Becky Taylor.

The good news is that more sports seem to be on the horizon. The NBA is nearing total agreement on its plan to restart the season for 22 of its teams in July. The plan is an eight-game season to determine seeding for the postseason, then to have the playoffs.

The bad news is that there are 30 teams in the NBA. As usual, an Atlanta team is sitting near the bottom. The Hawks were 20-47 when play stopped. They’re not even in contention for any remaining playoffs spots. Orlando, which currently sits at No. 8 in the standings, is 11 games ahead. No chance.

I chide the Hawks for their complete lack of defense, but there’s something wrong with this scenario.

Atlanta doesn’t get to say goodbye, which doesn’t disappoint me much. Vince Carter doesn’t get to say goodbye, which does.

Before everything hit, Carter announced this would be his last season after a record 22 seasons in the league.

Carter’s 19th overall in the NBA record books in scoring. That was going to be the case even if the season ended. Kevin Garnett, No. 18, has 26,071 points to Carter’s 25,728. Carter was averaging 5 points per game at the time of the shutdown and Atlanta had 15 games to go.

You kids won’t remember Carter’s prime. Carter was drafted in 1998, long enough ago that “Titanic” was still in movie theaters. He averaged 20 or more points per game in 11 of his seasons, the last of which happened when the high school class of 2020 was finishing first grade.

He doesn’t have the same spring in his step that earned him the NBA Slam Dunk title in 2000 (or allowed him to dunk over a 7’2” French player), but his knowledge of the game is irreplaceable. Trae Young, whose father is younger than Carter, has given many tributes to his career. 

Carter deserves a better ending, not just for his career, but for what he represents.

There’s something comforting about Carter still being out there. 

As you get older, you start noting retirements. Larry Bird, Nolan Ryan, Michael Jordan. Those don’t bother you much. You were a mere child when they started tearing up their leagues. Then it gets a little closer. You saw all of Greg Maddux’s prime.

It begins to hit the next level.

You remember when Roddy White was drafted because you were an adult. Upon his retirement, you note that White played 11 seasons. That’s a lot for the National Football League.

The NFL is the worst. The physicality grinds up bodies so badly. People retire in their 20s because their knees are arthritic or the concussions pile up. These are essentially kids retiring.

I keep thinking of LeBron James as a youngster. He’ll be 36 later this year. His retirement, whatever century it’s in because he doesn’t seem to age or slow down, is going to hit everyone hard.

I’ve been able to hang on with two players, Vince Carter and Bartolo Colon.

These men are older than me, and I’m not as young as I used to be. As long as there are people older than me getting paid to be athletes I still could have a spring in my step.

Colon is not in the Majors this year, having signed with a Mexican Baseball League squad, so it looks like his days are getting shorter. MLB squads were already reticent to sign him, but with the coronavirus eating up teams’ revenue, it’s doubtful that anyone will take a flyer on a 47-year-old in a shortened season. If a season happens at all.

The NBA deems it impossible with their Orlando logistics to allow the Hawks further games. That is understandable and it’s not like the NBA is going to forget Carter. 

But we small handful of Hawks followers get few nice moments. The last Hall of Fame player to spend his last season in Atlanta was Sidney Moncrief in 1991. We haven’t gotten to celebrate too many legends as they hang up the sneakers.

None of us had any idea that March 11 would be the last game of the season. Had we been fortunetellers we would have had a party at that time. That may too much to ask for these days, but  could we at least have a few balloons and cupcakes at State Farm Arena?