By Dan Pompei
For The Sporting News

March 10, 2000

It's difficult to accept the fact that Dan Marino no longer can do what he once did. It's easier to accept the fact that Dan Marino no longer will do what he once did.

The retirement really is a good thing.

This was the greatest pure passer the NFL ever has seen. The ball came out of his hands like a pea out of a straw. A more fierce competitor never has strapped on a jock. The look on his face before a critical snap said an army of centurions would not deny him. The imagine of him chewing out a receiver for running a wrong route or dropping a pass spoke volumes about the kind of professional he was, and the kind he expected his teammates to be. Dolphins football never will have the same appeal.

There aren't any numbers that can quantify what Marino has meant to the game of football. But it is worth noting that this is a man who holds 30 NFL records, who threw for 420 touchdown passes, including 48 in one season. He was an immediate success in the NFL, and an enduring one. He took his team to the Super Bowl in his second season. The Dolphins lost and he never made it back. But that didn't diminish his greatness for one minute.

While no player of his time has provided more thrills than Marino, his days of being an effective starter for 16 games were over. Surrendering to age is a challenge too few of us meet with grace and dignity, and it isn't always pretty. We cover our eyes when we see an old fogy with jet black hair, or an old quarterback incapable of making the football sail. Marino is sparing us from having to watch the legend shrivel on the world's stage.

It was folly of the Vikings to think that Marino could be their starting quarterback. The only thing Marino would have done for the Vikings is sell tickets.

That being said, I still think Marino could have contributed to an NFL team this season-as a backup. Could you imagine the advantage of having Marino coming off the bench in the fourth quarter to spark a team in a close game? If all he had to do was start three or four games a year, Marino wouldn't have to worry about being beaten up, worn down and developing a dead arm.

As poorly as Marino played last season, he came through with a game winning drive on the road against the Seahawks in the playoffs. The majority of backup quarterbacks in the NFL could not have done that. He still has an instinct for the position that years can't diminish.

"He couldn't carry a team anymore, but he could do well with an outstanding cast and help maximize the abilities of good players," former Bills coach Marv Levy told me the other day in a conversation about Marino. "He didn't have a great cast around him with the Dolphins last year."

We will remember Marino more for the last 17 years, than for the last year.

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