"I like to do things with my family. And if you like to do things with your family, there just isn't a lot of time in the day. I have two high school kids that are trying to play three sports. I have an eighth-grader right now who's trying to play three sports. My daughters, more than that each. And we have a baby that's 3 years old. Just the juggling of time is incredible.

"We're looking at two-hour windows. People ask us what we're doing, for example, tomorrow. 'Can you ask me tomorrow?' And it has to be flexible, or it doesn't work. So, you have things in line — but you also have to be flexible, which is interesting."

The schedule, Stockton said, simply did not allow him to return to Salt Lake City more than the single time he did.

"We have five kids all playing basketball," he said. "That doesn't offer a lot of time.

"To just find even a day to get back there was very hard. We have great friends we'd like to see. Obviously, it would be fun for the kids to come see that from a different perspective. And it just hasn't worked out."

Many of Stockton's days now that the playing has passed are filled with coaching.

Kids, that is, not in the NBA.

And they are not just his children, either.

"I learned, actually, from a guy in Salt Lake that it's very difficult to just coach 'your kids,' " he said. "They don't get anything out of it, and nobody else does. But if you're willing to coach 'people,' and your kids are in with it, then they both gain — and you feel better about it."

So does Stockton, who fills the void of competition that way now.

"I can appreciate how (Jazz coach) Jerry (Sloan) and these guys (Jazz assistant coaches) feel. Obviously, it's a different level. But you're still competing when you're coaching and helping people get better — whether they're even your team or not," he said. "If you can help a kid out, and he's playing for a team that plays against traditionally what's 'your team,' but he's doing well, you take a lot of satisfaction in that too."

Not everyone has the time to get so involved.

But Stockton does because pro athletes retire before the rest of us, and he is one among those who now has the financial wherewithal to spend more time than most with his family — time that once flew by as one season blended into another and another and another.

"I take it for the blessing it is — and I do realize that not everybody gets the opportunity," Stockton said. "So I guess you have to appreciate those things — and I do."

What Stockton did not appreciate when he played is when fans tried to cross the line between watching and idolizing.