Sportsmen/women who fell off a cliff

[Satoshi]

In that case, you could say his decline came very early relative to his peers.

It happened to Ronaldinho too - and for similar reasons. He didn't really give much of a shit after leaving Barcelona.

England kept playing Rooney far longer than they should, even though everyone knew (even at the time) he was the notorious dressing room leak.

Rooney chucking it in his late 20s was a shock, it's not as if anyone is expecting Kane to phone it in with 10 goals this season.

[BFTD]

3 hours ago, scottsdad said:

Thing to remember is that Rooney is younger than Ronaldo. If he acted like Ronaldo in terms of training, eating and avoiding grannies he would have lasted longer. 

That said, @Bonksy+HisChristianParadeis right. He wasn't amazing one year and shite the next. It took 3 or 4 seasons. 

Research on the effect of grannies upon elite athletes is woefully lacking.

[Michael W]

Rooney didn't fall off a cliff, he just declined at a younger age than many of his peers. Almost certainly it can be attributed to his lifestyle choices. 

Rooney was also overhyped throughout his career despite his pretty average goal return most seasons, which may feed into suggestions he fell off a cliff. I don't think that's true and the peaks were more an exception to the norm. 

[Boo Khaki]

Personally thought Rooney played far too much football without ever being given a significant enough break to recover properly. He looked mentally fatigued from his mid-20's onward. I also think that he suffered a bit from not being all that naturally athletic. Guys like that have to work extra-hard at fitness and maintenance and usually decline much earlier and much more sharply than more natural athletes, so if he genuinely wasn't fussy about training, fitness, and diet, then it's not a surprise that rot set in. They also usually balloon in size the instant they stop playing, and well...

[UsedToGoToCentralPark]

Sandy Lyle,

Won the Open in 85 but in 87/88 won the TPC, world matchplay and the Masters but then his form fell off the proverbial cliff.

Did win a couple of decent competitions after that but struggled to maintain any sort of consistency which was hard to watch for a guy who on his day was the best in the world and should have been at the top for a lot longer, as it was we had to put up with Nick Faldo going on to win everything.

[Molotov]

6 hours ago, UsedToGoToCentralPark said:

Sandy Lyle,

Won the Open in 85 but in 87/88 won the TPC, world matchplay and the Masters but then his form fell off the proverbial cliff.

Did win a couple of decent competitions after that but struggled to maintain any sort of consistency which was hard to watch for a guy who on his day was the best in the world and should have been at the top for a lot longer, as it was we had to put up with Nick Faldo going on to win everything.

This article looks into the issues Sandy faced.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/that-1980s-sports-blog/2014/sep/18/sandy-lyle-pull-out-ryder-cup-europe-1989

Was there an element of “imposter syndrome”? A mental aspect where he felt that he did not deserve to have success?

Did big Monty suffer from this going into majors? I still find it incredible to this day that Monty never won a major despite being the most consistent and top earning golfer in Europe for around a decade.

[TheScarf]

On 10/07/2023 at 22:15, scottsdad said:

Thing to remember is that Rooney is younger than Ronaldo. If he acted like Ronaldo in terms of training, eating and avoiding grannies he would have lasted longer. 

That said, @Bonksy+HisChristianParadeis right. He wasn't amazing one year and shite the next. It took 3 or 4 seasons. 

Aye by 8 months.  Hardly a factor.

[Inanimate Carbon Rod]

On 17/03/2023 at 08:40, ICTChris said:

I think following the NFL you realise that a lot of the draft is a crapshoot.  I remember a few years ago there were five QBs picked in the first round.  I think the consensus was that Sam Darnold was the safe, most pro-ready choice almost equal to Baker Mayfield.  They went 1st and 3rd and are now on their fourth and third team since then, respecitvely, likely as backups.  Meanwhile, the guy who almost slipped out of the first round, Lamar Jackson, has been voted MVP and is one of the best QBs in the league, likely to get seriously rich in the next few weeks.  Some NFL executives said Jackson should try out as a wide receiver!

The year before, da Bears traded up one spot to take Mitch Trubisky when DeShaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes were on the board.  I don't recall anyone at the time suggesting either of those guys should've gone high either.

Thats the thing with american and increasingly top level real football, folks getting obsessed with the stats, ‘oh but he rushed …yds and and completed 3 passes’ etc etc aye thats all very well and great but they lost. Theres a wee bit too much emphasis on stats. 

[Donathan]

Another tennis shout is Lleyton Hewitt. By the age of 22 he'd won two grand slams and spent 80 weeks as the world number one. He then proceeded to play right through to his mid thirties without ever really troubling Federer or Nadal.