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THE MAG.COM PRESENTS:
ALL WORLD POWER RANKINGS

by Ted Bauer

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Boys, boys, boys...

WHEN IT COMES TO SPORTING FALLS FROM GRACE, WE'RE TUMBLING WITH THE SUMMER OF '98 GENTS

[Ed's note: Not sure what All-World Power Rankings is? Please click here.]

Today in 1985, Pete Rose became the all-time Hit King; within years, he was at the center of one of baseball's biggest maelstroms ever (it hasn't completely abated, to this day). It is pretty cool that he's BFF with A-Rod, though. Rose's fall from grace was drastic; it happens often in sports. Let's take a look at some others. Two notes: (1) we're not ranking Rose and (2) we do understand some of these guys had addictive personalities. Bonus: in broader pop culture, is there a bigger one than this?

TOP 5
RANK (YESTERDAY) WHAT WHY
1 (14) THE BOYS OF SUMMER '98 Some commentators called 1998 "the greatest season ever played." The sport apparently recovered from the strike of '94 with a tremendously captivating HR chase between McGwire and Sosa. Eight years later, they stood—in somewhat less captivating form—in front of Congress. Sad for all of us, really.
2 (410) O.J. SIMPSON Probably should be No. 1. Arguably the best Heisman winner ever, a great pro, and then, well, yea.
3 (21) SHOELESS JOE JACKSON Our boss claims he got a raw deal (he did spend 30 years proclaiming his innocence), but still: a career .356 hitter can't get into the HOF because of his association with one of baseball's biggest scandals. That's a fall.
4 (127) DWIGHT GOODEN Depressingly, this list has become baseball heavy. Gooden: Dr. K. A four-time All-Star. '84 ROY, won the '86 Series. As recently as '96, he threw a no-hitter! As recently as '06, he was in jail.
5 (899) LAWRENCE PHILLIPS We were considering Rae Carruth in this spot, but here's why we went Phillips: his career at Nebraska was a much better Big 12 performance than Carruth at Colorado. In August 2005, he reportedly drove his car into three teenagers.

HONORABLE MENTION
RANK (YESTERDAY) WHAT WHY
18 (144) MIKE TYSON Should probably be higher; in 1986 some people thought Tyson would surpass Ali in terms of perception eventually. Today, he's basically a joke. It should be noted he's still terrifying, though. That's a plus for him!
28 (701) ART SCHLICHTER A four-year starter at Ohio State (he finished Top 10 in Heisman voting three times), Schlichter's pro career was a markedly different story: he had a large gambling problem (by some estimates, he blew his signing bonus by the middle of his rookie year) and has admitted to over 20 felonies.

RISING AND FALLING
MOVEMENT WHAT
BARRY BONDS (Could be higher—he's linked to the '98 guys—but really, can you 'fall' if no one ever really liked you that much?)
JOSH HAMILTON (He's a rise to grace.)


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