I’m getting old. There’s no two ways about it. Before this year ends I will enter my fourth decade and while this amuses and scares me (usually all at the same time) it’s something I can’t do much about.

I saw a report Monday that the Boston Celtics were interested in signing Shaquille O’Neal and my immediate reaction was, hey, that’s great they can field a team of old guys who were in college at the same time I was. I then sadly realized, that I was not in college at the same time as Paul Pierce or Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett never went to college anyway. Shaq may well be the only college contemporary of mine still playing in the NBA. He was at LSU chasing Stanley Roberts away from the dinner buffet while I was skipping class at Santa Monica Junior College. After a bit more research I found that Lindsey Hunter is also still in the NBA (who knew?) and is one year older than Shaq which means he too was in college at the same time I was.

I enjoyed this little game so much that I decided to investigate further and see what guys might still be playing who’s baseball or football cards I collected when I was still a teenager. Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer was the first, and easiest, guy to put on my list. I believe Moyer was pitching when my dad was a teenager. At 47 years old he broke into the majors in 1986, which, for those you keeping track was the summer before my sophomore year of high school. I like Moyer a lot more now than I ever did before, mostly because he’s so damn old.

The rest of the baseball list is pretty short. I saw Ken Griffey Junior play in a minor league game in Oregon the summer I graduated from high school but Griffey retired so I had to strike him from the list. I was on the same eighth grade football team as journeyman catcher Jamie Burke (who may or may not be up with the Washington Nationals. My father keeps track of him. I don’t.) However, there are plenty of guys in MLB who are older than I am. I guess because baseball is less taxing on your body. However, I believe Omar Vizquel is the only guy who was actually playing in the majors during the time frame I’m looking for, so he’s the only one who’s going to get mentioned.

The NFL has a pretty long history of old guys who play, most notably George Blanda who was still kicking when he was 50. So I was not surprised to find John Carney and Jeff Feagles as sort-of active players who were playing over 20 years ago. There were even two non-kickers, Brett Favre and Junior Seau who are essentially college contemporaries of mine who donned the pads and played last year.

There are a few more guys who I’m not going to list, but, with each passing season this list gets shorter and soon I’ll have to make up a new list, guys playing professional sports who I covered when they were in high school. I suppose it’s just the way of things, but, while I’m not really fighting it, it doesn’t mean I have to like it.