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Is Tiger Woods' decline the worst in professional sports?

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Krejlooc

Banned
from a "how the public views this prominent sports figure" standpoint: oj was worse.

well if we're going for that angle, either Joe Paterno or Gerald Sandusky takes the cake. While NCAA may be amateur for players, it's definitely big time and well paying for coaches.
 
I vividly recall a conversation with my friends when he became a pro. I said he'll never break Jack and once he hits 30 he's going downhill. I said that swing is gonna mess up his back.

I was right.

Seems like the injuries sustained from the Navy Seal training had more to do with it than the swing.

Also saying someone isn't going to break any given record isn't exactly going out on a limb.
 

Josh5890

Member
Derrick Rose? From a promising career after being the youngest ever to win season MVP to a career where you question if he can play the next game, in just a very short amount of time.

As a Bulls fan I still cannot believe what happened to him and the franchise. It goes to show you that tomorrow is promised to no one.
 

J2 Cool

Member
As a Bulls fan I still cannot believe what happened to him and the franchise. It goes to show you that tomorrow is promised to no one.

I'm a terrified Chicago fan because of this. When he won MVP, he was my favorite athlete since Mark Prior, but this one's for real. Then about the same age boom. I'm already guarded for Arrieta to drop off

Allen Iverson?

I was shocked by his decline. wasn't ready for it. But really when his physicality was going to gi, that was it. AI was 6 feet flat with shoes maybe. Basketball was just going to become brutal once among the trees, and he couldn't make the moves he could
 

ccbfan

Member
Didn't a lot of tiger's work ethic and drive went to hell after his fathers death.

Wouldn't be surprised if golf was him trying to impress his father more so than for himself.
 
Robin Soderling and Juan Martin Del Potro

What about them?

One got a virus and never played again. Hardly a decline. He actually won his last tournament despite being ill.

The other has had like three wrist operations. You try playing tennis with dodgy wrists.
 
Didn't a lot of tiger's work ethic and drive went to hell after his fathers death.

Wouldn't be surprised if golf was him trying to impress his father more so than for himself.

Nah if anything he got into insane shape in the years after his father died. For some reason he thought getting yoked would help his golf game. I can remember when Tiger was young and killing it hearing people worried that his swing was too violent and was going to wreck his knees and back and it seems like that's exactly what happened.
 

Cromwell

Banned
Doesn't even come close to Lance Armstrong. Went from god-status to the most hated man in America overnight.

Oscar Pistorious, though not nearly as famous as Armstrong or Woods, was also pretty huge. Everyone loved him after those Olympics and then he went and fucking murdered his girlfriend.
 

Instro

Member
That US Open win on one knee was the beginning of the end really. I still think he'll get that PGA win record at least, even if he doesn't get 19 majors.
 

Sulik2

Member
Its a pretty incredible fall, to go from literally the best golfer who ever lived to a guy who misses cuts and whose body is completely broken at 40. I still think it was years of PED use that wore his body out far sooner then it should have.
 
Its a pretty incredible fall, to go from literally the best golfer who ever lived to a guy who misses cuts and whose body is completely broken at 40. I still think it was years of PED use that wore his body out far sooner then it should have.

I mean, it could be PEDs, I mean at this point it there is no athlete I would be surprised to find out was on PEDs, but it could also just be that he's a 40 year old pro athlete? It wouldn't be that unprecedented. I know people assume that golf is a fairly easy sport physically and guys should be able to play well into their 60s, but Tiger is a guy that relied a LOT on his physical ability, and on top of that he put his body through a lot of wear and tear with his training. Plenty of guys that people swear never used PEDs (Griffey Jr comes to mind) fell apart in a similar way.
 

Syder

Member
I still think steroids might have played into it. I know there was some smoke, while never any fire, but it just doesn't look good that his decline matches so perfectly with the outing of the entire steroid scandal.
Uhhh... I don't think that's the reason for his decline.
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Jerm411

Member
Mike Vick has to be up there....Griffey Jr. too (injuries I know but still)....David Duval's drop off was pretty gnarly too.

Tiger's decline is right at the top though...
 

Big-E

Member
Tyson should definitely count, though you will have the people say he always fought jobbers so it wasn't a big deal.
 

mdphilli

Member
Top golfers generally dominate in their mid-30s and remain competitive through their mid-40s, and some times even past that these days. Tiger fell into decline by the time he was 34.

Injuries wrecked him, but they wrecked him at a time where he should have been near the peak of his career.

This. Most athletes mentioned here didn't completely dominate their sport like Tiger did for as long as he did; not to mention the the fact he singlehandedly saved/built the modern PGA. There are very, very few athletes who were on par with him in the public zeitgeist the last twenty years. While still in the midst of his prime, injuries and scandal ravished him. People like OJ and Lance didn't have athletic declines so much as public declines. More falls from grace rather than athletic decline.

The only one close that I can agree with off the top of my head who would be comparable would be Tyson.
 

watdaeff4

Member
I just don't see how steroid helps you drain clutch putts and make impossible up and downs for pars, which is what he was doing to win those tournaments in bunches.

Dude was just a prodigy with an incredible work ethic and had very strong guidance from his father.

Not that the steroids helped him do those things you mentioned, but if he was using them (and I would not be surprised if he did) it would lead to his body breaking down the way it has.

FYI the reason why I say I wouldn't be surprised is because he obviously was into fitness (SEALS training) and was up there with Jordan in being competitive personality and self-improvement.....

I honestly think it's a combination of factors:
Body broke down for whatever reason(s)

Golf is mental and the scandal affected that

Not to sound like a grumpy old man but during his run of majors there weren't any other consistently great golfers. Duval was a flash in the pan; Sergio never did it; Phil was a headcase. The same time he started his decline the field started improving- thus making the relative fall even more so.

That's what I think often got overlooked in all the Jack vs. Tiger comparisons is that Jack also played against other all-time greats that won majors preventing him from winning even more. To go along with this compare top-3, top-5 and top-10 finishes in majors between Jack and Tiger and it tells a lot. Hell not only does Jack own the record with most Majors but also the most runner-up (19) which Tiger wasn't close to. Even in his prime if Tiger wasn't leading going into Sunday, he was usually a non-factor. And out of Jack's runner-up finishes take a look at who beat up in some of those and how they stand on the all-time greats list
 

LOLDSFAN

Member
I know people assume that golf is a fairly easy sport physically and guys should be able to play well into their 60s, but Tiger is a guy that relied a LOT on his physical ability, and on top of that he put his body through a lot of wear and tear with his training.

Yeah it's not all the surprising.

Just like with Derick Rose. He does things with his legs that shouldn't be done. Maybe his muscles can handle the quick movements and powerful drives to the basket, but his joints, ligaments, etc... sure can't.
 

T-0800

Member
I vividly recall a conversation with my friends when he became a pro. I said he'll never break Jack and once he hits 30 he's going downhill. I said that swing is gonna mess up his back.

I was right.

Not exactly an amazing prediction to say that someone won't go on to become the GOAT.
 
Yes and it's not even close.

Tiger was 12-13 years into his career, in what was his prime as a golfer, and the had already cemented his place as no worse than the 2nd best golfer in the history of the sport. Then he had his cheating scandal at the same time his body was breaking down on him. I know he snuck in a 5 win season a few years later, but there is no comp of someone in his position in their respective sport, ending up where Tiger did after so many dominant years and still in their prime.
 
Tiger is strange because he did sorta bounce back and was relevant at the end of 2011 to early 2013. And since then mostly out of action due to injury related problems.

Derrick Rose is in the discussion
2009-2012 279 games 30 win shares
2012-now 127 games 1.4 win shares
 
Your body doesn't break down like that in your late 20s/early 30s from using steroids.

Mike Tyson. Scandal and mental hang ups can be just as destructive to athletes as physical issues.

Tyson's downfall started with King convinced him to dump his trainers (and I think manager?) for King's people some years after Cus D'Amato died.
 
Tiger Woods' decline happened after he'd already firmly established himself as at least the second best golfer in history without question. So... no. It's not the worst in professional sports. How about Derrick Rose, who was poised to become the next great thing, and even won an MVP award, only to deal with injuries and eventually getting traded, with people figuring he'll never regain his top form? How about Penny Hardaway, who was poised to be the next big thing post-Jordan before he got injured and his career completely fell apart? Picking someone who is unequivocally the second best ever as the "worst decline" just seems absurd given all the people who were heralded as the next big thing only to become at-best borderline hall-of-famers. Hell, look at Len Bias; he was going to be the next big thing and died before he even went pro. That's a much worse decline than "maybe he's better than Jack Nicklaus... no, he's not."
 

mdphilli

Member
How about Derrick Rose, who was poised to become the next great thing, and even won an MVP award, only to deal with injuries and eventually getting traded, with people figuring he'll never regain his top form?

But that's the point of the decline.

Tiger was there, at the top, for a long time, then quickly was gone while still theoretically in his prime years. The all-time greatest of the greats, of which Tiger is one, don't decline like he did. It is unprecedented. Derrick Rose may have had some potential; but as you listed, there are a lot more could've beens than had beens.
 

numble

Member
Tiger Woods' decline happened after he'd already firmly established himself as at least the second best golfer in history without question. So... no. It's not the worst in professional sports. How about Derrick Rose, who was poised to become the next great thing, and even won an MVP award, only to deal with injuries and eventually getting traded, with people figuring he'll never regain his top form? How about Penny Hardaway, who was poised to be the next big thing post-Jordan before he got injured and his career completely fell apart? Picking someone who is unequivocally the second best ever as the "worst decline" just seems absurd given all the people who were heralded as the next big thing only to become at-best borderline hall-of-famers. Hell, look at Len Bias; he was going to be the next big thing and died before he even went pro. That's a much worse decline than "maybe he's better than Jack Nicklaus... no, he's not."

Suddenly dying is not really a "decline"--it is a career-ending injury.
 

watdaeff4

Member
Did they change the whole courses because Jack kept winning?

Did Tiger play on a different course than his competition? And it could be argued that the changes were not only bad but silly and pointless. And since you say plural courses which major course besides Augusta was "Tiger-proofed?"

And does your question somehow nullifies the runner-up, Top-3, top-5, top- 10 differences?
 

R_GILL

I'm tanking for Kabanov!
Injuries took away from Griffeys counting stats but his decline honestly isn't that bad. His glove declined in his late 20s and his last good offensive year was at 35.

Andruw Jones decline is much, much worse.
 
It's relatively common in football for a player to completely lose their form after a transfer, especially strikers.

Fernando Torres moving to Chelsea is a great example, he went from being one of the most lethal strikers in the world to totally useless (now recovered to be a mediocre level player).
Seems to happen to Spanish players especially often. Soldado was incredibly poor after moving to Tottenham and negredo's form dropped off a cliff at Christmas in his season at man city and neither have recovered after moving back to Spain.
 
Nothing compares with Lance Armstrong. At least tiger still has his past wins


Why is Lance Armstrong hated so much?

On top of being a cheater, he was also a self-righteous hypocrite who sued people who accused him for slander and libel, ruining many lives, and he set up a cancer charity foundation that was entirely built around the lie
 
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