Welcome Back Brett Favre It’s As If You Never Left

Earlier today Brett Favre joined the Minnesota Vikings thus ending his very brief retirement. How many times are we going to have to watch his crocodile tears as he says goodbye to the game he loves? Hopefully, this is the last time but I expect we’ll go through the same side show next season.

It got me thinking about other athletes who have retired only to make a comeback, some have been great others not so great. Here is my top ten list of athlete unretirements.

10. Brett Favre – The jury is still out but with the talent that surrounds him in Minnesota Favre could see himself move up this list quickly.

9. Guy Lefleur – The Flower was a Montreal legend, even inspiring this disco song. Seeing his icetime was diminishing Guy decided to retire during the 1984-85 season. His return came soon after his 1988 induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Joining the Rangers and then finally retiring in 1991 with the Quebec Nordiques, Lefleur totaled 42 goals and 65 assists in his return to the ice.

8. Dana Torres – The phenomenal Torres became the first American to compete in 5 Olympic games with her first coming way back in 1984. She competed against women half her age and kicked their butts winning 3 silver medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

7. Martina Navratilova – The greatest women’s Tennis player ever, Navratilova retired from international singles competition in 2000. She unretired to compete in doubles tournaments making 6 grand slam finals and winning 3 mixed doubles titles.

6. Sugar Ray Leonard – Ok I know what you’re thinking, superstar boxers retire after every fight so they can be lured out of retirement with a huge payday. Sugar Ray was a little different, he suffered a detached retina and was forced into early retirement. He unretired to fight an aging Marvelous Marvin Hagler for the middleweight title. Leonard won via 9th round TKO.

5. Roger Clemens – The Rocket was the dominant pitcher of the 90’s (Cough Steroids Cough) winning 6 AL CY Young awards and 2 World Series titles. In 1993 Clemens retired only briefly before finding enough juice to return and play for his hometown Houston Astros winning one more CY Young and finally retiring once more in 2007 as the cloud of steroid accusations hung over him.

4. Mario Lemieux – Mario retired from the NHL in 1997 after battling Cancer and other injuries. Lemieux’s impact on the game was so great that the NHL waved the mandatory 3 year wait for his Hall of Fame Induction. He triumphantly returned to help a struggling Pittsburgh Penguins franchise, not only on the ice but he purchased the only team he knew and helped bring them another Stanley Cup as an owner in 2009.

3. Lance Armstrong – Armstrong’s career blossomed after his unretirement. He had a relatively unimpressive first go round in the cycling world but all that changed in 1996, Armstrong developed testicular cancer that spread to his brain, abdomen and lungs. After defying the poor odds of survival Lance Armstong developed into the 7 time Tour de France winner we all know and love.

2 . George Foreman – Big George lost the first fight of his career to Muhammad Ali in their famous Rumble in the Jungle matchup. He retired with a 45-2 record. Needing money to help build a youth center Foreman unretired to fight journeyman Steve Zouski. The fight reignited the fight the Foreman, who continued with his comeback. In 1994 Foreman beat Michael Moorer to become the oldest heavyweight titleholder. When Big George retired he held a record of 76 wins and only 5 losses.

1. Michael Jordan – After Retiring to play baseball for a couple of years (Cough Avoided a Gambling Sting Cough) Jordan returned to his usual perch atop the NBA winning 3 more titles with the Bulls. Jordan retired and then unretired once more to play for the Washington Wizards, which didn’t end so well.