Dan Haren’s retirement is everything we dreamed of as a kid
Dan Haren’s doing retirement right. Even before he ended his 13-year MLB career, Haren was one of the best Twitter follows in baseball, but retirement has made him even better.
Remember his recent exercise-bike confessional in which he opened up (hilariously, at times) about his own insecurities in the twilight of his career? That was the type of frankness you don’t get from pro athletes of any sport very often. Keep in mind that his Twitter handle is @IThrow88, so Haren has no problem admitting that he wasn’t the most feared guy in MLB.
The most recent wonderful Haren exploit is about another topic entirely. If you’re wondering what a recently retired pitcher is doing in January, when his old peers would be getting ready for spring training? Well, it’s exactly how you wanted to spend your days when you were 10.
Ah, yes, Link and his seemingly never-ending quest. I spent far more than two hours playing that one was a kid. Admittedly, I never trudged through the entire game — it was too long and there was a steady stream of NES baseball games that seemed more appealing.
[Related: Adam Wainwright is mad about where he was taken in a fantasy draft]
Still, it’s hard not to think that Haren isn’t living the dream of every kid who grew up in the NES era. He’s retired at 35 after a pro sports career in which he made $81 million. Now he just needs a Power Glove and a copy of “Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out” to really be the coolest.
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Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
