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Tidy little nightmare Posted: Wednesday January 30, 2002 3:55 PMUpdated: Wednesday January 30, 2002 4:01 PM
Once upon a time, the scariest scene the American mind could imagine was a confrontation with Mike Tyson. The driver's side door on that car you cut off three exits earlier would open. ... The girl you asked to dance would say she was with someone else and, uh-oh, here he is. ... The shoe you accidentally stepped on would be attached to a body topped by a familiar, angry -- very angry -- face. It was a tidy little nightmare. Tell the truth, wasn't there at least once you said, "Mike Tyson, now there's a guy I wouldn't want to be mad at me"? That all has changed in recent months. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the bully of the sports pages has looked about as frightening as Deputy Dawg. In the list of possible dangers to be confronted in a typical day -- starting maybe with stepping onto that airplane or going to work at that high-rise tower or just opening the morning mail -- Mike Tyson is not even mentioned. Checking out the stock prices to see if your 401k has disappeared into thin air is far more intimidating than any glares, stares or street corner invective this 35-year-old man could deliver. The danger quotient has gone up for all of us. This is our sad reality since Sept. 11. Mr. Tyson can scream, "I'm going to eat your children" at Mr. Lennox Lewis and can carom off bodyguards as his proposed title showdown moves along from Las Vegas in search of another venue, but his act is hollow and stupid ... as it probably always was. Our mistake. We realize now that there are people in this world who actually do want to eat our children. And Mike Tyson is not one of them. Leigh Montville's commentaries appear regularly on CNN/Sports Illustrated. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
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