This week, in honor of my BLOSSOMING TIK TOK CHANNEL. I was thinking about Bo Jackson and how unfortunate it was that his prime was cut short and it sent me down this rabbit hole of thought, which now brings me to my top 5: Athletes whose primes didn’t last long enough for my enjoyment.

5- Yasiel Puig- His prime was almost non-existent but I was so convinced this guy was going to take over baseball, 2 great seasons with the Dodgers in 2013 and 2014 and then POOF he was gone. His batting average with .391 and .382 those 2 years, he had power, speed, and a yell of an arm from the outfield. I don’t know if it was maturity or what, but he never put it all together for very long.

4- Ricky Williams- His prime compared to most RB’s lasted a good amount of time, but as a Dolphins fan, it didn’t last long enough. Ricky could’ve gone down as a top 3 RB of all time, but mary jane came calling, and he had to answer. He ran for 1,200 yards in New Orleans in 2001, that was his 3rd year in the NFL. Then he went to Miami and rushed for 1800 and 1300 yards…then poof, retired. He did come back but that was Dollar General Ricky that returned.

3- Mike Vick- Vick was the most sensational player I’ve ever seen on a football field. The fact that we didn’t see more of him (self-induced) is a travesty. His prime basically lasted from 2002-2006. But you can erase 2003 because he only played 5 games due to injury. 4 prime Vick years, not enough.

2- Penny Hardaway- We really only got 5 prime Penny years due to that knee injury. He was insanely talented, massive star quality, he could’ve become the next guy after MJ but the injury didn’t allow him to reach that next level of his career. It was basically just his early days and then he was never able to catapult to mega-stardom. He was in the NBA for 15 years but it wasn’t the same after 1998.

Number 1!- Bo Jackson- The reason for the season. I don’t even think we can truly wrap our heads around what he was doing in the 80’s and how well he was doing it. He was as good at football as he was at baseball and he was great at both, at the same time.