Rick, you can comment on Evel here…following your moment of silence. As a funny NPR piece characterized him today, “He was Elvis without the ability to sing…”
Ali blew it by deciding to spar with Gorilla Monsoon, giving Inoki the chance to scout him out. His overconfidence cost him. Ali has to live with his TKO win over Superman.
I bet an Ali-Evel fight would have made a lot of money, especially since Ali would have let him use the motorcycle to keep things even.
Leave it to NPR to look down their Sally Jesse Raphael-esque glasses at Evel. Bless them. They are cute in their very potted Ivy way. And they nailed that one.
Evel was larger than life.
People who cry “fraud” about the whole SkyCycle episode fail to acknowledge that…
1., Had the parachute not deployed but the cycle didn’t make it over the canyon, Evel probably would’ve died.
b. He, and the engineer who designed it admitted that he panicked and hit the parachute button early, and
III., The parachute deployment did not necessarily ensure his safety. He was completely reliant on the wind after that ‘chute went out. He could’ve slammed against the canyon wall and died, or he could’ve drowned.
My favorite Evel moment, aside from the Caesar’s palace jump, is from the Simpson’s episode where Bart visits Evel ripoff “Lance Murdoch” in the hospital. When the parents are around, Lance tells Bart not to be a daredevil because it’s dangerous. But when they leave, he lays “two important facts” on him in confidence:
1. Chicks dig scars.
2. The U.S. has the highest doctor to daredevil ratio in the world.
Oh, I know, saturn. All that you have said is true. I hope you didn’t think I wasn’t saying all of this in any spirit other than the nervous joshing of the truly awestruck.
Specifically regarding III., yes, Evel almost died anyway. He got stuck under a rock outcropping of some kind and almost drowned.
But I remember being in a fog that whole day, thinking about the possibility that that afternoon I might watch a guy actually die, for real, right on TV. It was freaky.
Though I was sort of not kidding about the Woodstock reference: A huge event that goes fairly well and generates large, vaguely positive feelings though it would leave future generations earnestly asking “So, um, what exactly happened?”
I was expecting to hear/read a quote from George Hamitlton after EK died. I remember so clearly the Snake River Canyon jump. God Bless Wide World of Sports
Now that the poll has changed, I wanted to say that it was me who nominated Bobby Byrd (James Brown’s foil). Obviously the best choice, but I remembered it too late for it to win.
And polls don’t allow an individual to make a second entry, so I couldn’t also nominate Jerome, Morris Day’s valet/foil in The Time.
I thought the Washington Post piece (of all places) accurately nailed many a summer afternoon from my childhood, as well as the general half-life of my memories of the 70’s:
Rick, you can comment on Evel here…following your moment of silence. As a funny NPR piece characterized him today, “He was Elvis without the ability to sing…”
I’ve been silent since Friday, believe me.
Notice that the chute pops before the Sky-Cycle is fully off the ramp. This was considered a major scandal.
If he’d made it, it would’ve been the Woodstock of the ’70s.
No, if Muhammad Ali had actually beaten Antonio Inoki, *that* would’ve been the decade’s Woodstock moment of together-ness.
Ali blew it by deciding to spar with Gorilla Monsoon, giving Inoki the chance to scout him out. His overconfidence cost him. Ali has to live with his TKO win over Superman.
I bet an Ali-Evel fight would have made a lot of money, especially since Ali would have let him use the motorcycle to keep things even.
Leave it to NPR to look down their Sally Jesse Raphael-esque glasses at Evel. Bless them. They are cute in their very potted Ivy way. And they nailed that one.
Evel was larger than life.
People who cry “fraud” about the whole SkyCycle episode fail to acknowledge that…
1., Had the parachute not deployed but the cycle didn’t make it over the canyon, Evel probably would’ve died.
b. He, and the engineer who designed it admitted that he panicked and hit the parachute button early, and
III., The parachute deployment did not necessarily ensure his safety. He was completely reliant on the wind after that ‘chute went out. He could’ve slammed against the canyon wall and died, or he could’ve drowned.
My favorite Evel moment, aside from the Caesar’s palace jump, is from the Simpson’s episode where Bart visits Evel ripoff “Lance Murdoch” in the hospital. When the parents are around, Lance tells Bart not to be a daredevil because it’s dangerous. But when they leave, he lays “two important facts” on him in confidence:
1. Chicks dig scars.
2. The U.S. has the highest doctor to daredevil ratio in the world.
Oh, I know, saturn. All that you have said is true. I hope you didn’t think I wasn’t saying all of this in any spirit other than the nervous joshing of the truly awestruck.
Specifically regarding III., yes, Evel almost died anyway. He got stuck under a rock outcropping of some kind and almost drowned.
But I remember being in a fog that whole day, thinking about the possibility that that afternoon I might watch a guy actually die, for real, right on TV. It was freaky.
Though I was sort of not kidding about the Woodstock reference: A huge event that goes fairly well and generates large, vaguely positive feelings though it would leave future generations earnestly asking “So, um, what exactly happened?”
Mass, it was not you to whom I was referring when mentioned those who cry “fraud”, regarding the SkyCycle episode.
Your reverence has been clear from your first post here.
Viva Evel.
I was expecting to hear/read a quote from George Hamitlton after EK died. I remember so clearly the Snake River Canyon jump. God Bless Wide World of Sports
Now that the poll has changed, I wanted to say that it was me who nominated Bobby Byrd (James Brown’s foil). Obviously the best choice, but I remembered it too late for it to win.
And polls don’t allow an individual to make a second entry, so I couldn’t also nominate Jerome, Morris Day’s valet/foil in The Time.
Both great foil entries, BigSteve, for what my electronic high-five is worth.
I thought the Washington Post piece (of all places) accurately nailed many a summer afternoon from my childhood, as well as the general half-life of my memories of the 70’s:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
content/article/2007/11/30/AR2007113001542.html