Dan Marino entered the room, first said hello and then thanked everyone for coming, because class doesn’t forget manners no matter how tough the situation is. It was not easy for him. Not easy for us. Monday’s retirement announcement wasn’t easy for anyone who enjoys sports, loves people with passion and appreciates the rare player like Marino who combines an overachiever’s mind to accompany an over-talented body–and must now bid him goodbye. Marino said all the right things in his speech, exposed his heart in a way he never does. But he didn’t overdo the moment or become undone by it. He thanked everyone who needed to be thanked. He tried to ignore who deserved to be ignored. And he blended the right touch of real-life humility–“I was blessed with a career greater than I could have ever imagined”–with football ego, such as the time he was asked at what age he knew football was his star. “Well, I knew I could throw it ever since I could remember,” he said.
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