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| Take two |
| Suveen K Sinha / New Delhi Aug 02, 2009, 00:34 IST |
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The odds are against Schumacher in his second coming.
A career in films, sport or politics ensures that the limelight mostly stays on you if you do well. The first two also give you mass adulation, which makes it that much more difficult to give it all up. So Dilip Kumar at a ripe age made a fool of himself playing the romantic lead, index finger as usual pointing skywards, opposite a nubile Leena Chandavarkar in Bairaag. Amitabh Bachchan, who once admitted to being inspired by Kumar’s acting methods, touched a similar low against a not-so-nubile Manisha Koirala in Lal Badshah. And your columnist is waiting to see which way Shah Rukh Khan goes after Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi.
But movies are more tolerant of advancing age, especially in the case of male actors. Kumar, with time, went on to play non-romantic leads, as Bachchan continues to. Ashok Kumar, who, perhaps with good reason, began to play mature roles several decades ago, continued to work close to his death.
Not so in sports. Father Time becomes the biggest competitor once the body begins to lose its strength and the reflexes slow down. But the mind — it refuses to buckle down. The ears crave the applause and the nerves the rush of adrenaline. So it is that sportsmen seldom know when to retire. Some retire too early, some hang around to become poor caricatures of their once glorious selves. Therefore, it would be expected that they would make comebacks, and they do — all the time.
Some come back to grow their legend: Imran Khan won a world cup, “Air” Jordan three more NBA titles, George Foreman a heavyweight championship aged 45, and Martina Navratilova three more Grand Slam titles (albeit none in singles).
Some emulate Dilip Kumar. Bjorn Borg, who retired at 26, came back a few years later with the absurd idea of continuing with his old wooden racket and did not win a match in 10 miserable attempts. Muhammad Ali, “The Greatest”, was knocked out in the 11th round by the far-less-great Larry Holmes. Martina Hingis, who walked away at 23, came back only to retire again after testing positive for cocaine.
And now Michael Schumacher is coming back at age 40. It’s great news for Formula One, which is reeling under political rows, freak accidents and BMW’s exit. It will raise interest during a season in which teams have threatened a breakaway series.
But is it a good manoeuvre for Schumacher, who already has the best record with seven world championships and 91 Grand Prix wins? He has not raced since 2006. Thoughtfully-placed bare-torso photos show him in fine fettle, but a million hours in the gym cannot substitute for real action in the cockpit, where quick decisions have to be taken at 175 mph and the mind must stay in control while braking from 190 mph to 70 in two seconds. As testing between the races has been banned, Schumacher can get into the cockpit of the Ferrari F60 only 48 hours ahead of the race scheduled for August 23.
Schumacher was great, but the odds are high against him becoming greater.
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