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Rating Armstrong's Comeback
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Ever popular and living strong. AP Photo/Peter Morrison
The popular sports website, www.SI.com, recently posted a photo gallery of successful sports figures that just couldn’t stay retired. There were 25 such players and coaches profiled, many of whom were boxers and tennis and hockey players. Of course, seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong was on the list, and it was interesting to see how his 2009 comeback—after three full years in retirement—stacked up to some of the other more intriguing people on the list. As the below verdicts show, some should have stayed retired, while others were guilty of hanging on too long.
Brett Favre
After winning a Super Bowl in the 1990s with the Green Bay Packers, Favre dismayed—or just dissed (and I promise not to use the word “diss” again—cheeseheads from Madison to Minocqua when he joined the New York Jets last year. The team failed to make the playoffs. The future Hall of Famer retired again, then signed with the Minnesota Vikings for this season.
Verdict: The jury is still out.
Roger Clemens
The Rocket had a hard time letting go of baseball—and with good reason. Clemens was still at the top of his game (he won his seventh Cy Young award after his first retirement in 2004) with the Houston Astros. He re-joined the New York Yankees in 2008 and finished the season with a rather pedestrian 6-6 record and 4.18 ERA. Alas, his name was mentioned 82 times in the infamous 2007 Mitchell Report for illegal use of performance enhancing drugs, he is under investigation for perjury, and he reportedly had a 10-year extramarital affair with a singer that began at her embarrassingly young age of 15.
Verdict: Guilty. Should have just got a job sawing plywood at Home Depot. You know, like other retirees.
Michael Jordan
The recent inductee into basketball’s Hall of Fame is widely thought of as the greatest basketball player ever. Jordan won three straight NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls in the early 1990s before shocking everyone with his decision to play minor league baseball. He came back with the Bulls to win three more NBA championships and totaled five MVP awards while revolutionizing basketball apparel worldwide. At 39, Jordan un-retired a second time to play for the Washington Wizards and still averaged about 16 points per game. Jordan was resoundly ripped for an uninspired Hall of Fame speech that came across as petty and bitter.
Verdict: Not guilty. Good call, Michael. Just don’t come back again at 51. And hire a speechwriter.
Mario Lemieux
Lemieux first left hockey after being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 1993. He retired in 1997, joined the Pittsburgh Penguins front office, then returned to the ice in 2000 and had the NHL’s best points per game average. He retired for good in 2006.
Verdict: Lemieux could still play at a high level. Not guilty.
Ricky Williams
The 1998 talented Heisman Trophy winner out of Texas had a brilliant and troubled first NFL career. Williams retired in 2004 after failing yet another drug test. He returned in 2005 and tested tested positive again for marijuana use and had to serve a one-year NFL suspension in 2006. He came back to the NFL in 2007 and in 2008 ran the ball effectively for the Miami Dolphins.
Verdict: Not guilty (of hanging on too long, at least). Coming back to the NFL might help keep Williams, who has been diagnosed with depression and social anxiety disorder, focused and give him a purpose to move beyond the bong.
Lance Armstrong
Armstrong capped his inspiring cycling career as the only rider ever to win seven Tour de France titles (1999-2005). Then he retired from pro cycling. But in late 2008, he joined the Astana team and began racing with the intention of winning an eighth Tour. However, teammate Alberto Contador, perhaps the sport’s next great champion, was victorious in Paris. Armstrong took third.
Verdict: Not guilty. Armstrong showed that despite three years away from pro cycling, he was still among the best in the world. He also redirected the media spotlight to his ambitious and admirable goal of finding a cure for cancer. He will race with his new RadioShack team in the 2010 Tour.
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