IS IT FATE?
THOSE HATFIELD'S AND MCCOYS WERE AT IT AGAIN...
SHOTS HAD BEEN FIRED ALL YEAR LONG IN THAT ANNUAL FRACUS, UP, UP AND OVER THERE IN THE "ALLEGHENIES". THE "FEUD" HAD JUST ABOUT EXHAUSTED ALL OF THEIR AMMO ON BOTH SIDES. IT HAD COME DOWN TO THE VICTOR BEING DECIDED WITH THE ONLY "SHOT" LEFT ON EITHER SIDE. THE LAST BLAST WOULD COME FROM THE MCCOYS' KIN BOY, OVER IN THE FIELD, BEHIND THE ROCKS.
HE HAD BEEN TRAINED FOR A SEASON AND WAS USUALLY CAPABLE OF "NAILING A FLY OFF OF A NAG AT FIFTY PACES". THOUGH, AFTER ALL OF THE GUNFIRE, IN THE FINAL MOMENT, IT WOULD BE ONLY ONE CHANCE, TO PRANCE AT THE SQUARE DANCE.
WHEN HIS SHOT RANG OUT, IT HEADED FOR ITS TARGET, THEN TOOK AN EASTWARD DIRECTION, MISSING THE MARK, WITH A SAILING SIGH. DISPAIR FILLED THROUGHOUT THE MOUNTAINOUS AIR. THE MCCOYS' WOULD EXIT IN REJECTION, SCATTERING IN THE SAME DIRECTION, LEAVING THE HATFIELDS WITH "BRAGGING RIGHTS" AND "TRASH TALK", IF ONLY FOR ANOTHER YEAR OF BOASTING, UP, UP, IN THEM THAR HILLS...
... MEANWHILE, SOMEWHERE OVER IN PITTSBURGH, PA, THE 2025 NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE SEASON WAS DRAWING TO A CLOSE. IT WAS THE LAST GAME ON THE DOCKET, IN PRIME TIME, NO DOUBT AND WOULD DETERMINE WHO CONQUERS THE AFC NORTH DIVISION. WHAT A SHOWDOWN. IT WOULD BE, AS IT HAD BEEN CONSIDERED THE MOST "TOXIC" RIVALRY IN ALL OF FOOTBALL FOR DECADES.
THE TWO CONTESTANTS WOULD RALLY UP, UP, AND OVER THERE IN THE "ALLEGHENIES". IT WOULD BECOME A BATTLE FOR THE AGES AND AS EACH CONTESTANT HAD THEIR SHOW OF FORCE, IT WOULD BECOME THE MOST DRAMATIC ENDING. WITH LIGHTS, CAMERA AND ACTION, THE NFL COULDN'T HAVE STAGED IT IN HOLLYWOOD ANY BETTER.
WITH A FEW TICKS LEFT ON THE CLOCK, BALTIMORE RAVENS QB, LAMAR JACKSON, FIRED A STRIKE TO TE, ISAIAH LIKELY TO PUT THOSE RAVEN BIRDS IN SCORING POSITION. AS SUCH, IT WAS "LIKELY" THAT THE RAVENS WOULD SEAL THE DEAL WITH WHAT APPEARED AS AUTOMATIC. THEIR'S FOR THE TAKING WERE SEASON CHAMPS, POST-SEASON PARTICIPATION AND ANOTHER SUPER BOWL WITHIN THEIR "CROSSHAIRS".
IT WOULD BE A ONE-SHOT DEAL THAT MISFIRED, UNFORTUNATELY, TO THE RIGHT OF THE "UPRIGHTS", GIVING THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS A HAPPY NEW YEAR'S GIFT OF THE DIVISION CROWN. BALTIMORE (24), PITTSBURGH (26). BALTIMORE WOULD EXIT TOWN, RETURNING TO CHARM CITY, IN PITY. ANY STEEL CITY "TAUNTING" AND "TRASH TALK" IS ILLEGAL, AS SUCH IS NOT ALLOWED AND NOT TOO WITTY. SUCH WOULD GET A BRIGHT YELLOW FLAG, MORE PENALTIES, MORE SUSPENSIONS AND IS JUST A DRAG...
WAS IT FATE?
THE LOSS WOULD INITIATE A "DOMINO EFFECT" THAT WOULD CHANGE THE HIERARCHY OF WHAT HAD BEEN A SOLID ORGANIZATION OF CONSISTENT SUCCESS. AFTER (18) SEASONS, A SUPER BOWL WINNING, HEAD COACH WOULD "GET THE AXE", FIRED. OWNERSHIP WOULD REMOVE THE EXPERIENCED LEADERSHIP WHICH HAD COMPILED (13) WINNING SEASONS (3) LOSING SEASONS AND TWO NEUTRAL OUTCOMES. THERE WOULD BE (12) POST-SEASON APPEARANCES, (66%) AND (3) NORTH DIVISION CROWNS, APPX (30%). THE NUMBERS SHOW, A HIGH ACHIEVER WAS LET GO.
A GAME LATER, THEIR COMPETITORS, WHILE "SMELTING STEEL" EXPERIENCED "OXIDATION" IN THE POST-SEASON AS WELL AND FELL. AFTER LONGSTANDING LEADERSHIP OF (19 SEASONS), THEIR SKIPPER WOULD STEP DOWN, RESIGN.
THUS,