The world's best sportsman to return from injury?

[The Real Laoislad]

Amazing.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6DCW_Yoy5Q

Pure genius...



Though the guy who left the last comment underneath the video doesn't think so.. 

[Our Nail Loney]

Amazing.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6DCW_Yoy5Q

Pure genius...



Though the guy who left the last comment underneath the video doesn't think so.. 

   

Thats a ridiculous comment to be left there for the world to see, do they not get moderated?? I don't use Youtube to post cmoments so I would not know

[carribbear]

It would not be Larsson either - he did comeback from a serious injury but he was not and is not near the top footballer never mind sportsman.

the title of the thread reads 'return from injury'.
Tell me someone better, I can't think of any.

ps - Henrik WAS a top player, no doubt about that.

[ludermor]

Corn

You think fitness and stamina does not come into golf?

You are looking at it from our view point, which is walking around an 18-hole course.

A pro golfer would spend as much time in the gym as a Premiership player. An average non-tournamnet day for a golfer would probably include about 3 hours in the gym and about six hours practicing.

Read some of the autobiographies and come back to me and tell me there is not athleticism in it.

Sorry Corn - Ive no time to read the autobiographies - but I will say this, if a pro golfer spends as much time in the gym as a premiership player - how do you explain the montys, the miklesons, the jiminez's, the cabrerras of the PGA TOUR? Most pga events start with a pro am, and most nights there are relatively big dinners after the pro am, the cut, and the final round. Then its back on a plane to home for a few days and all over again.

Im not saying its not a tough schedule - but dont think for a second you can point to Phil Mikleson at me and say - hes an athlete.

Just an alternative opinion.

Yeah well I'll have to disagree with you then, fair enough. Re: the players you mentioned, all pre-Woods era and there is no doubt Woods has shaken up this aspect of the game and rebranded it.

Mickelson has drastically improved his gym work.

Also if you think they spend most nights at dinners, that is flawed logic.

Ah come on Corn, they all have had success since Woods has come on the scene , some a lot more than before this time , and i notice you are the only one mentioning Daly.
You seem to think we are talking about extremes, im not saying that they dont use the gym at all but just pulling you up on the comment that generally golfers spend 3 hours in a gym every day. I have given you a list of exceptional golfers ( plus Big Ernie) but you come back and say there will always be exceptions ( and mention footballers , some of who are retired 15-20 years, why don't you compare them to the golfers of that generation?)

mickleson:

I immediately lost 20, 25 pounds and put on about 10 to 15 more with muscle from lifting, trying to build up stamina doing 45 minutes to an hour and a half of cardio five or six days a week. I've started a new martial arts, a different type of martial art from what I'd been doing."

Have you seen Mickleson lately?

A quote from Harrington sums it up for me.

"In any given week, I will spend 70-plus hours on my golf," he said. "It may not be high-intensity work at times, but including my gym work, it is easily 10 hours a day, seven days a week, and it catches up with you. I know a lot of people work double weeks, but out here when you're not at your peak, it shows up very quickly. That's why you have to take time off. You can't get away with being average."

Sums up what? He says that he spends 70 plus hours but no breakdown of gym work. Of course he practices but so do Dart players but you discount there practice.

I'm actually finding it hard to find schedules. Vijay is known to be in the gym by 6am most mornings. Tiger's the obviosus gymaholic and he really brought the ethic into the game. You listed a few players there, as I said there are exceptions, Daly, Cabrerra, Jiminez, but they were all at the top of the game before Woods came a long. You must not follow it closely if you don't realise that players take a different approach to it now.

You must not follow closely if you think that Mickleson is currently spending time in gym, he is a great golfer but he not in great shape these days.
Caberra is quite open about his lack of fitness and his love of cigars.
Jiminez is never seen without his cigars
I listed several great current players (The above plus Els, Westwood etc)  how can you say they are exceptions?

You listed Clarke (see quote below), but he is the perfect example of someone who bucked up his trends to suit the different manner of the sport.
"I look back over my career and wonder if my lack of discipline in terms of my shape and fitness cost me tournament wins when I was younger, " the Northern Irish golfer admitted. "That's why I decided, three years ago, to get fit before it was too late"  - a quote from Clarke from last week.

Ok you mentioned Garcia's routine, combine that with the four hours he probably spends on the driving range each day and it is fair to say it i  fairly physical.

Clarke being the perfect example? Has his golf improved in the last 3 years?
Why mention the 4 hours garcia spends on the range, do all golfers not do that?

Just because some golfers go to the gym this wouldn't make it an athletic sport, for every Tiger Woods i could give you an Angel Cabrera

That's your quote.

In today's game you are way off to suggest that just some golfers go to the gym. You could not give me a Cabrerra for every Woods. Out of the top 200 in the world, I would imagine 90% plus would do massive gym work combined with practising.

you are doing it again, if can define massive gym work and list your source of the 90% (and tell me that the great players i have listed are doing massive gym work) then you will convince me.
im never doing a reply like this ever again!!!
Can we agree to disagree if you wont admit you are wrong

[The Real Laoislad]

It would not be Larsson either - he did comeback from a serious injury but he was not and is not near the top footballer never mind sportsman.

the title of the thread reads 'return from injury'.
Tell me someone better, I can't think of any.

ps - Henrik WAS a top player, no doubt about that.

Are you a Celtic fan ?

[RedandGreenSniper]

Some sports have a major reliance of athleticism; some a major relience on skill; most have a major reliance on mental strength.

Soccer players have a reliance on both skill and athleticism. You have some players who have very little skills but are good athletes and competitors - offhand I'd be thinking of the likes of, dare I say it, Roy Keane. By that I mean Keane had more athleticism than skill, which, combined with a serious mental strength, made him one of the best in the world. Keane wouldn't be a world class soccer player were it not for his athleticism and stamina.
Then you have some players who have bucketloads of skill but not a lot of athleticism. Jan Molby for instance who struggled with fitness but was a class player because of his skill. Had he little skill, we'd have never heard of him. So, in soccer, people can get by if they're not athletic if they're highly skilled and vice-versa. Although the likes of Molby are becomming less and less prevalent.

But in golf being able to run all the marathons in the world is a waste of time if you don't have the skills required for the game. Skill is responsible for about 70% of a golfers make-up with mental strength at about 20% and stamina/athleticism maybe at 10%. That's why the likes of Daly, Cabrera, Monty etc get by. And its why golfers still thrive into their 40's, whereas that can't happen in soccer, rugby etc.

People like Tiger and Harrington spend time in the gym to AUGMENT their natural skill. This type of work is much more important for the likes of soccer (athletic work, not particularly gym work, because soccer players will have this incorporated into their training plan).

Poker relies on very little athleticism, as does darts. But Taylor will credit losing weight and using the gym more (not that he's a gym freak or anything!) on his return to form this year. But mental strength, mental stamina and skill are the most important in these two games.

I've always found it hard to quantify what is a sport and what isn't. I would always have considered golf a sport and darts not. But the above leaves them fairly closely linked. I think the fundamental is that you don't have to be sprinting flat out in a game for it to be a sport. Formula 1, golf, darts, snooker, archery etc are sedantic enough sports relative to football, athletic etc. But they're still sports I think. Poker would be stretching it though. While skill is a factor, so too is luck

[new devil]

Roy Keane after that tackle by Halland....best midfielder in the world at the time!!

[Minder]

Roy Keane after that tackle by Halland....best midfielder in the world at the time!!

In your "world" maybe

[Puckoon]

FFS Viera had Keane in his pocket most of the time. Phil Neville was the only united player that could better Viera.

[Gabriel_Hurl]

Roy Keane after that tackle by Halland....best midfielder in the world at the time!!

IIRC - Keane hurt himself trying to lunge at Haaland

Haaland is often remembered for his "feud" with Roy Keane. In 1997, when Manchester United were losing to Haaland's Leeds United team, Keane attempted to tackle Haaland late in the game. In the process, Keane injured his anterior cruciate liagment. As Keane lay prone on the ground, Haaland criticised Keane for the tackle and suggested that he was feigning injury to avoid punishment. Keane was booked as he was stretchered off the field.

[Gabriel_Hurl]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

[RedandGreenSniper]

Okay I'm not justfying what Keane did subsequently . . . but if you are lying down with a career threatening injury and some idiot starts screaming at you that you are 'diving', well then he's hardly innocent either. Keane's subsequent tackle was OTT, and I don't wanna go over old ground, but Haaland did have some retribution coming to him

[The Real Laoislad]

Okay I'm not justfying what Keane did subsequently . . . but if you are lying down with a career threatening injury and some idiot starts screaming at you that you are 'diving', well then he's hardly innocent either. Keane's subsequent tackle was OTT, and I don't wanna go over old ground, but Haaland did have some retribution coming to him

[Gabriel_Hurl]

if you are lying down with a career threatening injury

even if it was his own fault that he got injured?

[carribbear]

Are you a Celtic fan ?

Certainly am but I don't thiink you need to be just a celtic fan to appreciate the skill, imagination, athletic ablilty and attitude of the guy.