Thomas Hauser does an 'interview' with the MSG ring canvas.  Some
interesting information is given in the process.

Q: Hello, Mr. Ring Canvas. How are you today?

Ring Canvas: Very good, thank you.

Q: Let's start with a few basic questions. What are you made of?

RC: What do you think I'm made of?

Q: Canvas?

RC: Duh.

Q: Don't be a wisenheimer.

RC: Okay; I'm sorry. Actually, I'm made of cotton. They weave the fibers very
closely together. That's what gives canvases like me our texture.

Q: Fine; let's move ahead. Tell me a little more about yourself.

RC: Well, the first thing you should know is that they change me for almost
every fight. The ring at Madison Square Garden is old. The posts, girders and
stairs have been around since the mid-1920s, when the third Madison Square
Garden was built at Eighth Avenue and 49th Street. And since then, they've only
changed the red velvet ropes a few times. But because of different promoters
and sponsors, I'm constantly being replaced.

Q: How big are you?

RC: That's a tricky question. The ring at The Garden is well-engineered, but
it's not a conventional ring. Normally, ring posts are on the edge of a ring
canvas. But at Madison Square Garden, all four posts are recessed. That means
I'm 23' 6" squared, but the posts are only 20' 3" apart and the area enclosed
by the ropes is a relatively small 18' 3" on each side. Also, because the posts
are recessed, you can't just lay me down like you would with a normal ring
canvas. I need circular cut-outs in each corner so I can fit over the posts.

Q: That sounds complicated.

RC: It's not too bad. Everlast has all the specs up in the Bronx, and generally
they do a great job. Of course, every now and then, there's a screw up.

Q: Such as?

RC: I don't want to say.

Q: Come on; this is for the HBO Boxing website.

RC: Well, all right. Listen, do you think you could get me George Foreman's
autograph?

Q: Tell me about the screw-up.

RC: It wasn't much. On the morning of the Holyfield-Lewis fight, someone
discovered that Everlast had put one of the post holes in the wrong place. So
the Garden brought some woman with a big sewing machine into the ring to cut me
apart and sew me back together again. As I said, it wasn't much. All it did was
create total panic and chaos for about four hours.

Q: So Everlast makes you and ships you directly to the Garden?

RC: Negative. Nowadays, because of advertisements, it's usually the promoter
who brings me in. What happens is, Everlast cuts me to size and ships me out to
be painted. If Budweiser is the lead sponsor, I go to Hogan Paint in St. Louis.
If it's a Don King fight sponsored by Corona, they send me somewhere else.

Q: How much do you cost?

RC: That's a personal question.

Q: Don't be coy.

RC: All right. Generally, Everlast charges $2.80 per square foot, although The
Garden and major promoters get a wholesale discount.

Q: How big a discount?

RC: About 50 percent; although The Garden pays a little more for me because I'm
a special cut.

Q: How much do you weigh?

RC: Seventy-five pounds at birth. But I'm very porous and most promoters put a
lot of paint on me, so usually I'm around 150 pounds by the time a fight
starts.

Q: What happens to you after a fight?

RC: The Garden treats me nicely. In the old days after a fight, they'd clean me
and hang me from the rafters to dry. Then they'd use me again. But now, because
so much stuff is painted on me, they just stick me in storage. Every now and
then, I get scared that maybe they'll cut me up and sell me to collectors after
a big fight. But so far, that hasn't happened.

Q: So basically, you just lie around all day. Sounds like a pretty soft job.

RC: That's what you think. This job is hard. Do you have any idea what it's
like to have Michael Grant lumbering around on top of you. I mean, the guy is a
sweetheart, but he weighs a ton. And then, there are the indignities. I didn't
mind it in the 1970s when they changed me from white to blue to absorb the
television lights. But how would you like it if someone painted Don King's logo
on you? Or an ad for Midas mufflers? There are times when I look like Dennis
Rodman.

Q: Any other complaints?

RC: You bet. The job comes with a lot of pressure. I'm always worrying about
screwing up.

Q: How can a ring canvas screw up?

RC: For starters, I'm brand new for every major fight. That means fighters slip
on me. The promoters are supposed to put some kind of granules in the paint to
make me sticky, but sometimes they forget. Fortunately, the preliminary
fighters scuff me up before the main event. But if someone slips on a Budweiser
logo because Bob Arum was too cheap to use the right kind of paint, who do you
think gets blamed for it.

Q: What's the worst thing that ever happened to you?

RC: Once, after one of his fighters won on a knockout, Lou Duva kissed me. Do
you have any idea what it's like to get kissed on the lips by Lou Duva.

Q: So overall, do you like the job?

RC: Oh, yeah. Most of the time, it's great. I'm part of history. Over the
decades, I've seen some wonderful fights. Joe Louis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Rocky
Marciano and Muhammad Ali have all fought on me. And sometimes, after a really
big fight, some reporter will write, "Last night, the eyes of the world were
focused on a small square of illuminated canvas." That's neat.

Q: So you like boxing.

I guess from my e-mails many of you guys think the show is on
Saturday...but I have been advertising that it was Friday.  Next time I
will give ample posts in advance so we can all listen to the show.  Next
month we will be featuring Jim Borzell for one...whether he likes it or
not.  Maybe in the future we will have Brenda Moran also...unfortunately
her schedule makes it harder for her to commit but I hope we might get
her on sometime within the next few months.  Marty is also someone we
want on the show...but Marty has prior obligations at that time.  Both
the names mentioned were rather interested and so I believe we will get
a chance to hear their voices.  In the future I also hope to get TSC to
commit...I know he will...but this week he was too busy washing his hair
:).  I got some better ideas for the show next time and I myself will be
better prepared.  Thanks to all those who tuned in and especially thanks
to Diamond D who made last nights show worth the tune in...So did the
Bos Man.

i cheehuahua
--

Melito is 1 million times worse than John Ruiz....that's how shitty he
really is.

i cheehuahua
--

Tunney's Retirement Nearly Lost in Shuffle

By EARL GUSTKEY, L.A. Times Staff Writer

The guys working The Times' night sports desk 71 years ago tonight scarcely
knew where to begin.

   That day's top sports stories:

     * Los Angeles was officially awarded the 1932 Olympics.
     * Heavyweight boxing champion Gene Tunney announced his retirement.
     * Lillian Copeland of Pasadena won the silver medal in the discus at
the Amsterdam Olympics.
     * USC announced that tickets for the best seats at the Dec. 1 game
against Notre Dame at the Coliseum would increase $2, to $5.
     * USC sprinter Charles Paddock, at the Amsterdam Olympics, had
qualified for the 200-meter semifinals.

     Paddock wound up atop the sports page, with a banner headline, an
indication of how big track and field once was in this town. The $5
USC-Notre Dame ticket story got No. 2 play. Tunney was a one-column story
above the fold, as was Copeland. Los Angeles' being awarded the 1932
Olympics was below the fold, since most had assumed for months it would
happen.

     Tunney had defended his championship for the second time only four days
earlier, an 11th-round knockout of Tom Heeney in New York.

     Tunney had upset champion Jack Dempsey in a driving rain before 100,000
at Philadelphia in 1926 to win the title, then beat Dempsey again a year
later in Chicago. His share of the purse in the rematch came to $990,000 so
he wrote a $10,000 check to promoter Tex Rickard, who in turn wrote one to
him for $1 million.

i cheehuahua
--

i cheehuahua
--

                                True, the initial news report
                                seem to indict Carbajal. But
                                in fairness, the press soon
                                picked up that the officer
                                was off duty. he been drinking
                                excessively. In was not an all
                                or nothing new coverage. When
                                the facts came out, the press
                                printed the newer findings.