Des Kelly: The age old debate. Can Schumacher and Woods cut it?

Last updated at 1:33 AM on 02nd January 2010 Out with the old, in with the new. Only it’s not going to be like that in 2010. This will hopefully be a happy old year, one where we will uncork the vintage and discover that it hasn’t yet turned to vinegar.Two very familiar faces are certain to dominate the sporting landscape over the next 12 months. One risks wrecking his peerless reputation: the other has to somehow repair an image that has been trashed beyond recognition. In with the old: Michael Schumacher’s return is intriguing But when Michael Schumacher and Tiger Woods return to centre stage their appearances will rank among the must-see moments of the coming year.Can Schumacher, the seven-time World Champion who turns 42 tomorrow,emerge from retirement and slap down British upstarts Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton? Will he have the hunger and reflexes to deal with their challenge, or will he seem suddenly old and off the pace?Then there is Woods, the figure at the centre of a grubby maelstrom of gossip entirely of his own making.Woods only turned 34 three days ago, but it seems like he has been around forever. Is he capable of returning to his former greatness in a sport that demands absolute focus and concentration? Or will the media sideshow, the hostility, the sniggers and inevitable scorn drive him into unhappy isolation? Whatever happens, their attempted resurrections will be among the most eagerly anticipated events in sport.Funny that. Spin the clock back seven or eight years and you might recall how the two were being accused of being ‘boring’ and killing the spirit of competition with the unerring monotony of their successes. They were said to have made golf and Formula One as predictable as a Status Quo chord change.Schumacher would qualify in pole position, drive away from the lights and pass the chequered flag nearly two hours later without ever being troubled. He was brilliant. He won. We yawned.Woods had a similar stranglehold on golf’s Majors. In that golden period from 1999 to 2003, simply handing him the green jacket or engraved trophy on the first tee could have saved a significant amount of time.But now, they are heroes threatened by hubris. Will they succeed or fail? It’s going to be compulsive viewing either way.Sport has certainly begun to cherish age and experience again. Sir Alex Ferguson celebrated his 68th…

Source: Daily Mail

Posted by admin 2 January 2010

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