Skip to main content

Decline and Fall of Yankees


baseball
Over the last 18 years, the Yankees were 1731-1163 with five World Series wins and 12 other postseason appearances. But that era of dominance ended in Detroit. (AP)
If you are of a certain age, maybe 35 or older, you almost certainly have a powerful memory of Mike Tyson fumbling for his mouthpiece at the end of his fight with Buster Douglas. It remains -- and always will, I suspect -- one of the most compelling things I have ever seen in sports.
The reason it was so compelling, I think, is because it was so FINAL. There was no going back after that moment. The past had been broken. The future was uncertain. Mike Tyson was the baddest man in the world before that fight. He wore no robe, he wore black, he unloaded lethal blows at unreasonable speeds. He was so terrifying that boxing champions and former champions and men nicknamed "Bonecrusher" entered the ring trembling.
And then, he fought a journeyman named Buster who, for various fascinating but at the time unknown reasons, had come into the ring that day inspired and without fear. Douglas pummeled Tyson all night. And when Tyson landed the inevitable knockout blow, Douglas got back up and returned to the pummeling. It was hypnotizing. Tyson simply losing to Buster Douglas would have been an upset for the ages.
But the end provided an unforgettable image. Douglas unloaded a savage uppercut that snapped Tyson's head back. Then, a glancing left, a glancing right, and a ferocious left as Tyson was falling, and Tyson was on the canvas. Mike Tyson, the baddest man on earth, groggily rolled to his side, saw his mouthpiece, reached for it, reached for it again, tried to put it into his mouth and was counted out … and watching that scene you knew, just knew, as you so rarely know anything in sports, that something had ended. Sure, we all knew, Tyson would fight again. He might win again. He might even be champion again. But Mike Tyson, after that, would never be the same again. Boxing would never be the same either.
This Detroit-New York series … yes, it was like watching that Tyson mouthpiece scene all over again for four games, like watching Buster Douglas pummel Mike Tyson all over again over six jaw-dropping days. It wasn't just the Tigers sweep -- those things happen. It wasn't just Detroit's dominance -- the Tigers are playing very well and with Verlander, Scherzer, Fister and the middle of that lineup they could sweep any team in baseball over four games. No, it's something bigger. The Yankees still have money, and they still have talent, and they still have history. Derek Jeter will come back, so will some other stars, and others will be found. I have little doubt that the Yankees can still win.
But they will never be the same. Rome has fallen.

Read the full story here.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Siege - A Poem By Ahmad Faraz Against The Dictatorship Of Zia Ul Haq

Related Posts: 1.  Did Muhammad Ali Jinnah Want Pakistan To Be A Theocracy Or A Secular State? 2. The Relationship Between Khadim & Makhdoom In Pakistan 3. Battle for God; Battleground Pakistan - a time has finally come to call a spade a spade 4. Pakistan - Facing Contradictory Strategic Choices In An Uncertain Region 5. Pakistan, Islamic Terror & General Zia-Ul-Haq 6. Why Pakistan Army Must Allow The Democracy To Flourish In Pakistan & Why Pakistanis Must Give Democracy A Chance? 7. A new social contract in Pakistan between the Pakistani Federation and its components 8. Birth of Bangladesh / Secession of East Pakistan & The Sins of Our Fathers 9. Pakistan Army Must Not Intervene In The Current Crisis - Who To Blame For the Present Crisis in Pakistan ? 10. Balochistan - Troubles Of A Demographic Nature

India: The Terrorists Within

A day after major Indian cities were placed on high alert following blasts in the IT city of Bangalore, as many as 17 blasts ripped through Ahmedabad, capital of the affluent western Indian state of Gujarat . Some 30 people were killed, some at hospitals where bombs were timed to go off when the injured from other blasts were being brought in. (Later, in Surat, a center for the world's diamond industry, a bomb was defused near a hospital and two cars packed with explosives were found in in the city's outskirts.) Investigators pointed fingers at the usual Islamist suspects: Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), Bangladesh- based Harkat-ul Jihadi Islami (HUJI) and the indigenous Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). But even as the police searched for clues, the Ahmedabad attacks were owned up by a group calling itself the " Indian Mujahideen. " Several TV news stations received an email five minutes before the first blasts in Ahmedabad. The message repo

Mir Chakar Khan Rind - A Warrior Hero Of Baluchistan & Punjab Provinces of Pakistan

By Sikander Hayat The areas comprising the state of Pakistan have a rich history and are steeped in the traditions of martial kind. Tribes which are the foundation stone of Pakistan come from all ethnic groups of Pakistan either they be Sindhi, Balochi, Pathan or Punjabi. One of these men of war & honour were Mir Chakar Khan Rind. He is probably the most famous leader coming out of Baloch ethnic group of Pakistan. Mir Chakar Khan Rind or Chakar-i-Azam (1468 – 1565 ) was a Baloch king and ruler of Satghara in (Southern Pakistani Punjab) in the 15th century. He is considered a folk hero of the Baloch people and an important figure in the Baloch epic Hani and Sheh Mureed. Mir Chakar lived in Sibi in the hills of Balochistan and became the head of Rind tribe at the age of 18 after the death of his father Mir Shahak Khan. Mir Chakar's kingdom was short lived because of a civil war between the Lashari and Rind tribes of Balochistan. Mir Chakar and Mir Gwaharam Khan Lashari, hea