No

It's fair to say the sincerity of the hugs and sobs, deep thoughts and heartfelt moments from Junior Seau's retirement party Monday can be questioned when, four days later, he agrees to play for the New England Patriots.

But 10 years from now, 10 weeks from now, 10 days from now, no one will remember or care about Seau's embarrassing end-around.

Seau's legacy will be just fine. All those sacks and tackles and Seau Salutes will stay in the archives.

Seau's plaque at the Pro Football Hall of Fame will not mention his four-day retirement, but it will say something about his intense desire and passion for football. Has anyone loved playing the game more than this guy? Jerry Rice, maybe.

Maybe I'm wrong, but Seau doesn't seem like the kind of kind of guy who spends a lot of time puttering in the garden or building tree forts for the kids. On Monday, he had no plan for life after football, saying only that it was time to move on and, "please pass another piece of that delicious farewell cake."

Before the desperate Patriots came calling, there wasn't a huge demand for the 37-year-old linebacker who has lost a step or two and whose once bulletproof body is starting to break down. New England figures it can coax a few more of those salutes out of Seau, so it made an offer. Of course he was going to say yes.

How many times did Michael Jordan retire? Twice? Three times? Or is he still playing Euro ball somewhere in Croatia? Does it matter? Michael Jordan is still Michael Jordan, no matter if his playing days ended on a gimpy knee with, of all teams, the lowly Washington Wizards.

Athletes retire and unretire all the time. Gordie Howe, Roger Clemens, insert name of any boxer here.

The rare superstar is the one who walks away and resists the tug to come back. Barry Sanders comes to mind. There are dozens of others. The greatest athletes always are remembered for what they accomplished on the field, not for how or when they retired. There is no stat for number of retirements. There's no extra credit for those who can keep it to one.

Through all of this, Seau comes off as a guy about as stable as a wheelbarrow loaded with nitroglycerine.

Unpredictable, volatile, scary to predict.

But really, shouldn't we have seen this coming? When Seau talked about a pursuing a higher calling, we should have guessed he was talking about Bill Belichick's cell phone.

So he's off to New England. To do what he has always done. To do what he loves. To play football.

Seau will retire again someday. Another chance to party with Oceanside's favorite son.

Who's bringing the cake?

Sports editor Loren Nelson can be reached at (760) 740-3551 or lnelson@nctimes.com. To comment, go to nctimes.com.