So, Marshawn Lynch retired. He went, willingly, to NFL Siberia first. Oakland is one of those places you end up, or you start out. Never both. But going enthusiastically to Oakland to wind up his career was just Marshawn being Marshawn.

The highlight reel lingers over his stay in Seattle. That’s understandable. That’s his Lombardi interlude. But it was in Buffalo that he truly mattered. That team didn’t stink, really. It was just good enough to be transformed into something compelling to watch by adding him to the roster. If he’d have stayed there, he’d have been a god in western New York. That’s not a very steep Olympus to climb, so he went elsewhere to be noticed.

He’ll never get in the Hall of Fame. But many years after you have to look up the names and stats of the people who get in instead of him, people will still be playing the clip of the Beastquake over and over. Perhaps it’s better to be one of a kind than simply among the best of your peers.