Why did Sauron need ring?

[Boo Radley]

Originally Posted by Sauron the White

Yes, I do understand that. But it would seem that the Free Peoples may have had the attitude "we beat you once with the damn ring, we can surely beat you without it". But none of that comes through. Its all "we are dead meat if Sauron gets his ring back". They already beat him once when he had the ring. That is the part that seems contradictory to me.

Its akin to Florida having to play Ohio State yet again for the NCAA basketball title and this time Ohio does not even have its best player. They beat them once already when they had more firepower. Why would they not think they would simply repeat that task?

OK, granted that Sauron didn't have the Ring, but at the same time, the Free Peoples didn't have any of their heavy hitters like the last time either.
Perhaps they felt that as long as Sauron didn't get his mits on the Ring, they had a good chance of beating him (but if Frodo hadn't gotten to Mt. Doom when he did, they probably wouldn't have), but they had to look at the worst case scenario where Sauron WOULD get the Ring and if that happens, they probably figured, "Oh... we are SO hosed!"

Just my take on it. Your mileage may vary.