Hall of Fame

I post this every year. Rick Reilly wrote it and it first appeared in SI a number of years ago. Enjoy: ____________ This story starts the day in 1918 when a doctor tells a slender heavyweight named Billy Miske that his bum kidneys give him five years to live, if he's lucky. Turns out he's dying of Bright's disease. This comes as rotten news to Billy, who's only 24 years old and not half bad in the ring. He's good enough to fight guys like future light heavyweight champ Harry Greb twice to 10-round draws, which is sort of like tying with a twister. Still, the doc says if Billy's smart, he'll find a comfortable couch and retire right now. Problem is, almost nobody but Billy knows he's up to his ears in debt, being $100,000 in the hole because the car distributorship he operates in St. Paul doesn't distribute near enough cars. Billy's weakness as a salesman is that he's too trusting. He keeps counting on his friends to pay up, and mostly they don't. So Billy keeps the kidney news to himself and decides to continue fighting and paying what he owes. In fact, Billy fights 30 more times after the doc's death sentence, including bust-ups with guys like Tommy Gibbons, who was knocked out only one time in his career, and three dances with Jack Dempsey, once for the title in 1920. Dempsey hits people only slightly harder than a bus, and in that title bout he belts Billy once so flush in the heart that Billy goes down for a nine count. In those nine seconds a purple welt the size of a baseball pops up on Billy's chest, scaring Dempsey half to death. But then Billy himself pops up, wanting more. Dempsey knocks him clean out less than a minute later, this time with an anvil to the jaw, as Dempsey is trying to get the fight over before one of them faints, maybe Dempsey. "I was afraid I'd killed him," Dempsey says afterward, but Billy's kidneys are doing a good job of that all by themselves. By the fall of 1923, Billy is dying fast. He looks like a broomstick on a diet. He's too weak to work out, much less prizefight. The only thing thinner than Billy's arms is his wallet. He hasn't had a bout since January, which is trouble, because Christmas is coming up hard. Well, Billy isn't about to face his wife, Marie, and their three young kids, Billy Jr., Douglas and Donna, tapped out for his last Christmas, so he goes to his longtime manager, Jack Reddy, and asks him for one last fight. Reddy says no chance. "I don't like to say this," Reddy tells him, "but if you went in the ring now, in your condition, you might get killed." "What's the difference?" Billy answers. "It's better than waiting for it in a rocking chair." Reddy chews on that for a while and comes up with a proposition: "Do one thing for me. Go to the gym, start working out, and let's see if you can get into some kind of condition. Then we'll talk." Billy says no can do. He says there's no way he can work out. He says he's got one last fight in him, and maybe not even that. A softie, Reddy arranges a Nov. 7 bout in Omaha against a brawler named Bill Brennan, who went 12 rounds with Dempsey and is still meaner than 10 miles in brand-new shoes. True to his word, Billy doesn't get any nearer the gym than his aspirin bottle. He stays in hiding, slurping bowls of chicken soup and boiled fish, and rarely making it out of bed. But he turns up in Omaha on the appointed night, survives four rounds with Brennan and cashes a check for $2,400. That check buys the best Christmas the Miskes ever have. The kids come flying downstairs in the morning to a Christmas tree, a toy train, a baby-grand piano and presents stacked higher than they can reach. They eat like Rockefellers and sing like angels and laugh all day. Do you know, the only smile bigger in Minneapolis that day than the ones on the faces of those three Miske kids is on Billy's mug. The next morning Billy calls Reddy and whispers, "Come and get me, Jack. I'm dying." Reddy rushes Billy to St. Mary's Hospital, but the doctors can't do a thing. On New Year's Day 1924, Billy, 29, dies of kidney failure. That's it, really. Except that if you ever pass through Omaha and run into an old-timer, ask him about the prizefight that day, the one that gave Billy Miske the finish he wanted, the one he won in four rounds, over Bill Brennan, by a knockout.

Re: ANIMATED GIF HALL OF FAME SUPERTHREAD

just clear your history, thats the only way i can sign out.

true. i think men and women, shit even children from that era weren't playing. we are all soft as shit today. well, most of us...myself included.

this thead got the flicks that make ya say.... Damn....

Wrong section of the board before, Kromie. You walked into the Frat House on a Friday night with a 6 pack of O' Doul's.

http://www.noradsanta.org/ follow the jolly fat man to your hood merry xmas fuckers

amebix- winter

favorite writer growing up in north beach. love the comeback.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Must spread some rep around....

is there a category on awesomest pet yet? umm lots of potential winners there.

my guess if you have it set to artists and each artist name is different cuz each song has a featuring all these other guys on it so itunes think theyre all different artist making a mess, get rid of those and stick with just RZA and i think that should clean it up

how can i fix this??

im definetly a dope eating degenerate and i feel that its not a part of being a bomber but people who go out usually are kinda fucked up just saying

merry christmas

This^^

Dark over Lens is hella toy.

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

the peices, the backrounds, back 2 back productions. not enough can be said about fx, and how much this thread means 2 me guys! theyve surely found the rite people 2 carry on the legacy. cant wait 2 c whats in store 4 2010!!

#4 mothafuckas

''I did not have sexual relations with that woman'' - Bill Clinton ''I did not have sexual relations with that man'' - Wale (rapper) denying the rumours that he spent a night with Lady Gaga.

HOLY CHRIST THIS THREAD IS HORRIBLE ..

stolen from sw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dccsFXH6WHc

this, that pacer jas7 shit, BEL

HOLY MOLEY

knew you homos where hot 4 eschother ^^^ all that lore shit can't wait 4 that niggas return

look at me sneaking in on the floater.

That red alts is fresh.

i catch mad throws up on dem oak trees son. i like spots by the tracks, spots i think i only know about, tunnels, highways. you know the dealio

yeah that foo did work.....but fuck em them young kings did it though....gave em a tough game. all gravy couple years tyreke evans.

ICC25 nigga. Get on my level.

Re: Great Pictures~

This is one of those threads where you just have to start at the beginning and read all the way through because there is so much funny crap in here.

RELAX ICR part of an uncompleted ICR "Christmas" Production. Will post the entire production by Christmas. What can I say,... I lovez gold.

i dont see how batman escaped the cave after dr. lobotomy shaved the cats head?

I'm fuckin' sick of trying to find the best pickles in the world. n/h. I have a hometown company Topor's, which produces some extremely quality naturally fermented pickles, and I have an infatuation with getting to the bottom which is the best. I know it's all about what one likes, but I'm talking about naturally fermented fuckin' no vinegar bullshit. No fuckin' Vlasic bullshit or Claussen garbage. I fucked with Bubbies, which tops the list. I fucked with Don Hermann's, and Strubs which are said to be among the best, but can't fuck with Bubbies or Topor's. Some polish cucumbers in brine are phenomenal and I can't stand not pinpointing them shits 'cause I'm an American and who can't ever know what the fuck is out there that ain't bein' imported. I hear Gus', Ba-tempte, and some fucks out of Minnesota are definitely worth a go. But, shit....try ordering a small amount of these shits, that need to be refridgerated, and I'm like...the fuck anybody REALLY knows what the best pickle is. Anybody who gets Bubbies in the local grocery store though, you fucks are golden. I gotta pay $7 a jar for them shits at one joint about 30 miles from my crib. And fuck my local joints McClure's Detroit/Brooklyn for thinking they got good shit. I busted out $24 bones on them shits, TWO REGULAR SIZED JARS!!! ANd they was busted as fuck. I likes them bubbies, topor's joints. ANything that relates, if better, like more hot & garlic. Please someone post me a PM so I don't come out my pocket hundreds of fuckin' dollars gettin' these shits delivered to my door on next day dry ice delivery bullshit.

post office.... that yellow delivery service i cant remember................. uhhhhhhhh DHL!!! allah does not approve.

seriously wasted space on the 12oz servers on this thread.

love that this fools is paintin again!!!^^^

Yea I dig Alts work... Some old but bold