by Ian Tasso
Editorial. Photos by AP News
It didn’t take very long – three months and five days to be exact – but Tiger Woods is finally back.
On March 15, 2010, the troubled superstar formally announced that he will be making his return to the game of golf during this years’ Masters tournament, held April 8-11. It’s an announcement that was anticipated by some, expected by most but no doubt heard by all.
And that’s because for the greater part of the past three months, the news wire has been filled with Tiger’s name. It all started on that fateful night when he was pulled from his 2009 Cadillac SUV after striking a fire hydrant, and it only got worse from then on.All sorts of accusations stemmed from the crash – many proven to be true, but all lending a hand in Tiger’s fall from grace. Now, after being linked sexually with as many as 20 women, his legacy has been tarnished, his image shattered and his life changed forever.
In less than one month’s time, Tiger Woods will be back on the green, a place where only he can set himself right – where only he can make things better. It may not help his legacy. It might not even help repair his public image. But for himself – for Tiger Woods – it might make all the difference in the world.
As for the rest of the sporting world, triumphant returns are nothing new. From names like Lance Armstrong to Michael Jordan, and even slightly less star-struck figures like Jon Lester, stepping away from sports is sometimes a necessity.
Because sometimes - for whatever reasons, some less ideal than others – sports has to take a back seat to reality. It is, after all, simply the toy store of life. A place where that reality sits on the sidelines, and everything else takes over.
But you can’t keep it there. That reality always finds a way to resurface, and sometimes it’s the athlete himself that winds up on the sidelines as well.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t return to that toy store.
Because sometimes, when that reality takes a hit and you fall from your perch, that toy store is the only thing that can help build you back up.
Here are some of the more dramatic comebacks in sports history.
10. Tedy Bruschi, 2005 –
Tedy Bruschi embodied the New England Patriots.
It was the winter of 2005, the Pro Bowl linebacker had just won his third Super Bowl Championship with the Patriots, and he was beloved all across New England.
But on Feb. 16, just days after competing in his first Pro Bowl, Bruschi was admitted to the hospital with symptoms of numbness, blurred vision and headaches according to a report by CBCSports.
And after spending several months of rehab with the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, number 54 announced he would sit out the upcoming 2005-2006 NFL season.
But after being cleared for football activities on Oct. 16 of that very same year, Bruschi rejoined his team two weeks later, returning to the field the night following his reactivation. Bruschi was named the 2005 Comeback Player of the Year for his efforts and was also voted into the 2005 Pro Bowl.
Two seasons later, would go on to lead his Patriots to the NFL's first ever 16-0 season.
9. David Cone, 1996 -
The 1994 Cy Young award winner and five-time All-Star selection was brought to New York to become an integral piece of the Yankee starting rotation in the mid 90’s.
In his first full season in pinstripes, the 6’1” righty began to take over in the Bronx, starting the ’96 season 4-1 with a miniscule 2.02 ERA. But then tragedy struck.
Cone was diagnosed with an aneurysm of two arteries in his right shoulder, a potentially life-threatening injury. Questions about his future in baseball arose after he landed on the disabled list for what many assumed would be the remainder of the 1996 season.
But Cone would return on Sept. 2, his father flying all the way out from Kansas City to be a part of the audience in Oakland. The 6’1” righty would throw seven innings of shutout baseball against the Athletics, a game the Yankees would go on to win 5-0.
Four starts later, with the Yankees trailing the Braves 2-0 in the 1996 World Series, Cone would throw six four-hit innings in a crucial game three, which New York won, 5-2. New York would rally to win the next three games, eventually winning the series four games to two.
And in 1999, just three short years later, Cone would forever etch his name into the history books, throwing a perfect game against the Montreal Expos.
8. Jon Lester, 2006 -
In his early 20’s, Jon Lester was the pride of the Red Sox farm system. At the age of 22, he was rated Boston’s top AAA prospect by Baseball America, before being called up to the majors towards the beginning of the 2006 season.
But at the close of his 7-2 ’06 campaign, Lester was diagnosed with a rare form of lymphodic cancer, one that according to a report released by Gordon Edes, only accounts for around one percent of all lymphomas.
He was forced to begin treatment shortly thereafter, before returning to the Red Sox rotation in July of 2007. Three months later, Lester eventually pitched in, and won, the deciding game four of the 2007 World Series.
And on May 19 of the very next season, Lester would hurl a no-hitter against the Kansas City Royals.
7. Cam Neely, 1994 –
In the early 90s, Cam Neely defined the power forward. He was a bruiser, an agitator and a pure goal-scoring machine.
In the 1989-1990 season, Neely recorded a career-high 55 goals, a pretty impressive mark for the time period. But perhaps more importantly, Neely had etched himself in the minds of Bruins fans everywhere, becoming a Boston favorite almost the instant he hit the Hub’s ice.
In the 1991 playoffs though, Cam Neely had an ugly collision with Penguins’ defenseman Ulf Samuelsson, forcing him out of the third game of the Prince of Wales Conference Finals. Before the hit, the Bruins held a 2-0 lead on Pittsburgh in the series. After, Pittsburgh won four straight, sending Boston home packing.
The Penguins went on to win the ‘91 Stanley Cup, defeating Minnesota 4-2.
The fateful knee-on-knee hit caused Neely to develop myositis ossificans in the injured area, a condition that caused him to miss all but 22 games in the next two seasons.
But in the 1993-1994 season, Neely made a ferocious comeback, notching 50 goals in just 44 games, a feat only Wayne Gretzky himself had bested. But the knee injury ultimately forced number eight to retire in 1996, following two seasons where he failed to score more than 27 goals.
Neely received the Masterton Trophy following his ’93-’94 campaign, an award given to NHL players for their perseverance and decication.
6. Josh Hamilton, 2000-2007
Hamilton was the number one overall pick in baseball’s 1999 June draft, selected by the Tampa Bay Rays. In his first year of minor league play with Tampa Bay, Hamilton hit .311 with 10 home runs.
But countless injuries would derail Hamilton’s quest to the Bigs, a he injured his back, quadriceps and ribs all over the next two years. Eventually, an elbow injury would knock him out of baseball for what would become a three-year absence. But that absence wasn’t all because of injury.
In 2003, Hamilton was placed on the restricted list after failing a drug test, and was suspended from baseball the following year after violating the league’s substance abuse policy. In 2005, Hamilton would hit rock bottom, an admitted junkie, estranging himself from his wife and moving in with his grandmother. It was time for a change.
After many months of rehab, Hamilton was finally cleared to resume baseball workouts with the Rays in 2006, returning to the field on June 30 in Class A. The Rays however, left Hamilton unprotected in the Rule 5 draft, where he was picked up by the Cincinatti Reds.
After being promoted to the Majors the next season, Hamilton posted a .292 average with 19 home runs and 47 RBI in 90 games before he was traded to the Texas Rangers. In 2008, his first full season with the Rangers, Hamilton smacked 35 home runs and set an MLB record with 28 dingers in the first round of the 2008 Home Run Derby, something that signified more than just a whole 'lotta long-balls for the left-handed slugger.
5. Magic Johnson, 1991 –
Magic was one of the most prolific scorers the NBA had ever seen.
A career 19.5 points-per-game average saw Johnson reach the pinnacle of the NBA in the 1980’s and early 90’s, being selected to 12 All-Star games during that span and reeling in five NBA Championships.
But life took a turn for Magic just before the 1991-1992 NBA season, where Johnson discovered he had tested positive for HIV. Magic made the test public immediately, claiming he had no prior knowledge of the disease, and retired from the NBA directly following his announcement.
Magic would return to the hardwood in the 1992 Summer Olympics however, where he was a member of the 12-man USA “Dream Team,” ten of whom were named to the 1996 NBA’s 50 Greatest Players list. Magic was one of them.
Johnson and The Dream Team easily won Gold in the Barcelona games, scoring over 100 points in each of their three playoff games, the closest match being decided by 32 points.
Despite his retirement, Magic was still voted into the 1992 All-Star game, an event many fellow teammates felt he should not compete in. Magic played anyway, and powered the Western Conference to a 153-113 win, scoring 25 points, and ending the game with a last-minute three-pointer. He was mobbed and congratulated on the court by his teammates following the final buzzer.
4. Mario Lemieux, 1993 -
Before there was Sidney Crosby, there was Mario Lemieux.
Lemieux and Gretzky were the one-two punch of the NHL in the 1990’s, dominating the ice. In his 13 seasons in the National Hockey League, Lemieux compiled 613 career goals, an NHL record, and is currently 10th on the all-time points list with 1,494.
But life on the glass wasn’t always easy for “Le Magnifique.”
In the middle of the 1993 season, Lemieux was diagnosed with a form of cancer formally known as Nodular Lymphocytic Hodgkin’s Disease. In order to recover, Lemieux was forced away from the ice and into rehabilitation, where he received treatment for his disease.
But amazingly, Lemieux wasn’t finished – not even for the season. The Pittsburgh star returned to the rink on the final night of his treatments, which lasted 20 games. Lemieux then came back and finished the 1993 season as the NHL’s leading scorer with 160 points in just 60 games.
He was eventually named the league’s MVP and received the Hart Memorial Trophy.
Back troubles would force Lemieux back out of hockey in the following season, to which he responded by returning in 1995-1996 and leading the NHL with 161 points, and again the next season with 122.
Hey – the good things in life never come easy.
3. Michael Jordan, 1994 -
If Magic Johnson was good, Michael Jordan was great. If Magic Johnson was great, Jordan was unbelievable.
The man widely viewed as the face of the NBA, even after his retirement, posted some of the gaudiest numbers the National Basketball League has ever seen during his first nine years as a player – including averaging over 28 points in every season but one and wrapping up three NBA titles.
In the late 80’s and early 90’s, MJ ran the hardwood, plain and simple. Naturally, this made it that much harder for him to leave.
Citing a lack of desire to play the game among other issues, Jordan announced in 1993 that he would retire from the NBA. Without him, the Bulls were bounced from the playoffs later that year, and were 31-31 midway through the following season. But then they received a lift – in the form of number 23.
MJ returned to Chicago towards the end of the 1994-1995 season, leading the Bulls all the way to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. Despite their game six loss to the Magic in ‘95, Jordan would remain in the NBA for three more full years, before retiring once more.
But during that time, Jordan would reestablish himself as an elite on the court - as if he never left in the first place - leading the Bulls to NBA titles in each of his final three seasons.
2. Lance Armstrong, 1999 -
The greatest Tour de France rider ever to have lived, Lance Armstrong has worn the yellow jacket of the Tour a record seven times - each one of them directly following the previous.
But before all that, before all the wins, before all the glory – there was sacrifice. There was a choice.
Because at age 25, on Oct. 2, 1997, Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with stage three testicular cancer, which according to a report by the Lance Armstrong Foundation had spread to his lungs, abdomen and brain. This particular type of cancer has about a 90% cure rate. But the spreading of his disease caused Armstrong’s chances to dim.
But he fought. He underwent two separate surgeries, one to remove the cancerous testicle and another to remove the lesions on his brain. Overall, his treatment lasted from October to December, three long months for the world-talented cycler.
Then in 1998, his comeback on the pavement began, with Armstrong resuming cycling in the Vuelta a Espana, a race in which he finished fourth. One year later, Armstrong would return to the Tour de France, winning his first yellow jacket in 1999.
He would then win another in 2000. And another in 2001. And another. And another. And then two more – making seven in total.
Seven races, seven wins. If you crunch the numbers, it works out to a 100% success rate.
Not bad for a guy who once had less than a 90% change to live.
1. Tiger Woods, 2010 –
And here we are.
Unlike most of the athletes listed above, Tiger was forced from the game because of a web of choices he’s made over his career, rather than a physical injury or deterrent.
But he still shares plenty of similarities – including the difficulty of the road ahead.
There is no doubt that Tiger is one of the best golfers in the world when he’s right. The question remains: will he be right? Will he be focused? Will he be able to handle the pressure? Will be he Tiger Woods?
Only time will tell.
Until then, only one thing is for sure – the road ahead is rocky and unfamiliar for Mr. Woods. Thankfully, he’ll be at a place where he’s grown quite at home: the fairway, with only a tee, some green and a club at his disposal.
They’re the tools that he used to fashion his legacy, to build his pedestal of sporting greatness. But this time is different from any other.
This time, he’ll need those tools not to create – but to rebuild.
And while he may never return to where he once was, it will be up to him to decide which path he selects.
But if the above list of athletes proves anything at all, it is that at least the chance for redemption is there. And in the words of the great Kevin Garnett: ‘anything is possible.’
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