Toppled Dynasties
The Boston Red Sox just beat the NY Yankees to complete the biggest series comeback in Major League postseason history. The Yankees were ahead in the series 3-0, then lost 4 straight games.
Earlier this year, the LA Lakers lost to the Detroit Pistons in the biggest upset in the NBA in several years. Those Lakers had 4 Hall of Fame players and one of the best coaches ever in the NBA. The Lakers eventually broke up, and people around sports realized the importance of desire and teamwork that the Pistons showed.
Both of these “dynasties” failed at what they were supposed to do this year. Do you think the elimination of the Yankees in this year’s postseason will push toward a change in professional sports as we know it? Will teams like the Yankees and the Lakers decide to spend less money and hunt for players with hidden talent and leadership?
Does this demonstrate that too much confidence can lead to destruction? Having confidence in yourself, be it personal or as a team, is the only way one is to win. Although, to have over-confidence can lead to a very large ego. If that ego is so confident in a victory, that it loses the effort needed to win, it will become destroyed.
In another aspect, consider Napoleon or Hitler. Both were very powerful, virtually unstoppable, leaders. They were conquering the world in their ambitions. Although their defeat came from over-confidence and their actual belief that they could not be defeated.
The question is now, can this also be applied to the United States in our current situations?
That’s an interesting question. If that’s the case, should the US consider changing its policies or focus on military leadership rather than relying on its strength?
I don’t believe that the military is the whole aspect of what I was referring to. I believe that the USA as a whole needs to change in confidence. Look at 9/11. It took a tragedy such as that to bring our country together. And it only did so, by becoming humble first.
Yet, (and I say this as a country, as a whole) we have again become unaware of our patriotism. Now, there are many people in our country that may disagree, but there are even more that wouldn’t “give a damn”.
We have become numb to our society and to foreign affairs. We don’t have time; or if we do have time, our minds are elsewhere.
Getting back to baseball… Such a great game! Although, after the early nineties, it really lost it’s entertainment. Again, this can be contributed to our current fast-paced, money-hungry society. If you do recall, the MLB had a strike for a season in the early nineties. Many fans lost a whole seasons of ball because their players wanted more money. Knowing it or not, many fans dropped baseball altogther afterwards.
[I know I went on too many tangents, but too much on my mind! Go figure…]