Bahrain
Kuwait
Oman
Qatar
Saudi Arabia
UAE
Print
Email
Discuss this article (4 Comments)Knowing when to quit
by This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it on Monday, 31 August 2009
If you are a disappointed motor-racing fan who was looking forward to seeing Michael Schumacher compete in the Abu Dhabi day/night Grand Prix on November 1, don’t be.
His performance would, in all likelihood, have been a bigger let-down.
By and large, great sportsmen should resist the temptation to end their careers with a flourish and instead, leave their arenas as quietly as whence they came.
Schumacher’s pain in the neck may have saved him from an ignominy worse than any physical ailment could ever have done. Sportsmen rarely take well to inadequacy.
As perhaps the greatest motor racing driver of all time, Schumacher lives on a different planet to the rest of us. One inhabited by just him, and perhaps his coach or mentor, but as for the rest of civilization; as for reality? Nonexistent. It’s what made him so good, but is surely what would have been his undoing too.
His desire to return to F1 given the opportunity Massa’s injury presented him with was misguided. No doubt it would have been great for F1, but for the man himself? No matter how good he was, the three years he has spent away from the sport would have eroded his lightening sharp reflexes and softened his decision making enough to leave him a long way below his best.
And that is not to mention the technological advances the cars have made. But Schumacher’s bubble is impenetrable, even to the truth. ‘You never lose it’ the saying goes. I’m afraid you do.
Boxing legend Mohammed Ali found that out the hard way. Fortunately for him the memories we all have of his epic battles with Foreman, Frazier and Liston are strong enough to override the fact that he fought on too long and in doing so, damaged a reputation he spent 20 years establishing.
Tom Watson, another old timer in the twilight of his career, put in a wonderful Open golf performance this year, but in the end he finished second – a distant one at that.
Even in golf, where the impact of slowing reflexes and weakening muscles does little to diminish one’s ability to compete with the very best, the killer instinct you need to win just isn’t there anymore.
Mike Tyson towards the end of his ferocious career spoke of the fact that his killer instinct had deserted him. Where he once claimed he wanted to eat opponents’ children in the build up to a fight, latterly he preferred to cuddle them. It wasn’t that he couldn’t still knock people out, he just didn’t want to anymore. The body was still capable – albeit a little under-trained, but the mind wasn’t willing.
It’s the complete opposite of Michael Schumacher, who believed to the soul of his boots that he could make a comeback.
Meanwhile back on planet earth, the reality was that his body – although still a testament to his dedication and athletic ability, is not what it once was.
No greater fairytale lesson has there been than that of legendary Australian cricketer Don Bradman. A man who re-wrote batsmanship in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. No person ever has, and ever will come close to his Test record, in which he averaged just under 100.
To put that in perspective, the next highest Test average is 60 and his 99.94 average is statistically recognized as the greatest sporting achievement of them all, including Pele’s goal scoring record and Jack Nicklaus’s major winning capability.
But it’s a curious phenomenon that Bradman couldn’t manage to score the four runs in his final Test innings he needed to secure an average at 100 or more. In a career that brought him a hundred every third innings scoring four was almost a foregone conclusion. He was bowled for a duck.
Andrew Flintoff, England’s recently retired talismanic all-rounder is not statistically a great, but he would too have hoped for more from his farewell Ashes parade.
When he announced his impending retirement from Test cricket at the beginning of the series, many felt it a selfish move; that the 2009 Ashes would subsequently revolve around him.
One wicket from his last two Tests and one fifty in the series suggested the complete opposite, especially as his team still won. The sad truth is that the limelight seldom found a reason shine on Flintoff throughout.
The lesson here is that sportsmen never own their sports; they merely participate in them, however good they are.
Their scripts are seldom written by Hollywood producers or award-winning novelists, however seductive a thought it may be.
The sober reality is that in sport, the truth doesn’t have a patch on the fiction.
Damian Brandy is Editor of Cricket Middle East magazine.
READERS' COMMENTS
Disclaimer: The views expressed here by our readers are not necessarily shared by ArabianBusiness.com or its employees.
One to watch!
Posted by Rudy, Dubai, UAE on Friday 4 September 2009 at 12:16 UAE time
Lets see how Kim Clijsters does on her tennis comeback. She has been retired for 2 years and has had a child. Now she is fighting to make a comeback and is doing a good job at it. The odds are definitly against her making a No. 1 spot again, but lets wait and see!
Posted by Rudy, Dubai, UAE on Friday 4 September 2009 at 12:16 UAE time
Lets see how Kim Clijsters does on her tennis comeback. She has been retired for 2 years and has had a child. Now she is fighting to make a comeback and is doing a good job at it. The odds are definitly against her making a No. 1 spot again, but lets wait and see!
Not true in all cases..
Posted by Idris, Dubai, UAE on Wednesday 2 September 2009 at 15:49 UAE time
Hello, I just wanted to say that this is not true in all cases. There have been plenty of sportsmen in the history who have left at a time consdiered the pinacle of their career. e.g Imran Khan, pakistan's cricket captain played his last match for the country as the captain of World cup winning squad and scored 70 odd runs. He also took the last wicket of England winning the title with the last ball of his career. Now, that's what I call retiring at the pinacle of your career.
Posted by Idris, Dubai, UAE on Wednesday 2 September 2009 at 15:49 UAE time
Hello, I just wanted to say that this is not true in all cases. There have been plenty of sportsmen in the history who have left at a time consdiered the pinacle of their career. e.g Imran Khan, pakistan's cricket captain played his last match for the country as the captain of World cup winning squad and scored 70 odd runs. He also took the last wicket of England winning the title with the last ball of his career. Now, that's what I call retiring at the pinacle of your career.
not a fair analysis
Posted by Karim Fastak, Dubai, UAE on Monday 31 August 2009 at 16:47 UAE time
This is not fair analysis, to take all the failed come backs stories and then generalize them. There are many great comebacks in history, and they are admired... exactly because they went against the odds and succeeded! and imagine if these guys read this article and said: u know what, i won't try to come back because its too hard!
What a loss to sports that would have been...
Posted by Karim Fastak, Dubai, UAE on Monday 31 August 2009 at 16:47 UAE time
This is not fair analysis, to take all the failed come backs stories and then generalize them. There are many great comebacks in history, and they are admired... exactly because they went against the odds and succeeded! and imagine if these guys read this article and said: u know what, i won't try to come back because its too hard!
What a loss to sports that would have been...
Not always...
Posted by Phill, Dubai, UAE on Monday 31 August 2009 at 14:58 UAE time
While there are plenty of examples of sportsmen that should have quit long before they did, there are also several that have had successful comebacks. The most obvious, when looking at the Schumacher example, is Niki Lauda, who came back after three years away from F1 to win a third World Championship.
Michael Jordan retired from basketball in 1993, but came back in '95 and was named the NBA's most valuable player.
And there's some bike racer called Lance Armstrong, who apparently is still quite good...
Posted by Phill, Dubai, UAE on Monday 31 August 2009 at 14:58 UAE time
While there are plenty of examples of sportsmen that should have quit long before they did, there are also several that have had successful comebacks. The most obvious, when looking at the Schumacher example, is Niki Lauda, who came back after three years away from F1 to win a third World Championship.
Michael Jordan retired from basketball in 1993, but came back in '95 and was named the NBA's most valuable player.
And there's some bike racer called Lance Armstrong, who apparently is still quite good...
Mobile
