What are the greatest ever sporting comebacks?

As we are currently experiencing the most hyped comeback in the history of sport, the third coming of Lance Armstrong, the one we call, El Gran Cojone, we thought it apposite to consider this question, just who has made the best comeback of all times?

After some bloody arguments, a few tears and the occasional sly jab, this is the list we settled on.

1. Muhammad Ali

Boxing is littered with comebacks. It seems to be ingrained in a boxer’s DNA. The so-called “sweet science” must be sweet indeed. There have been many disastrous boxing comebacks, the recent Fenech / Nelson farce being a comical case in point. But Ali’s comeback in the early 1970s, after losing his boxing licence during the Vietnam War, is the stuff of legend.

In one of the greatest upsets in sports history and definitely one of the greatest comebacks, seven long years after being stripped of his title, Ali beat George Forman in the “Rumble in the Jungle” to reclaim his title. Magnificent though his boxing may have been, his oratory was even better, immortalized in the documentary “When we were Kings”.

Who else could have declared: “I’m bad! Last week I killed a stick. I murdered a rock. I’m so bad I make medicine sick!”

2. Michael Jordan

Poor old MJ initially walked away from basketball because of boredom; bored with winning three consecutive titles with the Chicago Bulls, bored with being the world’s best player, bored with being the planet’s highest paid athlete, bored with Phil Jackson’s esoteric motivational games, bored with betting hundreds of thousands of dollars on his errant golf swing.

In 1993, Jordan decided on a career change and started playing baseball for a Minor League feed team to the Chicago White Sox. After three years of never quite making it in baseball, MJ returned to the Chicago Bulls at age 32 in 1996. His powers undiminished he immediately inspired the Bulls to another 3 consecutive titles. He is also one of the few men on the planet who looks better bald than hirsute, a fine feat in itself, joining an elite club including the likes of Sean Connery, Captain Picard of Star Trek fame and, of course, our own Danny Tiatto…not.

3. Lance Armstrong – Mach 1

Of course, this is not El Gran Cojone’s first comeback. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer in October 1996 and soon discovered that it had spread to his brain, lungs and abdomen. Worried doctors gave the great Texan a 30% chance of survival. In 1998 he blew the cancer away. In 1999 he won his first Tour.

The real test came in 2000 when the heavyweights of the Tour, Ullrich, Pantoni et al, returned to the fray after somewhat suspicious hiatuses. On an unforgettable day on the torturous Hautacam climb he blew them all into oblivion and rode on to win the great race a remarkable seven times. We hope and pray that this return is more auspicious than MJ’s third comeback with the Washington Wizards.

4. Nikki Lauda

While we’re on the topic of brave comebacks, what about Nikki Lauda? Heading for his second world championship with Ferrari in 1976, Lauda endured a horror crash in Germany, his car bursting into flames, the driver trapped in the fireball. Despite the strenuous efforts of officials and fellow drivers, he could not be removed in time to prevent severe burns and the inhalation of huge quantities of toxic gas. Lauda spent several days in a coma.

Miraculously, less than two months later, Lauda was back on the track. He was never going to star in a L’Oreal advertisement but the man from Austria was sure going to see many a chequered flag. In his first race back, he managed a credible fourth, but eventually lost the world championship by a single point. The following year in 1977, he won the drivers championship for the second time. At age 30, he quit the sport and returned to Austria to run his own airline, as you do. Nikki wasn’t finished there though, the Lazarus of his sport was back again in 1982, this time with McLaren. In 1984 he pipped team mate Alain Prost to take the title by just half a point. He retired for good a year later, his career finally ending, appropriately enough, amidst a shower of sparks on the main straight in Adelaide.

5. …Warnie…?

Dare we dream it? Can it be? With Australia’s spin bowling stocks at an all time low, with due apologies to Messrs Hauritz, Krezja, Casson, White, Cullen et al, surely the drums will start beating louder and louder for an Ashes recall for S K Warne. With 708 test wickets and in his 40th year, sporting an orange tan and an ever blond and no doubt perpetual thatch of the finest hair known to cricket and science, surely he can come back to torment the Poms just one more time in 2009. There might even be another musical in it.

We entreat all lovers of Australian cricket to immediately commence texting messages of support to 1800-WARNEY. We appreciate this is a desperate act. We are desperate men.

That’s our view, what do you think? Would you rate the shoplifting and marijuana imbibing Jennifer Capriati’s comeback higher? One can only imagine the motivational issues she must have faced. Or how about Geoff “Skippy” Huegill? It can’t be easy shedding 35 kilos and swapping night clubs for the pool.

For more serious analysis of sporting comebacks and to ensure that you carb-load on everything sporting, download the For and Against team’s latest podcast now (see link below). Listen to it as soon as you can; in the car, bus or train on your daily commute, in the rest rooms at work or while you’re pretending to exercise in the gym.

Sports is all about opinions and the For and Against team aim to offer plenty of those…and they all come spliced with an intoxicating dash of humor and left field insight. You’ll love it. Almost as much as you love sport.

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