Jason Taylor visited the hospital a few days before Christmas with his wife and three kids. They brought a lot of toys for kids with cancer, burn victims, children with deformities. Taylor’s children didn’t want to leave, they were having so much fun playing, connecting, giving — unwrapping, in other words, Dad’s real and lasting gifts. Later that night, over prayer, his kids thanked each of the children they met by name, and damn if that didn’t just about make the tough, old football player cry. It can make you emotional, getting old. Appreciative, too.

Looking back — something he has done a lot over the last few weeks, ever since he decided this new year would mark the beginning of the end of football — Taylor realized this: All those blessings that surrounded him in that hospital, he didn’t have any of them upon arriving in Miami as a scared, skinny kid. The wife? She is the sister of Zach Thomas, his brother in more way than one. The children? All born and raised here. Everything Taylor believes in now — family, faith and football, all of it intertwined in something not unlike a huddle — has been nourished and grown here. His gratitude, his platform, everything that makes him who he is. Miami isn’t just the home of his Foundation. It is the home of his foundation.

Giving back

He attempts to give back, raising almost $3 million for poor kids, sending 35 single-parent kids to college with all expenses paid, but he knows his is a debt that’ll never really get repaid. It is something his mentor Marino taught him, one of so many things, and Marino has an entire hospital for children in his name. The most amazing part of what we are celebrating today? In what is otherwise a meaningless football game? It isn’t that, in an era of unprecedented player movement, at a time when the Dolphins have changed coaches, owners and even stadium names multiple times during Taylor’s career, South Florida got to watch Taylor grow from kid to man like parents at a graduation. No, it is the ital:kind:ital of man we have watched him grow into, someone for whom you want to cheer, after coming from a childhood background so broken and painful that he doesn’t like discussing its details and it can bring him to tears if the questions get too close.

The thing that makes Taylor feel proudest? There’s a library to go through after a decade and a half in the sport. He’s the best defender the Dolphins have ever had. He’s scored more touchdowns than anyone to ever play his position. He was the NFL’s Defensive Player Of The Year once and finished second another year. He’d be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and in the best-ever discussion, if he’d had exactly the same career in New England. But proudest?

Being Named NFL Man Of The Year for his charitable works helping giving kids opportunities, education and a path.

“It overshadows everything,” he says. “I know how much it helped me when I was a kid — that someone helped, that someone cared. This game provides you power. Impact lives. Make days. It takes five seconds. Shake a hand. Give a football. I don’t take that for granted. I can’t.”

‘i’ll be emotional’

Today should feel really good. Gratitude always does. In sports, very few get to choose their own ending, as even legends like Bobby Bowden and Joe Paterno learned. For players, the uniform usually gets taken from you before you get a chance to give it back, confidence the last thing to go, the mirror the last thing to know. You know the most fun former safety John Lynch ever had playing football? It wasn’t winning a championship in Tampa, believe it or not, and it wasn’t any of the nine years he went to the Pro Bowl. It was in a preseason game, as a Patriot. You don’t remember him as a Patriot? That’s because he never played a regular-season game for New England. Bill Belichick told Lynch that he had made the team, but Lynch knew he had nothing left. So all he asked for at the end was to play the entire final exhibition game. And there he was, in the fourth quarter, playing against nobodies, blitzing on every down, ignoring the play calls and a lifetime of regimen as Belichick laughed from the sideline.

“I will be playing football as a kid again,” Taylor says of today. “It’ll be emotional. I’m going to try to hold it together the best I can.”

He has been on a snap count all year because of his age and has been allowed to sit out practices, too. But he has asked coaches to let him play every down today, and they have agreed.

“I don’t want to come out,” he says. “I want every last drop. I want to soak in every detail. I want to come out only if I’m tired.”

Jason, you aren’t going to get too tired to come out.

“Damn right I’m not,” he says.

There are things he won’t miss about football, of course. Training camps. The dirty business side of the game. And all the losing. But days like today, there is nothing to replace them in the silence of retirement.

“I’m at peace,” Taylor says. “It is an honor to go out like this in Miami.”

The honor, watching a lost and scared kid grow into a pillar of a man, has been ours.

Current and former Miami Dolphins players discussed the charitable contributions of retiring Dolphins standout Jason Taylor during the annual 3Cinteractive JT’s Ping-Pong Smash at the Hard Rock Live near Hollywood.

The event benefited the Jason Taylor Foundation, whose mission is to support and create programs that facilitate the personal growth and empowerment of South Florida’s children in need by focusing on improved health care, education and quality of life.

Taylor and his wife Katina — like former Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning and his wife Tracy — continue to help better the community. Staples in South Florida, they provide opportunity for the area’s youth.

Usually athletes host golf tournaments or bowling events, but ping-pong is a unique charity concept, pairing business people with athletes and celebrities.

The event offered a good mix of talent including current and former Miami Dolphins, former Florida Marlins, DJs and radio personalities. Taylor, a former NFL Defensive Player of the Year, plays his final game on Sunday against the rival New York Jets.

• Miami Dolphins defensive end Ryan Baker said: “It’s really cool seeing all these celebrities out here, interacting with all these kids and playing ping-pong. It’s real competitive, but we’re having a great time for a great cause.”

How was your ping-pong game?

“It was rusty at the beginning,” Baker said, “but I picked it up and did real well.”

What’s it like being involved in charity event and giving back to the community?

“Well, Jason’s the king at that,” Baker said. “He does a great job, and I like to take notes at what he does. So hopefully I can do that for the Ryan Baker Foundation.”

• Former Miami Dolphins tight end and South Florida radio and television sports personality Joe Rose said: “This is a lot of fun. It’s a different type of a charity event than we usually do. It’s a different atmosphere, a different environment and everybody can play. So it’s a great time, and also it’s nice to see the active players and a lot of the former players here.”

Rose’s ping-pong game is pretty good.

Rose said: “Not really. My game is not very good. I wish it was better.”

• Former Miami Dolphins receiver Randal Thrill Hill had a smile on his game face.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “It’s all about the kids, but I like competition. I don’t care if it’s ping-pong or anything. So being able to help the kids is added fun for me, because it’s all about the competition — whether it be ping-pong, jacks, hop-scotch. I don’t care. It’s all about winning and having fun.

“I’ve won [JT’s Ping-Pong Smash] a couple of years. I’ve been in it four years. Two years I didn’t have a good partner.”

• Miami Dolphins linebacker Karlos Dansby said: “It was an awesome event. I had a blast — giving back to the community and having fun with the fellas. I loved it.”

Dansby wanted to reach the final round.

“My [ping-pong] game was OK,” he said. “Unfortunately I didn’t make it to the last round, but it’s OK. I did all right.”

The Miami Dolphins will honor Jason Taylor in a ceremony before Sunday’s 1 p.m. game against the New York Jets.

Taylor announced on Wednedsay that Sunday’s game will be his last. Taylor will retired Sunday after 15 years in the NFL, 13 with the Miami Dolphins. He also played one season in Washington and with the Jets.

Taylor was selected to the Pro Bowl six times and was the 2006 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. He also is among the NFL career leaders in quarterback sacks.

The Dolphins are encouraging fans to be in their seats by 12:45 p.m. for the ceremony.

Published: Dec. 29, 2011 at 1:59 PM

MIAMI, Dec. 29 (UPI) — Miami Dolphins linebacker Jason Taylor says he will retire from the NFL after Sunday night’s season finale against the New York Jets.

He made the announcement Wednesday in Miami.

“After 15 years of doing this and 13 here in Miami this will be my last game as a Miami Dolphin and as a professional football player,” Taylor said at a news conference. “So I look forward to enjoying this week and soaking it all in for the next few days, but we have a game left to play, so while there will be a time for thank yous and good-byes and all that, this is not the time.”

Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said Taylor exemplifies what it means to be a professional athlete and a role model.

“While he may be retiring as a player, he will always remain an integral part of the Dolphin family, contributing to the team and the community he has grown to love,” Ross said in a statement. “We congratulate him for all he has done, and we are looking forward to continuing to work with him as he begins the next chapter of his life.”

Read More: Jason Taylor (LB – MIA), Miami Dolphins

After 15 seasons as one of the NFL’s premier pass rushers, Miami Dolphins legend Jason Taylor is finally calling it quits. The Dolphins’ Week 17 encounter with their division rivals, the New York Jets. It’s been speculated for most of the season that this would be Taylor’s last, but he finally put the issue to rest with his quotes this week, confirming that he intends to walk away from the game. Via the Miami Herald:

“In the last few weeks, I thought about it more … I talked to some people about it. I kind of figured this is the right move to make and this is the right time to do it. It’s been a tough year, unfortunately. While we’ve had some good times, we’ve had a lot of bad times this year, too. This organization in the near future is going to make some changes. I think part of those changes is needing to address some personnel positions. This is the right time for me to go and allow this organization to improve.”

In his 15-year career, Taylor has recorded 139.5 sacks, made six Pro Bowls, and been named the Defensive Player of the Year once, in 2006.

For more on the Phins and Taylor’s retirement, check out Miami Dolphins blog The Phinsider.