My favorite sports team is butting up against the end of an era, and it brings a dilemma. The current core players have done great things for the team and fans, but all things must end. Their goal of a championship is unlikely, so the question at hand: should the team ride it out until the end or expedite the transition to a new era by trading the old players, while they still have value, for younger ones, who despite their potential almost indubitably have lower ceilings but will increase the team’s “assets” going forward. We are talking about professional sports, so factors such as injury, opportunity cost, salary, and player movement rules make it more complicated than I am stating, but ignoring that for my spiderly purposes here, it comes to me quite simply as an approaching death. It comes to me as a question of how to die well. I’m a bit sentimental, so I’d like to see the old guard go out in flames of glory. Now, there is a notion that only victory can be glorious, but that I do not believe. There are beautiful failures — if you can bear the pain. What there is not, is a guarantee that an accelerated rebirth will accompany an expedited expiration. I don’t think there are even any known probabilities on that point. In the end, I prefer the team to wander over the edge come what may.