Public apathy combined with the conceit of the new ruling class, to deliver a particularly brutal humiliation to Rafsanjani, barred apparently not for his political views, but for the rather less dignified reason that the members of the Guardian Council thought Rafsanjani too old to be able to bear the burden of office.
For a time, we all ignored the way 100 years of history told us it was supposed to happen, and bought the conceit that with hard work and modern training players could, and should, experience exponential gains as they hit 33, 36, even 39.