You're the one calling "Blood "some sort of nut," not me. I just related a story I know to be true. Maybe you are thinking about James Youngblood Brown from Texas. He was never institutionalized, but with all the death traps he got me into, from when I was on the road with him, I wouldnt have nixed the idea. We in Chicago dont think about "Blood as a nut job. We are all proud of him. If you would have been at the 1 pkt Hall of Fame Dinner when Blood got inducted this year -- and I campaigned like crazy for him -- and I was one of MC' -- you would have seen the respect I, and all the rest of us accorded the man. Plus, Cannonball Lefty Chapman had his ups and downs too. And that never mattered to nobody in Chi either. When Cannonball was old, feeble, couldnt play a lick, and couldnt run a counter either, my normally cold-hearted partner Race Track Phil Guagliardo took care of the "Ball until he went to Texas to live with mother. Yeah, Blood had his bad moments, do you think the average player would bet his whole bankroll that he would bank as many as six and out? He would be behind in a game and get a certain type shot and he would bet the whole poolroom that he would bank all the way out-- and then do it! Are you really going to accuse me of disrespecting someone like that? Certainly, Lefty was a little goofy too, do you know anybody else who tried to win every dollar in the poolroom every time he got down? That was the only way anybody could beat him, he would play and beat every human but would keep playing as long as there was action. Three days later he'd finally wear down and get broke. He kept in money only in the poolrooms that had closing hours. Tony, I know you didnt really mean anything by your remarks, but you got my righteous indignation dander up when you talked about my own personal heroes.
the Beard
