I was very saddened to read the Helen Thomas story yesterday.  After a groundbreaking, glass ceiling shattering, brilliant career she left the job she loved because she said some really dumb and offensive statements which were captured on camera.  She is like the superstar baseball player who stays too long and leaves the game a shadow of his peak years.  We had a little taste of that this year with Ken Griffey, Jr. who abruptly left the Mariners because, his public statement says, he didn’t want to be distraction for the team.  Unfortunately he was having a lousy year and no true Mariner fan wanted to see him leave the way he did.

The same is true for Helen Thomas.  I met her in the mid-1990’s when she was covering the Clinton administration.  She was a great guest on our morning news show when we broadcast from the White House lawn. I had the pleasure of talking with her before and after her interview.  She was knowledgeable, feisty, and never afraid to ask the tough questions.  She was a trailblazer who made it possible for many more women journalists to move beyond covering the society pages.  But maybe she stayed just a little too long.

How do we know when it’s time to hang ‘em up?  It may be a bit easier for athletes to know, because the body often gives out before the heart gives up.  For the rest of us, I don’t know.  Hopefully we’ll learn something from Helen Thomas, not the least of which is not to say dumb and offensive things in public!

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