Athletes Who've Taken Major Falls This Year
An athlete's fall sometimes occurs quicker than his rise, and a major fall can be permanent.
Freak injuries and accidents halt careers in the blink of an eye. Legal troubles ruin reputations and drive athletes from organizations. Doping allegations change how we view certain athletes.
A plethora of athletes across a variety of sports suffered major falls throughout 2016.
Alex Rodriguez went from being a legitimate Comeback Player of the Year candidate to out of Major League Baseball in less than 12 months. Holly Holm began 2016 holding a title in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and she is now no longer in the championship picture of her weight division. We realistically may never again see Teddy Bridgewater line up under center for the Minnesota Vikings.
Falls of famous athletes generate headlines, page views and discussions on sports talk radio stations. Comebacks and rises of such celebrities are also noteworthy. Each of the athletes mentioned in this piece may, at some point in the future, rise back up and reclaim previously held spots in their sports.
Who among these athletes do you believe will complete memorable comebacks?
Hope Solo
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United States women's national team and Seattle Reign goalkeeper Hope Solo is one of the most recognizable American footballers in the world today. She is also no stranger to controversy.
Solo was arrested on domestic violence charges in June 2014. Per Sam Frizell of Time, Solo was accused of assaulting her sister and nephew. This incident did not prevent Solo from representing the United States at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, a tournament the Americans won.
Solo also served as the U.S. No. 1 at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The United States advanced to the quarterfinal round of that tournament, where Sweden upset and eliminated the Americans. Solo was in goal when Sweden defeated the U.S. in a penalty shootout.
Solo, via the Los Angeles Times, made headlines with her comments after the match. She called Sweden "cowards" because of their defensive style of play during the match.
That one interview may be Solo's final act as a member of the national team. As Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated explained, the U.S. banned Solo for six months and also terminated her national team contract.
Prediction: Solo turned 35 years old this past July. The next World Cup is in 2019. Solo will likely never again represent her country during a major tournament.
Matt Harvey
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The positive for New York Mets starting pitcher Matt Harvey is that he has been here before. He knows what it takes to return from injury.
Harvey missed all of the 2014 regular season after undergoing successful Tommy John surgery in the fall of 2013. The right-hander affectionately known among New York fans as the "Dark Knight" returned to action in 2015, and he went 13-8 during the regular season. Harvey won two starts during the postseason, but he was unable to close the Kansas City Royals out in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the World Series. The Royals won that game and the championship.
Harvey nevertheless earned National League Comeback Player of the Year honors for his efforts during the campaign.
What could have been the final act of Harvey's return to form instead became yet another significant fall in his career. Per Baseball-Reference.com, Harvey started 17 games during the 2016 season. He won only four of those contests, lost 10 and had a career-worst ERA of 4.86.
Harvey's season ended in July when he underwent surgery on his right shoulder.
Prediction: The Mets have an interesting problem. As Vincent Rapisardi of Elite Sports NY recently pointed out, the Mets have too many good young pitchers, all of whom are under the age of 30. The Mets cannot realistically keep all of their young guns on a long-term basis.
According to Spotrac, Harvey is not eligible for free agency until 2019. That could make him trade bait during the upcoming offseason even though he is coming off of another operation. Expect the Mets to field offers for Harvey during the winter months.
Missy Franklin
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The Americans dominated the pool during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Swimmer Missy Franklin was supposed to be one of the country's big successes in the water.
Franklin began August 2016 as a recognizable name among casual fans who only follow the sport one week every four years. Per TeamUSA.org, Franklin won four gold medals and a bronze in London. She accomplished all that at the age of 17.
As Greg Couch of Bleacher Report explained in August, there were signs of Franklin's in-the-water demise before the 2016 Olympics. She swam slower earlier in the year. She disappointed during the Olympic trials in Omaha, and she entered Rio an underdog.
In that way, her performances at the Olympics represented the end of a major fall. Franklin returned home with a single medal, a gold earned for swimming in the preliminary round of the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. She missed finals in individual events, however, and she admitted via her personal Twitter page she was "heartbroken" by her results.
Prediction: Franklin, theoretically speaking, is not past her physical prime. She turned 21 this past spring. As far as we know, Franklin did not suffer a serious physical setback that prevented her from swimming her best times in Rio. Perhaps she simply had a bad week.
Keep Franklin's name in mind when the summer of 2020 rolls around. Franklin will be back.
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Tony Romo
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Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is injured. That, on its own, is not shocking news.
Knowledgeable football fans are familiar with Romo's injury history. Per Pro-Football-Reference.com, Romo has only started in all 16 regular season games twice over the past six campaigns. He suffered a broken collarbone in Week 2 of the 2016 season, and he failed to remain healthy after returning to the field.
Romo ended 2015 on injured reserve.
It, thus, was not at all surprising to learn Romo suffered a back injury during a preseason game involving the Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks this past August. According to Marc Sessler of NFL.com, the "best-case scenario" is that Romo returns by midseason.
Why, then, is this a major fall for Romo? For starters, Romo turned 36 years old earlier this year. He is a veteran QB in the twilight of his career who has a long list of injuries on his resume.
Romo also may have competition on the Dallas roster. Rookie Dak Prescott impressed during preseason games and earned high praise from analysts such as Daniel Jeremiah of NFL.com. Prescott is scheduled to begin Week 1 as the Dallas starting QB.
Prediction: Prescott will go through ups and downs, as do most rookie QBs, but he will play well enough to keep Romo sidelined even when he heels from his latest knock. Romo's days as a starter in Dallas will end in 2016.
Yan Gomes
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Cleveland Indians catcher Yan Gomes experienced a different type of fall than some other athletes mentioned in this piece.
Gomes, like others, experienced an injury setback in 2016. He suffered a dislocated shoulder after spilling to the ground while attempting to reach first base safely during a game. While Gomes is rehabbing the injury, it is not yet known for sure if he will be available by the end of September or during the playoffs.
That, however, is only part of the problem. Gomes was a liability at, not behind, the plate when healthy. Per Baseball-Reference.com, Gomes had a .165 batting average through the middle of July. That's 81 points lower than his career average. By all accounts, Gomes was well on his way to having the worst season of his Cleveland career.
The Indians realized they needed an upgrade at the catcher position. It's why they traded for two-time All-Star Jonathan Lucroy. Lucroy vetoed that trade, however, because, per his own words offered to ESPN, the Indians did not promise he would start ahead of Gomes once Gomes recovered.
Gomes must now not only recover from an injury and also reclaim some positive form at the plate. Fans will compare him to Lucroy in 2016 and 2017. It's not necessarily fair, but it's the nature of the business. Gomes, in a sense, needs to be better than ever when he returns.
Prediction: Gomes will make his way back to the lineup, but the Indians will regret not offering the job to Lucroy come October. Indians fans, meanwhile, will wonder what could have been.
Maria Sharapova
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Financially speaking, Maria Sharapova doesn't need to play competitive tennis anymore. The 29-year-old earned millions of dollars in winnings and endorsements throughout her career. Sharapova is a model and successful businesswoman. As Matt Bonesteel of the Washington Post wrote in August, Sharapova has interned with an advertising agency, Nike and the National Basketball Association.
She's done well to prepare for life after playing.
Sharapova's reputation as an athlete took a major hit earlier this year, though, when she tested positive for meldonium. Per Chris Chase of Fox Sports, Sharapova took the drug over the past decade. It was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency at the start of 2016. She is currently serving a two-year ban that will keep her competing until January 2018.
A ruling in her appeal was deferred until later this month.
Sharapova claims she made an honest mistake in continuing to use a substance that only became banned on January 1. It's an explanation or excuse depending on how you look at things, often delivered by professional fighters who fail tests. Whether or not you believe she knowingly cheated is a matter of opinion.
Prediction: This is a difficult one to tackle for multiple reasons. Reuters (h/t Daily Mail) reported in mid-August that Sharapova may be able to return as soon as January 2017 according to Russian Tennis Federation president Shamil Tarpishchev. Sharapova will be 30 years old come January 2018 when her original ban is set to end.
Either way, it's not difficult to imagine her returning to action. After all, she will have had an extended break away from competing in tournaments. She should be rested.
With that said, maybe Sharapova will believe she has nothing left to prove as a player by January 2018. She already has business endeavors outside of tennis. Perhaps she'll be content after being away from the sport for nearly two years.
I expect to see Sharapova in a major tournament again, if only so that she can end her career on her terms. How well she'll play, however, is anybody's guess.
Jack Wilshere
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Maybe this one isn't fair. After all, Jack Wilshere was falling well before the start of 2016.
It was only a few seasons ago, as the BBC recently reminded fans, when Wilshere delivered the tally that won Match of the Day goal of the season. While multiple injury problems had slowed Wilshere down at that point of his career, that was still hope that the Arsenal and England midfielder still in his early 20s would eventually find good fortune and good health for at least an entire season.
Wilshere continued to be unreliable up through June 2015 when he fractured his fibula. That, we would learn, was the event to set into motion Wilshere's most significant fall since he first appeared for the Gunners. As explained by BBC Sport, Wilshere returned to the pitch in early April 2016.
It seems Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger had his mind made up by then. Wenger made Wilshere available for loan so that Wilshere could gain first-team football, essentially announcing he was no longer counting on Wilshere contributing for Arsenal in Premier League play or in the Champions League.
Wilshere completed a season-long loan move to Bournemouth on August 31. Instead of playing at the Emirates and hearing the Champions League theme on certain weeknights, Wilshere will play home games in what is, per Stadium Database, the smallest venue in the Premier League this season.
Micah Peters of The Ringer wondered if Wilshere hit rock bottom in joining Bournemouth.
Prediction: Wilshere's fall from grace officially ends this season. He likely misses no fewer than a handful of games because of injury, and Arsenal move on from him next July. Within five years, Wilshere is a "whatever happened to that guy?" story.
Alex Rodriguez
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It felt as if Alex Rodriguez's 2015 season was too good to be true. Those feelings existed for good reason, it turns out.
Rodriguez, who missed all of 2014 due to suspension, slammed 33 home runs in 2015. Per Baseball-Reference.com, that was Rodriguez's highest HR output for a single season since 2008. A-Rod drove home 86 runs. At 40 years old, Rodriguez hit like a true Most Valuable Player candidate and performed like a Comeback Player of the Year.
Rodriguez's fall in 2016 was quick, it was painful to watch, and it's now over.
Rodriguez played in only 65 games this season. He batted an even .200 with nine home runs and 31 RBI. After spending portions of the season on the bench, Rodriguez played his final game for the Yankees on August 12. Three days later, Rodriguez's publicist shut down any talk of a comeback this year as reported by Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News.
Prediction: According to Spotrac, Rodriguez earned over $400 million off his baseball contracts alone during his career. That does not account for endorsements, investments and other business endeavors.
Rodriguez's fall serves as the end of his playing days but not his baseball career. You can look forward to hearing A-Rod work as a television analyst somewhere next year.
Holly Holm
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The rise and fall of Holly Holm should really be documented in its own piece.
Casual fans who watch only the biggest UFC shows of any year didn't know Holm in early November 2015 except for the fact that she was next in line to challenge Ronda Rousey for the bantamweight championship. That all changed at UFC 193, however, when Holm knocked Rousey out and earned the right to be known as the top female fighter in the promotion.
Holm's life changed in under 10 minutes of in-cage action. She became a celebrity and a household name, the underdog who slayed the "baddest woman on the planet." Holm was featured on television shows and in interviews. Jon Jones, per Damon Martin of Fox Sports, called Holm "the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) of women's combat sports."
It's almost hard to believe that was only 10 months ago.
Rather than wait for a potential rematch versus Rousey that would've been a massive money-maker for all involved, Holm instead elected to defend her title against Miesha Tate at UFC 196 in March 2016. Per Tristen Critchfield of Sherdog, Holm secured no worse than a draw via the judges' scorecards after four rounds. Holm nevertheless chose not to keep her distance from Tate in the final round.
Tate defeated Holm via rear-naked choke.
Holm's fighting year unofficially ended this past July when she lost to Valentina Shevchenko, an unknown to those who aren't passionate UFC fans, via unanimous decision. As Mike Bohn of MMA Junkie explained in August, Holm is currently sidelined after suffering a thumb injury that required surgery.
Prediction: Holm turns 35 years old in October. Any aura she had after defeating Rousey is gone. The prediction here is that Holm will lose to Cristiane "Cris Cyborg" Justino in 2017 before she and the UFC part ways.
Teddy Bridgewater
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It's difficult to speculate on the future of Minnesota Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater because we still know so little about his status.
The Vikings announced via the club's official website that Bridgewater suffered a dislocated knee, a "complete tear of his ACL and other structural damage" during a practice on August 30. Minnesota placed Bridgewater on injured reserve, and he will miss at least all of the 2016 National Football League regular season.
Per Eric Crawford of WDRB.com, Bridgewater's injury may have been even more serious:
"Eyewitnesses told one Minneapolis station that Bridgewater's knee was dangling from his leg after he dropped back for a pass, then collapsed to the ground.
When he went down, others at the practice reported several Vikings players throwing their helmets and cursing. A couple became ill, according to one account, and many went to kneel by his side.
"
Bridgewater turns only 24 years old in November. He likely has a long recovery ahead of him, but he also theoretically is not yet in his physical prime. We have no reason to believe Bridgewater won't return to the football field as of the first weekend of September.
Bridgewater may, however, never be the same athlete.
Robert Griffin III has yet to play as well as he performed during his rookie season with the Washington Redskins. A serious knee injury was the beginning of the end of the career of former New York Giants wide receiver Steve Smith. Current New York WR Victor Cruz lost almost two full years of his career due to a gruesome knee injury, and we still don't know if Cruz will ever be the dynamic player of old.
Prediction: The Vikings will be smart and keep Bridgewater sidelined up through August 2017. The evaluations will then truly begin. Per Spotrac, Bridgewater is only signed up through the end of next season. That contract contains an option for a fifth year.
Vikings fans may want to begin thinking about life after Bridgewater.
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