Time to grow up: Sports era ends with Peyton Manning’s Super Bowl 50 win

Amanda Gonzalez|February 8, 2016

Denver Broncos starting quarterback Peyton Manning, right, holds the Lombardi Trophy after the Broncos’ 24-10 win against the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016. The Broncos won, 24-10. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group/TNS)

He won. Veteran quarterback Peyton Manning led the Denver Broncos to victory in Super Bowl 50.

Although unofficial, the two-time Super Bowl champion will now likely ride off into the sunset.

For those of us who were born in the ‘90s, all the star athletes we grew up admiring have either retired, or are reaching the end of their careers.

We went from fighting for jersey numbers and imitating our favorite athletes in the backyard to now trying to figure out how to do taxes and pretending we’ve got our collegiate lives together.

These athletes’ retirements are serving as a sad reminder that we’re growing up.

A prime example was seeing five-time World Series champ New York Yankees’ captain Derek Jeter retire in 2014.

Furthermore, if Manning does say goodbye to football, it wouldn’t be the first time a legend retires after achieving a championship trophy.

Abby Wambach, the U.S. Women’s National Team superstar and international soccer all-time leading scorer, retired after her team’s 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup victory tour.

In 2016, two more defining athletes will have retired. Five-time NBA champion and Los Angeles Lakers great Kobe Bryant will say goodbye to basketball, and three-time World Series champion Boston Red Sox icon David Ortiz will say goodbye to baseball.

Although neither one has retired, this year’s NBA All-Star Game will be the first since 1997 without Dallas Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki or San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan, per Bleacher Report.

Since the ‘90s and early 2000s, we’ve seen a lot of changes — from uniform fashion to field turf to Gatorade commercial faces — that are a part of our best childhood memories.

The turn of the century may not have the best time for sports, regarding performance-enhancing drug scandals and other negative distractions, but still, we saw some amazing role models reach great feats in these decades.

Now — like it or not — we’re reaching the end of a sporting era.

But for all the professional lessons and personal challenges our favorite athletes faced playing the games they love, we owe them nothing but a thank you and a big congratulations on their retirements.

Quoting sports drama series “One Tree Hill” might sound a little cheesy, but this quote sums up athlete glory perfectly: “Say what you will about the ravages of sport in this corporate age where overpaid athletes expect Prima donna treatment, but there is still something so unifying about sport in its purest form, when athletes rise above themselves and touch greatness, and in doing so, remind us all that we also have greatness inside of us.”