General: Three wise men of sports past

In the late 1990's we saw some of professional sports greats retire in their prime.

In the past year, we have seen two players come back to the sports they once dominated, Mario Lemieux returned to hockey's Pittsburgh Penguins and Michael Jordan return to the National Basketball Association (NBA), but this time with the Washington Wizards as opposed to the Chicago Bulls.

Now we are hearing rumblings that Barry Sanders wants to return to the NFL.

None of these three cases are the same. In this article we will take a look at why or why not these players should have returned.

Mario Lemieux

Super Mario was back in a Penguins uniform in December 2000 at the age of 35 after having been retired for two seasons. Lemieux stated that his return was due to the fact that hockey had changed and had become more open allowing him the ability to show off his talents more.

In hockey, 35 is older, but in no means finished. There are many cases of players playing into there late 30's or even early 40's with very little drop off. Lemieux was instantly one of the top three players in the NHL again upon his return.

Lemieux's departure after the 1997-98 season was basically due to health reasons. He had successfully defeated Hodgkin's disease that cost him to miss all of the 1994-95 NHL season. In addition, Lemieux has a chronic back problem that was causing him extreme pain. Hockey was simply not fun for him anymore given the events of his life.

Why did he come back? When Lemieux was playing, he differed a large portion of his pay into the future. The Pittsburgh Penguins franchise was struggling. The ownership had significant debt problems and Lemieux was not collecting his money. So, to help ease that problem, he took ownership of the Penguins. Still drawing flies, Lemieux decided to lace up the skates and get back on the ice to draw interest in the Pittsburgh Penguins again. This would not only get fans back in the seats, but it would increase their television exposure and sales of Pittsburgh Penguins souvenirs.

Yes, Lemieux is risking more backaches and injuries for which he missed time for at the end of last season but when he is on the ice he is still one of the best and his return is not hurting his wallet either.

Michael Jordan

What better way to go out than on top? Winning an NBA title, and league MVP. The end was fitting for the greatest player to ever play to the game of basketball.

Then why is Michael Jordan making a NBA comeback at the age of 38 with the Washington Wizards after having been retired for three seasons? His return to the NBA is apparently because the fire to play is still in his stomach. By watching him play, you cannot question that but there are more reasons for his return.

Jordan like Lemieux sat out some time in the prime of his career. Unlike Lemieux, Jordan's "reason" for missing time was not due to injury but rather wanting to try his hand in baseball. Conspiracy theorists will have you believe that Jordan was actually suspended by the NBA for those couple of years for gambling and the NBA, Jordan and Nike could not take the public relations hit of having Jordan suspended because Jordan was and may still be larger than the NBA. So all parties involved fabricated the Jordan to baseball story with the Chicago White Sox to keep him in Chicago. I think the truth is somewhere in between Jordan wanting to try something different and the NBA wanting to suspend him.

If the burning desire to play the game is only part of the reason, what else is there? This is very much like Lemieux's story with the big difference being that Jordan bought the Wizards by his own choice. I don't believe the Wizards were in as bad financial shape as the Penguins were but for Jordan the cash was not rolling in. So what better way to create a market than to come out of retirement and get people coming to Wizards games and buying Wizards jersey's.

Is Jordan one of the top three players in the NBA? No, but he is still probably one of the Top 20. Are the Wizard's a better team with Jordan on them? Yes. Are the Wizards going to make the playoffs with Jordan? Not this year. The Wizards are a horrible team. Jordan has guaranteed this horrible team will have a lot of sellouts.

This return like Lemieux's is one to help a team that he owns.

Barry Sanders

Let's not even try to sugar coat this. The rumor of Sander's return to the NFL is sheer silliness and will not happen.

The only incentive Barry Sanders has to return to the NFL at the age of 33 is to break Walter Payton's rushing yardage record that he was 1457 yards short of when he retired after the 1998 season. Having missed two plus seasons in the NFL you have to believe, he will not be the same Sanders that walked out of the game while he was still on top. Besides, there is no guarantee that Barry could get those yards for the Detroit Lions or any other team.

If Sanders returned today, he would be the oldest starting running back in the game. The next two oldest are Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys who, coming into this season, was only 103 rushing yards behind Sanders and should some day set the rushing yardage record whether or not Sanders comes back. And, Rickey Watters of the Seattle Seahawks, who is starting to show his ware and may have lost his job to Shaun Alexander.

Sanders does not own a NFL team so, there is no incentive for him to come back to put fans in the stands of the team he owns.

Maybe he wants a Super Bowl ring? Well then rule out any return to the Detroit Lions. The Baltimore Ravens need a RB this year. But wait, are the Ravens going to the Super Bowl? In today's age of parity in the NFL, who knows who is going to win from one week to the next yet alone the Super Bowl?

The bottom line is a Sanders return does not make sense on any level. So, don't hold your breath waiting for one because it will not happen.