Making A Comeback

Abstract

In this paper I explore the nature, varieties, causes and meanings of comebacks related to sport. I argue that comebacks have an axiological dimension, and that the best comebacks involve personal growth. I attempt to show that a major reason that comebacks connected to sport are often inspiring is that we are all in need of a comeback at some point in our lives. When improbable comebacks occur in the world of sport, they expand our sense of possibility.

Resumen

En este artículo exploro la naturaleza, variedades, causas, y significados de las remontadas en el deporte. Argumento que las remontadas tienen una dimensión axiológica, y que las mejores remontadas implican crecimiento personal. Intento demostrar que una razón importante por la que remontadas conectadas con el deporte inspiran es a menudo que todos necesitamos remontar en algún momento de nuestras vidas. Cuando remontadas improbables ocurren en el mundo del deporte, éstas expanden nuestro sentido de posibilidad.

Zusammenfassung

In dieser Arbeit untersuche ich das Wesen, die Arten, Ursachen und Bedeutungen von Comebacks im Sport. Ich behaupte, dass Comebacks eine axiologische Dimension haben. Des Weiteren versuche ich zu zeigen, dass ein wesentlicher Grund dafür, dass Comebacks im Sport häufig so inspirierend sind, darin liegt, dass wir alle in unserem Leben früher oder später eines Comebacks bedürfen. Selbst überraschend auftretende Comebacks im Sport dienen dazu, unseren Erwartungshorizont zu erweitern.

Résumé

Dans cet article, j'explore la nature, la diversité et les significations des retours liés au sport. Je démontre que revenir possède une dimension axiologique et que les meilleurs retours impliquent un développement personnel. J'essaie de montrer qu'une des raisons majeures pour laquelle les retours liés au sport sont souvent inspirants est que nous avons tous besoin d'opérer un retour à un moment de notre vie. Lorsque d'improbables retours se produisent dans le monde du sport, ils étendent notre sens du possible.

Keywords:

• comeback
• sport
• axiology

Notes

1. This summary of events is based on Weathers's first-person account (Weathers 2001). Numerous accounts exist of the tragic events on Mount Everest in May 1996. Probably the best-known account is that by Krakauer (1997).

2. I base this claim especially on the account by Peach Weathers, spouse of Beck Weathers, of Beck Weathers's relationship to his family after returning from Everest, including his reaction to brother-in-law's terminal illness (see Weathers 2001, 303–40).

3. For an account of a more recent, dramatic rescue on Mount Everest see Hall (2007).

4. Ehrenreich writes: ‘For activities with no intrinsic meaning beyond the prowess of the players – no obvious ideology or transcendent vision – sports have a history of surprisingly intense conflict over who can play, who can watch, and whether there will even be a game at all’ (Ehrenreich 2006, 228). On the other hand, see Thomas Oliphant's account of his family's love of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Oliphant writes: ‘Baseball and the Brooklyn Dodgers were major ingredients in the glue that held my little family together through tough times and happy times, a metaphor for hope, disappointment, triumph, and tragedy’ (Oliphant 2006, 4). For a sketch of a Neo-Marxist critique of sport see Joan Hundley, ‘The Overemphasis on Winning: A Philosophical Outlook’, especially 209–12, in Holowchak (2002).

5. See Ehrenreich (2006, ch. 11, 225–45, ‘Carnivalizing Sports’).

6. It might be argued that the best-case scenario would be the one in which one did not need personal growth. In the real world, however, I believe that this condition does not obtain. I am grateful to Carwyn Jones for pointing out the issue.

7. These examples are drawn from John Henderson, ‘The Ten Greatest Comebacks of All Time’, Observer Sports Magazine, 7 Oct. 2001, available online at http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0..562527.00.html, accessed February 2007. The Lasse Viren example is ranked number one on Henderson's list of comebacks. For the Cochet comeback see also Wilner and Rappaport (2008, 145–52). On Viren's comeback see also Wilner and Rappaport (2008, 183–90).

8. See also ‘Radcliffe Makes Winning Comeback: Paula in New York’, BBC News online, 7 Nov. 2004, available online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/sport/newsid_3990000/3990463.stm, accessed February 2007.

9. For an account of how people survive in extreme circumstances, see Gonzalez (2003).

10. See also Fry (2004).

11. Although my memory is cloudy as to where I first encountered this distinction being explicitly made, I believe that it is Josef Pieper to whom I am indebted.

12. See also Fry (2001).

13. Perhaps some readers will wonder why the story of Nando Parrado and his fellow airplane passengers is recounted in a paper on the topic of comebacks and sport. The story does, however, involve a sports team, and while getting off the mountain may not have been exactly engaging in sport, it utilised abilities honed in sport. The story also represents something of a case study of the extent to which team identity is transferable to dire conditions off the playing field. I am indebted to Elizabeth N. Agnew for her comments on this point.

14. See Sokolowski (1974, ch. 9, ‘Temporality’, 130–45) for an accessible explanation of this inner time consciousness.

15. The ‘mingling of histories and hopes’ is a point of emphasis in this paper. I wish to emphasise how and why the comeback experiences of athletes, on and off the playing fields, can resonate in ways with fans and even more casual onlookers.

16. I adapt the phraseology from Buechner (1977, 97).

17. See ‘Kentucky Wildcats’, the official website of the University of Kentucky Athletics Association, http://www.ukathletis.com/sports/m-baskbl/archive/kty-m-baskbl-archive. html, accessed September 2004.

18. I am indebted to J.S. Russell, who reminded me of this fitting example.

19. A connection between the fairy-tale world and play is made by Thomas S. Henricks. He writes: ‘If play is the triumph of present over past and future, it should be noted that this present can quickly take the shape of a fully developed world. Like Lewis Carroll's Alice, we find ourselves suddenly in a place where customary logic no longer applies. Space and time take on radically new meanings. Language confounds us. People – and ideas – scurry about. We are surprised at every turn. In such ways, the play world is a kind of puzzlement. Like Alice, we are drawn in deeper and deeper, at each moment learning something curious about the universe and about ourselves’ (Henricks 2006, 2).

20. See Shade for a cautionary account of hope. Shade writes that ‘hoping can be very dangerous. Many who have poured energy into realizing its ends have also tasted the bitterness of pursuing futile hopes.  …  To invest (continue investing) energies in hope carries the danger that we will waste our precious resources, whether material or personal. We then will not only have suffered the loss of a desired end; we will also be less able to secure other ends’ (Shade 2001, 3). On the other hand, Jerome Groopman, a specialist in the treatment of cancer and a professor at Harvard Medical School, writes of hope in the medical context: ‘I see hope as the very heart of healing. For those who have hope, it may help some to live longer, and it will help all to live better’ (Groopman 2004, 212).

21. I am indebted to Elizabeth N. Agnew for her comments on drafts of this paper. I would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for Sport, Ethics and Philosophy for their comments. Versions of this paper were presented as a keynote address at the fourth annual conference of British Philosophy of Sport Association, Leeds, England, March 2007, and at the Fall Colloquium Series, sponsored by the graduate division of the Department of Kinesiology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA, October 2007.