No, this article is not about Rosh Hashanah, which incidentally just went by. So stop blowing those Shofars damn it. Now! But first let me wish my friends, both those who are Jewish by birth and those who are by nature, a very happy new year.

This year, like every other year, has seen a lot of suns set. Now you are surprised that why does that warrant a blog entry and even more surprised that why the hell you are reading it. Well either get outta here or be smart and wait till your inquisitiveness is satiated. Curiosity won’t kill the cat this time I promise, but I don’t take responsibility for any side effects incurred.

The “Suns” I have been blabbering about are sportspersons. Every year thousands of them retire, usually fed up with lack of success or they finally realise their obvious lack of talent through an epiphany or some are forced to in the better interest of the society. Lets not waste time on them, there are already hundreds of so called budding talents who will take their place and end up just like them same number of years later or hopefully sooner. But there are some rare few whose decision to hang the boots or racquets or clubs or underwear or whatever creates a void that none can fill. For this year they are Zizou, The Las Vegan Showman and Schumi.

Let’s start with Zizou, or Zinedine Zidane as most you would know him. Arguably the greatest midfielder ever. One of the most creative players ever to grace the field, this man collected most of the trophies that you can think of and made it to most of the greatest football players lists out there. His greatest moment of glory was heading the two goals against Brazil in the 1994 World Cup final but his most famous header, regrettably, is the one he planted on Marco Matterazi’s chest in the 2006 World Cup final bringing an illustrious career to end a few minutes too early.

Michael Schumacher aka Schumi. The most successful F1 driver ever. The greatest ever ? Maybe. Rather than getting into the argument of Success vs. Greatness, very popular amongst people who have nothing to do with either, let’s focus on Schumi. He owns probably every record in the history of F1 racing specially since switching to team Ferrari. And he also has featured in probably every controversy since then too. Especially for unsporting behavior when it came to championship deciding races. In the end let the numbers speak for themselves.

Saving the best for the last. Andre Agassi. The Las Vegas Showman. One of the 5 men to have won all the four Grand Slams. An Olympic Gold Medallist. From a young age Agassi was making waves on the Professional Tennis circuit if not for his game then for his image. He was the rebel, the star, the performer. He was the people’s champion, enchanting crowds where ever he went. And when his career finally ended, as a result of a nagging back injury, the crowd gave him an eight minute standing ovation. It was a befitting salute to the great career of an endearing sportsman.