This Day in History - February 15

I believe that with every significant world event in history, there is a sports equivalent and I am set to prove it! (to myself at least because Lord knows no one else cares). This is one of the reasons we are drawn to sports. We can find similarities between the action on the court and what we go through in our daily lives. That is the premise of this new series. I’ll find a significant event that has happened and find the sporting event which parallels it. Seems simple right? Okay let’s get into it.

Maine Crashes off the Coast of Havana, sparks the Spanish-American War – 1898

Quick summary of what happened and then we’ll go into detail. The USS Maine was a battleship that exploded and sunk right by Cuba and killing all 260 on board. So what was a US battleship doing in Cuba? Cuba was still under Spanish rule at the time but Cuba was staging a rebellion against its oppressor. Cuba was still open to America and think of Cuba as Las Vegas so many Yankees would visit the island. The Maine was sent to Cuba in order to pick up Americans and transport them back home in midst of the revolution. However, the battleship was not able to make it far as a reported floating mine is what cause the Maine to explode. The US blamed Spain and now we have a war on our hand folks. The Spanish-American War was an efficient 10-week ordeal that saw the US come out on top and and walk away with real estate in the form of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. This accomplished two things. The first is that Spain was done as a world power. Along with France and England, Spain had been on the forefront of exploring the Western Hemisphere. Spain had a good run from 1492 up until 1898. To put that into perspective, Spain had been in the Americas longer than America has been in the Americas. The second is that the United States of America could now dream big. America’s destiny had up to that point been “from sea to shining sea” but now we wanted to cross that sea and explore what the world had in store for us. America finally had its seat along side the world powers. Oh I forgot to mention that the explosion was probably caused by the US in order to start the war and initiate Operation Take Over the World.

So if I can find a sports equivalent to this, it would involve an up and coming party who has been on everyone’s radar and finally staged a power move at the cost of a once dominant party. It would have been a matter of time before this would happen but the young upstart decided they were ready now and made it happen ahead of schedule. Got it.

Conor McGregor defeating Jose Aldo in 13 seconds to win the UFC Featherweight title and usher in the era of the money fight. Jose Aldo was a dominant champion who had not been beaten in like 13 years or something crazy like that. His performances towards the end of that run left something to be desired but nonetheless he was still the champ. Now this tour de force named Conor McGregor is coming around talking all kinds of shit to Aldo saying how is the one to beat the man and become the new king of the sport. Now Aldo just happened to the they guy as McGregor was making his ascension. The insults from McGregor to Aldo were nothing personal, he was just trying to sell the fight and get in his head. No different to any other fight. Long story short they fight and the fight ends quickly. Like ending a war in 10 weeks quick. Conor knocks Aldo out faster than someone taking a piss and proceeds to flush Aldo’s career down a drain while elevating himself to the forefront of the sporting world. Sports is a great metaphor for world events. ✌