When you possess a pride that borders on arrogance, the priority is to be your own man and do things your own way.

But on Tuesday, even as Cris Carter attempted to reconcile his departure from the NFL with a feigned excitement for his new HBO gig, it was obvious the second most prolific receiver in league history didn't so much walk out the door as he was pushed through it.

"I know I can still play football but I'm not on an ego trip," Carter said in announcing his retirement after 15 seasons, 1,093 catches, 13,833 yards and 129 touchdowns.

	Going Out In Style
	Cris Carter caught 73 passes last season, the third-most ever for a player in his final NFL season. Only Sterling Sharpe and Reggie Langhorne had more in their final seasons, and Carter's 871 receiving yards last season are the fourth-most since the AFL/NFL merger for a player in his final season.
		Yr.	Rec.
	Sterling Sharpe	1994	94
	Reggie Langhorne	1993	85
	Cris Carter	2001	73*
	Richard Johnson	1990	64
	*1,093 career rec. rank 2nd all-time

No, there is no ego trip involved, since Carter's psyche crash landed amid the reality that no team in the NFL really wanted to sign him. The Miami Dolphins, his last best hope for extending his career another year, acknowledged last week that Carter "wasn't on (their) radar screen" anymore.

And so Carter will move to the television screen instead, with a two-year contract worth a total of $800,000, and the knowledge he edged out his former Minnesota Vikings coach, Dennis Green, for the studio job. Nothing against HBO, which is reshaping its "Inside the NFL" show, but truth be told, Carter would still be reading secondary coverages and not cue cards if he had his way.

Try as he might to sound convincing in a Tuesday conference call, there was more than a hint of regret in Carter's voice. He candidly conceded he regretted visiting the Cleveland Browns earlier this spring, squeezing in an unscheduled stop, a move that forced him to cancel a huddle with St. Louis Rams coach Mike Martz.

Martz, who had jumped through hoops to get Rams management to agree to let him sign Carter, and who was prepared to alter his offense to accommodate the veteran, reacted by refusing to accept the wide receiver's apologetic phone calls. To this day, the men have not discussed the incident, but then again, there is little for Martz to say anyway.

He had offered the imperial Carter a two-year contract worth $1.5 million per season -- or $2.2 million more than he will earn at HBO in 2002-2003 -- and was snubbed because the veteran wideout believed the Browns were poised to pay him $4 million annually. It was an expensive misread by Carter, one that cost him far more than money, one that cost him a viable opportunity to grab a Super Bowl ring before he exited the game.

Carter rationalized the Dolphins' lack of viable interest by noting that Miami is "right up against the salary cap." A quick check, however, shows the Dolphins still had $3.23 million in the coffers on Tuesday morning, more than all but nine NFL franchises. And let's be honest here, at least more forthright than Carter was, teams always find ways to create cap room for players they truly covet.

Think about this: Last summer, the Oakland Raiders figured out a way to add Jerry Rice to the roster. Rice was 38 years old at the time or, notably, two years older is Carter right now. Even in his NFL dotage, Rice fielded substantial offers from four different teams. Carter, conversely, could barely scare up a franchise willing to show modicum interest.

"I wanted to play football (again)," Carter allowed, "but it had to be the right situation."

But there were no situations, right or wrong, for Carter. Zero solid offers. No one willing to fully commit to a guy who, even in a down year, still caught 73 passes in 2001.

In his 30-minute session with reporters Tuesday, Carter spoke of his failure to capture a championship during an otherwise brilliant tenure. He cited two wide receivers now out of the league, Alvin Harper and Andre Rison, who won Super Bowl rings and then asked rhetorically if their championship jewelry made them better than him.

"Are you saying that their careers were more successful than mine?" he queried.

Of course, no one was suggesting anything of the sort, and the question went unanswered. But the fact Carter even took the time to conjure up those names was testament to the kind of torture he must be experiencing at having seen the doors of 32 teams slammed on him. It certainly must rankle one of the NFL's most brilliant performers to know that he could not leave the game on his terms.

There was a time when ESPN colleague Chris Berman was right, when all Carter seemed to do was score touchdowns, when he was a one-man highlight film. Hopefully the memories of his latter seasons, when the television cameras often caught him griping on the sidelines or chastising a teammate, won't supercede those touchdown moments.

"When you look back on things," said Carter, in explaining his decision to jilt the Rams, "your version is always perfect. In life, we always make the right decisions the second time around, you know?"

Were he given the opportunity to do it over again, Carter would be in St. Louis now, preparing for a 16th season and his best shot at a Super Bowl title. That he won't get any "do-overs," though, is his own, self-inflicted undoing.

When he stands in front of the mirror this fall, straightening his tie or having makeup applied before the videotape rolls, Cris Carter is going to have to reconcile the fact that the guy staring back at him is the person most responsible for the fact he's talking about the game and not playing it.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.