Gimmie Gimmie Octopus

Last night I dreamed back in my boxing gym, sparring with a faceless opponent, trading shots back and forth...watching the neck and shoulders for where the shots are going to come next.  Parrying or slipping the throw, and looking for an opening to counter with, hopefully with a big left hook.

Then I woke up hacking and wheezing. I’ve been sick with a cold and cough since just after Xmas. Going to the gym now would probably equal me on the floor gasping for breath and not getting any.

It’s rotten because boxing seems to be popping up a lot these days: in ads for Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby and even ads in the subways for the upcoming Jack Johnson doc on PBS.  Even worse, I'm only two months away from beginning to spar in the ring. So far it's only been drills. But I'm at a standstill until I get better.

I guess there are movies to watch and stuff to write (liner notes for a couple of new Adness Select titles), but its just not the same without getting hit in the head, hitting people in the head and the smell of your hands afterwards, like a mummy’s ass, from the hand wraps. Hell, I’d even settle for 3 rounds of jumping rope right now.

Guess I’ll drink a protein shake and watch Ali Vs. Frazier III again…

Comments

[Daniel Zelter]

Million Dollar Baby looks seriously overrated to me. It's almost like Hillary Swank is going back to her The Next Karate Kid roots. (No offense to Pat Morita, who was a cool guy on the Only the Brave set.) Not that I actually bothered seeing it or Boys Don't Cry, but it's kind of sad what the critics will eat up, just to flip off whatever's popular. OTOH, at least she was a professional on the set, unlike Russell Crowe for Cinderella Man.

[Joseph Luster]

Can something look overrated?

At any rate, the gym you go to looks pretty damn nice. The only gyms that even offer straight up boxing here are deep in the slums.

[Patrick3]

Yeah, but by a startling coincidence, that's also where the best fighters tend to come from: the slums. Especially the ones in Looville. So get your ass in there and be the "white boy."