October 9, 2012: Malala Yousafzai Is Shot

October 9, 2012: Malala Yousafzai, age 15, is shot in her native Swat Valley, in Pakistan. The barbarity of the attack shocks the civilized world, which follows her recovery closely.

(Yes, there is a place in the Middle East named "Swat." No, baseball fans, it has never been ruled by a Sultan of Swat.)

She was born on July 12, 1997, in Mingora, Swat District, a place where the Pakistani branch of the Taliban had banned girls from going to school, as the original version of the Taliban had done in Afghanistan. Their belief is that females have only one purpose, to serve men.

Her family belongs to the Pashtun tribe, and includes her father, education activist and humanitarian Ziauddin Yousafzai. Starting at age 11, she wrote a blog for the BBC Urdu site (Urdu being the native language of Pakistan), using the pen name Gul Makai.

In 2010, her cover was blown by New York Times journalist Adam B. Ellick, who made a documentary. He thought it was safe, since the Pakistan Armed Forces had launched an attack against the Taliban. She began giving interviews, and former Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu nominated her for the International Children's Peace Prize.

But on October 9, 2012, a Taliban gunman boarded a bus, and shot Malala and 2 other girls. The other 2 survived with minor wounds, but Malala was hit in the head. She was taken to the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology in Punjab. Once her condition improved, British activists arranged for her to be flown to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, England.

The German TV network Deutsche Welle (German Wave) reported in January 2013 that she had become "the most famous teenager in the world." A group of 50 leading Muslim clerics in Pakistan, showing the wrong way to support her, issued a fatwā against those who tried to kill her. The Taliban doubled down, suggesting that they would try again to kill her.

But she recovered, and stayed in Birmingham. With Pakistani entrepreneur Shiza Shahid, she founded the non-profit Malala Fund, and she wrote a memoir. In 2013, the European Parliament awarded her the Sakharov Prize. On October 10, 2014, 2 years and 1 day after she was shot, with Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. At 17, she was the youngest ever to receive any Nobel. (The previous youngest was Lawrence Bragg, at 25, for Physics in 1915.)

She graduated from high school in Birmingham in 2017, and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Oxford University in 2020. On November 9, 2021, she married Asser Mali, a manager with the Pakistan Cricket Board. She is also a supporter of soccer team Birmingham City F.C. Not that it is necessary that she be a sports fan, but this author is pleased by it. I am more pleased that she is happy.

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October 9, 2012 was a Tuesday. Football was in midweek. Football was in midweek. The NBA season didn't start for another 21 days. And the NHL team owners had locked the players out, so the season didn't start until January 19, 2013.

Game 3 of an American League Division Series was played at the O.co Coliseum, as the Oakland Coliseum was then known. The Oakland Athletics beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-0, to close within 2 games to 1. But the Tigers won the series in 5 games. It was an off-day in the other ALDS, with the New York Yankees and the Baltimore Orioles tied, 1-1. The Yankees won that series in 5.

Game 3 of a National League Division Series was played at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. The San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-1, thanks to a 10th-inning error by the normally sure-handed Scott Rolen, to close within 2 games to 1. The Reds completed the comeback, and won the series in 5 games. It was an off-day in the other NLDS, with the St. Louis Cardinals and the Washington Nationals tied, 1-1. The Cardinals won that series in 5.