Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times thinks Michael Jordan should walk away. Between the injuries, the age and the demeaning role as a bench player, Mariotti thinks MJ?s story will not have a happy ending. Which is sad, given the exquisite climax he spun four years ago in Salt Lake City.

Mariotti claims, ?A midlife crisis isn't easy to mask, especially when it strikes the greatest basketball player ever. If MJ truly has reached a meeting place in his mind, why is he resuming elaborate workouts in hopes of returning for another season? Isn't the Big Four Oh staring quizzically at his forehead wrinkles? Hasn't his problematic right knee been surgically repaired; isn't the left one still worrying him a bit? And don't the suspect Washington Wizards have only a fair-to-small shot of making the playoffs, with the possibility they won't be as good as the incrementally improving Bulls?

It's his life, of course, his career. And my guess is, he'll pull off more astounding acts at 40 than any other big-ticket athlete, however sporadic. Yet just as I didn't want to watch Jordan get hurt last season, I don't want to watch him get old this season.?