“I’ve been shooting pool since I was four years old. No con. By the time I was six I was playing for stakes. My first sucker was a neighborhood kid in Washington Heights. I spotted him coming out of a candy store with an enormous bag of gumdrops. He was about five years older than me but I shot him straight pool and I won every last one of his gumdrops. He went home crying. When I was ten I started playing for cash” (Minnesota Fats, The Bank Shot and Other Robberies).My introduction to Minnesota Fats, legendary pool hustler: It’s...
What Books Are The Denver Broncos’ Cheerleaders Currently Reading?
Yes, I’ve been wondering, too, and it’s been keeping me up at night: Just what are the ladies of the 2009 Denver Broncos Cheerleading squad reading these days? What books inspire somersaults, leaps, fight songs, and heavy pom-pom action?Thanks to the Denver Broncos Cheerleaders website, we know.Serita Archuleta: I am reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I admire the fact that she followed her heart and took a risk in life to find happiness. It has inspired me to get out of my comfort zone more often.Brianne Bateman: Twilight Series [by Stephanie Meyer]....Edward Cullen and I are buddies!Tara Battiato:...
Ernest Hemingway: Down For The Count
In 1922, Heavyweight Champion Jack Dempsey was the toast of Paris. He was feted and fawned over, the women obliging, the men in awe.Champion for three years, he was used to celebrities wanting to put the gloves on and spend a fantasy few minutes sparring with him. A fighter who took all that occurred within the ring with extreme seriousness – it is not a playground1 - he nonetheless indulged many: he allowed silent film star Douglas Fairbanks to throw jabs and rights at him, knowing that Fairbanks’ smaller frame and lesser weight would not put much power behind his...
Bookworms and Boxers Battle Back!
"You've been tagged in a note on Facebook."Everyone on that social networking site--and at this point who isn't?--has read this message with a mixture of flattery ("My online friends want to know more about me!") and dread. ("Who the heck has time for this stuff?").A popular note is entitled "The ABC's of Me," a straightforward trip through the alphabet, each successive letter revealing, theoretically, a fascinating fact about the friend. I must confess I never completed this work-out, throwing in the towel at the end of Round 2 with the letter "B."For any librarian, of course, "B" is for for...
Them’s Fightin’ Words!
A bad July for fight fans as boxing greats Alexis Arguello, Arturo Gatti, and Vernon Forrest were murdered, Gatti by his wife, Forrest by thieves, Arguello by his own hand. Life was safer, calmer and more predictable in the ring.There is much drama to this sport in which the essence of its athletes is revealed as in no other human activity, save war. But, as with war, there is no romance to boxing despite what some writers (Hemingway) would have you believe. Trust me on this.Great books, though, and a ripe area for collection. The cornerstone volumes are:MILES, Henry Downes....