Compare "To an Athlete Dying Young" and Updike's "Ex-Basketball Player." How are the athletes' fates similar & different?

What a great idea to compare these two poems! I hadn't
thought of that before! Of course, one poem supports the central idea of the other
completely, as the fate of the athlete in "Ex-Basketball Player" strongly suggests that
it would have been better for him to die in his moment of glory rather than be allowed
to fade away gracelessly into old age.

"To An Athlete Dying
Young," then, is all about how the athlete is "smart" to leave a world where glory does
not remain and can only vanish. It is far better to die young, the author suggests, than
to join the many who had enjoyed glory but now have "worn their honours out." Dying
young has meant that he will avoid lots of disappointments that life and age will
bring:

Now
you will not swell the rout

Of lads that wore their honours
out,

Runners whom renown
outran

And the name died before the
man.

This fate will not occur
to the athlete; he will not "outrun" renown through his early death and has ensured he
will be remembered in his glory days.

Of course,
"Ex-Basketball Player" features a life that has come to nothing, whatever former glory
Flick Webb once enjoyed, jus tlike Pearl Avenue is described in the first stanza as
being "cut off" in its prime, "Before it has a chance to go two blocks." Flick is shown
to be haunted by his former glory days, which stand in sharp contrast to his life now.
He "never learned a trade" and "just sells gas." He will show off his former talent, but
only "as a gag." The last few lines are perhaps most poignant as it shows how Flick
lives in a dream world recalling his former days of triumph and
fame:

Flick
seldom says a word to Mae, just nods

Beyond her face toward
bright applauding tiers

Of Necco Wafers, Nibs, and Juju
Beads.

In this excellent
implied metaphor the stands that hold candy are compared to the bleachers where the
applauding and adoring fans stay. Flick cannot escape his past and uses it as a retreat
to escape his present.

So, comparing both poems. Flick Webb
gives us an example of what would have happened to the Athlete in Houseman's poem if he
had not died. Flick Webb is indeed an athlete who "outran renown" and has joined the
ranks of those whose glory has faded, and lives a sad, barren life as a
result.