suspension: "I officially ended my basketball career." Then the Eagles he played also issued a statement: "The official announced that the veteran retired . Congratulations to Carter for completing such a phenomenal career."
In this way, the 22-year period, a career spanning four generations, quietly ended. And when people are finally able to re-read the entire career of "half man and half god" with the end, you will sigh: that is the real life of an ordinary person.
Carter accepts tribute from Toronto fans.
On November 20, 2014, at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Vince Carter, 38, pulled up the Grizzlies T-shirt and wiped the tears off his face.
As part of the team’s 20th anniversary, the Raptors played a highlight of Carter’s time with the Raptors during that game, looking up at the years that had flown above his head, listening to the shouting cheers from Toronto that seemed to be acquaintance behind him, and tears from Carter The corners of his eyes slipped out.
At that time, it had been 10 years since the last time he had received this cheer like the master in this arena. And everything 10 years ago, whether bitter or sweet, is called youth.
Carter wept.
At that time, Carter was the one who screamed "UFO" over people's heads in Auckland. In the bitterly cold Toronto, Carter was like a fire, and he could use a dazzling dunk to light every home atmosphere.
In the six years of the northern border, Carter won the All-Star ticket four times, and he is in the limelight. Even Michael Jordan's All-Star starting position in the last year of his career was made by Carter. It is no wonder that on the sidelines of Toronto in the past, some fans once printed the slogan "Goodbye Michael, Hello Vince (Farewell Jordan, Welcome Carter)".
At that time, not only the orange ball but also his youthful youth were caught in Carter's hands.
But young hearts are always unwilling. Before the start of the 2004-05 season, Carter publicly stated in an interview: "Now it's time to announce the truth. I hope to be traded out of the team." He also published an open letter on his personal website, saying that he can no longer wait for the Raptors to rebuild cooperation.
Carter during the Raptors.
So, UFO came to New Jersey, where people saw a more mature "half-human half-god".
Unlike the delight of the New Jersey, Carter's relationship with the team at the end of the Raptors' team made Toronto fans hate him. The former hero became a traitor in the eyes of the Torontons. When Carter visits the Air Canada Centre Arena, he is waiting for him to boo by the sky. It has been the same for 10 years since he left, until the day of 2014.
On that day, perhaps the Torontons finally realized that Carter brought them a unique spring in the north; perhaps Carter finally realized that youth has never been wrongly paid, and all tears are splashes of time.
In fact, in the 15th anniversary of the Raptors' establishment in 2009, the Raptors once intended to pay tribute to the outstanding players in the history of the team, including Carter, but Carter, who played for the Magic at the time, refused.
Carter during the magic period.
That year, he was 32 years old. At that time, he had just experienced the moment when his career was the closest to the championship. At that time, the halo of "half man and half god" still left a glow on him; at that moment, he seemed to hold back Just try to prove to the old club what they missed.
Most people will experience such a period of higher heart than the sky in their lives. And Wang Xiaobo said that life is a slow process.
Carter passed Phoenix to Dallas. At this time, five years later, Carter began to accept his identity as a veteran. To be a backup player with a stable rotation time, he is satisfied.
Data map: Carter during the magic period.
This is the reason why he can become the most lasting of his four major quantiles: he finally accepted his "mediocre" calmly. For those who have been shining once, the difficulty of being ordinary can be imagined, but Carter did it, Carter accepted it.
So, in 2014, he shed tears and smiled as a tribute to the Raptors. On November 20, 2014, when Toronto's applause only sounded for Carter, when he was middle-aged, he chose to no longer be sharp, reconcile himself with the omnipotent that year, and buried his youth with tears.
Carter accepts mediocrity, but he still chooses to hold his head high. This is why he later chose to join the king and the eagle-he did not give up on accepting mediocrity, but after admitting that he was no longer special, he still wanted to realize value in mediocrity.
Data Map: Carter finally retired from the Hawks. Image source: Osports All Sports Pictures
And as the end of everything, there is no legendary farewell of Kobe Bryant's retired parade and the last battle, and no such heroic fall of Mourning on the field. In the case of the Hawks missed the playoffs, Carter was somewhat passive and quietly left.
But compared to the other three of his contemporaries, Carter's life was more realistic. After all, not everyone can be as great as Kobe, as resolute as Iverson, or as tragic as Maddie.
Young and frivolous, who fought against the years and finally accepted mediocrity until the curtain call quietly, this is the most real life of most ordinary people.
Maybe someone will still complain about Carter, how is Carter an ordinary person? Accepting what was held in mediocrity is his most unusual existence.
Will Carter regret his choice, maybe or not. But that doesn't matter anymore. After all, if there is no regret in life, how boring it should be.