When did you notice you were getting old?

I turn 30 this year. I was pretty bad to myself physically in my early-20s (junk food consumption) and mid-20s up until now (booze), but I lift regularly and have taken up long distance running. So good health overall, though I can always drink a little less. Faster now than I've ever been. More endurance now than I've ever had.

But alas- gray in my beard, in the corners. That kills me. Luckily I have a very full head of hair. For now.

 

This is true for me too. After a youth and adulthood of obesity and self loathing, I am thinner and healthier at 51 than any other time in my adult life.

I keep waiting to feel my age and I just don't. Men didn't look at me when I was in my 20's so nothing has changed much.

 

RBI is an overrated stat. What was your OPS and WAR?

 

I mentioned this recently on the Spnited thread -- I was at a rock concert a year ago, and for the first time in my life I thought the music was too loud, half my hearing was gone, although it was back to normal after a night's sleep. And then when I got home from the show, I found out Drogo had died. He was 10 years older than me. The night I officially felt old.

As far as work, I have always been extremely fast; I had an English teacher as a freshman and sophomore in high school who used to make us write timed essays off the cuff one day a week and it turned out to be perfect training for this line of work. When I arrived in the biz as 16-year-old using a typewriter, I was already fast. I am still very fast, can still handle large workloads. But I really feel it by the end of the work week. I used to be able to do crazy shit, work 60-hour weeks for months at a time, work 14 or 15 days straight at difficult jobs, pull all-nighters on special sections. Can't do that anymore. I had a stretch of 12 straight extremely long, taxing days in a row last September and it just about killed me. Then I had 10 days of (previously planned) vacation and I did not feel human until day 8. The long-range energy reserve used to be virtually bottomless, now it isn't at age 52.

 

When I heard someone yell, "You kids get the hell out of my yard!" and realized that it was me.

 

About the end of high school. Fallen arches. Achilles tendonitis. Creaky knees. Almost killed me in PE 100 in my first semester, as we were required to run three miles.

Knees have never been the same. Dumb puberty hitting late in life. Story of my life ...

 

When kids I used to coach when they were 12, 13 years old started having kids of their own.

Recently: Covering home college hoops game the other night, but since it was a late start, I didn't get home until after 1 a.m.
Was supposed to go see a concert the next night about 1 1/2 hours away, and facing another late (and probably later night), I decided not to go because I was still kind of worn out from the night before. I told the folks I was supposed to meet up with "Guys, I'm getting old."

Turns out, part of the reason for my fatigue was a since-diagnosed sinus infection that has had me laid up for the better part of two days now.

 

I turn 45 next month.

Partial list:

-- When a guy I grew up with, who made it to the major leagues, started being referred to as a "veteran pitcher."

-- When I saw Marco Andretti win a support race at the US Grand Prix. I was in attendance when his grandfather won the US Grand Prix.

-- When a group of people at work were discussing where we were when some major world event happened. I had watched the event unfold from the newsroom. Several co-workers watched it when their teacher rolled a TV into the classroom.

-- When I saw a photo of a former high school classmate on Facebook and thought "she still looks hot." Then I realized I was looking at her daughter.

-- This one killed me - for a while my station had a "working newsroom" set. Essentially, the news anchors were on a set at one end of the newsroom, and the rest of us were part of the background of the shot. My desk was close to the anchors, facing the other way, in the middle of the shot. During a newscast I sat at my desk, looking at a monitor, trying to figure out why the back of my head looked odd. Finally realized it was a bald spot. I had no idea.

-- When I hit 40 my eyesight turned to shit. I haven't done anything about it yet, but soon I'll either have to get reading glasses or my arms are going to have to get longer.

 

You forgot the oldest one: the punter for the Houston Texans, Matt Turk at age 43.

 

And he forgot Jeff Garcia, another member of your Houston Texans. Garcia turns 42 this month. He didn't play in a game last season, though.

Mizzou, you're so old you don't consider the Houston Texans an NFL team.

 

Honestly, the only reason I didn't mention him is because the Texans had no age on the roster for him. I knew he was up there, but did not know his exact age.

On a side note, in one of the the weekly bits that Shaun Cody does for the Texans he featured the older players. At one point, Garcia is talking about how he is almost old enough to be a dad to some players. Then he says "Hell, I probably AM his dad" and points to Yates sucking a pacifier.

 

Just recently.
Several weeks ago I sprained my ankle, badly, walking out of a restaurant.
Yesterday I hurt my back picking up an empty box.