Thompson's work gained renewed attention with the release of the film Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. New editions of the book were published, introducing Thompson's work to a new generation of readers. The same year, an early novel The Rum Diary was published, as were the two volumes of collected letters. Thompson's next, and penultimate, collection, Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child In the Final Days of the American Century, was widely publicized as Thompson's first memoir. Published in 2003, it combined new material , selected newspaper and digital clippings, and other older works. Thompson finished his journalism career in the same way it had begun: Writing about sports. From 2000 until his death in 2005, he wrote a weekly column for ESPN.com's Page 2 entitled "Hey, Rube." In 2004 Simon & Schuster collected some of the columns from the first few years and released it in mid-2004 as Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness. Thompson married assistant Anita Bejmuk on April 23, 2003.
Question: How many years did Thompson write about sports, shortly before his death?
Answer: 5