The Fever Just Got a Bit Cooler: Yolanda Griffith Retires

I really hate when athletes get injured. I know, sometimes it’s quite hard to feel sorry for people who earn more money per game than most people make in a year, but to watch someone’s livelihood be jeopardized is tough. The worst injury is the injury that alters the course of a career and even ends it; there’s nothing worse than an athlete announcing they were retiring at the end of the next season and said season not live up to expectations.

Two-time Olympic gold medalist Yolanda “Yo-Yo” Griffith is the latest victim of that type of injury, as the 39 year old veteran has retired from the WNBA after being in the league nearly since its inception. The victim of an ACL tear, Griffith has accomplished just about everything you can in a professional sports league, including winning MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and winning a league championship.

Though the Indiana Fever forward never quite had the star power of a Lisa Leslie or a Cynthia Cooper, Griffith was extremely consistent and one of the hardest workers in the league to the day she retired. She was one of the higher profile “down and dirty” players, those players who bang the boards, perfect their footwork, and angle their hook shot just right. She was one of the earliest players who showed that women's basketball could be just as powerful and physical as the men's game.

Griffith was always a very intelligent player, a trait that will serve her well when she gets into coaching. Cooper has had a successful stint at her first college coaching position and I could see Griffith doing the same wherever she ends up. No matter, it’s been a wonderful career for the Florida Atlantic alum, though I’m sure she wishes that her ending was a bit more celebratory.

I guess we all can’t be John Elway.