"Greatest Comeback in Sports"

"Greatest" is always a difficult word.  Tiger Woods (Yes, I know, boo golf) won the Masters today.  He plodded around the course, missed almost nothing, and let the young guys fall behind.  It was an interesting exhibition of keeping oneself under control, although 18 was a bit scary.

The commentators threw around  the greatest comeback thought, and considering that Tiger figured two years ago he might never again be able to play a round of mini golf with his kids, I think there is some legitimacy to the thought.  Surgeons, physios, coaches, psychologists and more had a great deal to do with his repair, but he had to do it himself.

So, Niki Lauda comes to mind, watching Alex Zanardi win gold at the paralympics makes me thing he is one of the greatest, and Bo Jackson playing professional baseball on a titanium hip is up there too.

Opinions?  Other admirable comebacks?

Don’t call it a comeback. I’ve been here for years. 

I was legitimately shocked when I heard that. I thought he was done. 

It's pretty amazing when you look at the physical challenges he has overcome. He's not the greatest person around, but you have to tip your hat to him. He took his natural talent, combined it with a metric ton of determination and hard work, and and added another chapter to what was already a legendary career.

No guy will admit it but the life Tiger Woods was living before his very public fall from grace was one I think every guy secretly wanted to live.

Good for him him making it back to the top of the golf world. Golf needs more Tiger Woods. I bet if you listed off the top five active professional golfers mixed in with five other random names I would be  luckey to guess two of them. 

Robert Kubica and the already mentioned Zanardi are two inspirational motorsports comebacks. 

Dude, the browns won 7 games last year after going 1-31 over the last two.  Tiger has nothing on that

2016 cavaliers down 3-1 in nba finals and win?  2016 cubs down 3-1 in World Series? 

In reply to dean1484 :

No thanks. Now Derek Jeter, absolutely.

Don’t get married if you intend to berkeley around. 

Greg LeMond.

Won the '86 Tour de France, was accidentally shot while hunting in '87, and came back to win the Tour again in '89 (and again in '90).

For a sport which at its core consists of making watts harder than everybody else on the planet for hours a day for three weeks solid, going from hospital bed to podium in that time frame is staggering.

Not comebacks, per se, but I'm also blown away by watching Valentino Rossi reinvent the entire way he rides a motorcycle to be competitive against riders who had his posters on the wall before they could read blows my mind. Also watching Andrea Dovizioso make that amazing transition from one of those guys you knew had the talent but seemed not to know how to win, and then making that leap after years hovering right at the pointy end of the sport...

In reply to OHSCrifle :

I don’t know how many people get married intending to fool around. I’m sure some but I think most people at the moment expect to stay faithful

In reply to dean1484 :

I pity Mr Woods more than I envy him.

Ben Hogan was the greatest comeback in golf.

That deal with LeMonde was local to me.  Got to meet him once, not that long after he got shot out near Rancho Murieta.  His comeback was also more impressive than Mr Woods

28-3

While I don't think that you can really quantify any of these as "the greatest", they're all certainly on the list. 

Tiger's win is impressive to me. I like him a lot more now than I did when he was in his prime, he certainly comes off humbler than he did before. The fact that he wasn't able to get out of bed without help not even 3 years ago, and that they didn't know if his last surgery/surgeries were going to work, is astounding. He has a fused spine. That is insane. And he has simply been the best golfer the world has seen, IMHO. Obviously the other contenders for this title were great, but none of them dominated the way that Tiger did for most of his career (Ok, fine, Jack did, you're right). Also, he has to be the best natural ball striker the world has seen, with the one possible exception being John Daly. 

At the end of the day, I'm thrilled that he has made a comeback. I love golf, really love it, but it has two big issues that play into each other: 1, it is expensive, and 2, it is seen as a rich, white, old mans sport. Tiger does everything to combat this--the son of a retired Army officer, half black, half Thai, named after a Vietnamese Colonel. Prior to that, the most diversity the sport had seen was Lee Trevino. Tiger makes the sport interesting. 

Golf seems more like a game than a sport. If they had to hit a moving ball, then maybe I could think of it as a sport. For that reason, I say Tiger Woods is not the greatest comeback in sports.

[I am being a smart ass in an attempt at humor. Not trying to start a debate about the merits (or lack of) of golf.]

I always thought Buddy Lazier winning the 1996 Indy 500 two months after breaking his back at Phoenix was damned impressive.  But it happened during "the split" so it's pretty much forgotten.  Of course Buddy Lazier was never a true wizard like Zanardi or Lauda but I'd wager he's just as tough.  Three hours in an Indy car with a broken back that hasn't fully healed?  He must have realized that 1996 was his once-in-a-lifetime shot at winning - and he was right.

I just heard that “someone” wants to give him the Presidential Medal of Freedom for chasing a little white ball around a lawn.  Sure, it’s on a level with an actual achievement, what the actual.......?

KyAllroad (Jeremy) said:

I just heard that “someone” wants to give him the Presidential Medal of Freedom for chasing a little white ball around a lawn.  Sure, it’s on a level with an actual achievement, what the actual.......?

Eh, nothing to get up in arms about. He's certainly done more for his sport han probably anyone in any sport, the only possible exceptions being Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, and Michael Jordan--all of whom, btw, have been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

There are a lot of athletes who have the award, including Richard Petty, Arnie and Jack, Bear Bryant, Muhammed Ali... 

T.J. said:

Golf seems more like a game than a sport. If they had to hit a moving ball, then maybe I could think of it as a sport. 

That is the very thing that makes golf so impressive to me.  You don't have to worry about getting a hundred mile an hour fastball in the ear.  There are no 340 pound defensive linemen attempting to break your spine.  Serena Williams isn't smashing a yellow ball at your face.

They make the crowd be quiet when you are doing the one simple thing you have to do in golf, and you still screw it up quite regularly. 

Yeah, I am impressed as well. I remember watching him get really close to a big win at the end of last year and I said to myself, "all these other golfers better watch out, tiger's back".

Golf is maybe the highest pressure professional sport there is. And I have no idea how they handle it. Many times they don't. Take Jordan Speith putting it in the drink 3 times in a row while leading the Masters on the last day. This guy was the best in the world at the time. (That's a 6 shot Delta - the purse difference between tiger and six shots back is 2.07M to 184K).

I'm very impressed.

I don't know, I've seen Mick Foley finish a match missing an ear. 5 years later I watched him fall 20 feet through a cage, get hauled out on a a stretcher, then come back and finish the match including taking a dive, off the top of the same cage he fell through, through a table. I've seen Triple H blow a quad in his leg and continue wrestling for 20 more minutes on multiple occasions with the muscle curled up at his thigh. 

Seeing someone walk around and chase a ball all day, back surgeries or not, really doesn't seem that impressive in comparison.

Ray Caldwell was struck by lightening while pitching for the Cleveland Indians, and finished the game (which the Indians won). 

I'm going to share the greatest comeback that I've ever seen in person. I trained professional athletes (harness horses, yes they are athletes) for 12 years before starting college. 

During this time I would also assist my dad in photographing races. During this race, I was actually standing out on the track in front of the grandstand with a camera. Cam Fella was a thoroughly beaten horse at the sixteenth pole. It's Fritz had put him away.

This was one of the greatest displays of heart and bravery imaginable.

 I don't know how you can't include Happy Gilmor being down 4 strokes to Shooter McGavin on the back nine of the tour Championship only to come back and win? That is the stuff of legends!!

In reply to Mazdax605 :

I finally recognize one of these sportsball references!!!