the ring...
---------
"Round number 13, the hard luck number.
There's the buzzer. You know both the boys."
-Raging Bull- (1980)
---------
Frosted glass awaits...
"Eddie Felson"/Paul Newman:
"I don't rattle, kid. Just for that...I'm
gonna beat ya flat."
-The Hustler- (1961)
---------
"Miles Jergens"/Thayer David:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, your attention, please.
Tonight, we have had the privilege of witnessing
the greatest exhibition of guts and stamina
in the history of the ring.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a split decision."
-Rocky- (1976)
---------
"Louden Swain"/Matthew Modine:
"It's not that big a deal, Elmo. I mean, it's six lousy minutes on the mat, if that."
---
"Elmo"/J.C. Quinn:
"You ever hear of Pele?
I was in the room here one day... watchin' the Mexican channel on TV. I don't know nothin' about Pele. I'm watchin' what this guy can do with a ball and his feet. Next thing I know, he jumps in the air and flips into a somersault and kicks the ball in - upside down and backwards... the goddamn goalie never knew what the fuck hit him. Pele gets excited and he rips off his jersey and starts running around the stadium waving it around his head. Everybody's screaming in Spanish. I'm here, sitting alone in my room, and I start crying.
That's right, I start crying. Because another human being, a species that I happen to belong to, could kick a ball, and lift himself, and the rest of us sad-assed human beings, up to a better place to be, if only for a minute... let me tell ya, kid - it was pretty goddamned glorious. It ain't the six minutes... it's what happens in that six minutes."
-Vision Quest- (1985)
---------
"Dutch":
"Points or no points, you're dead meat."
-The Karate Kid- (1984)
---------
"Henry Wiggen"/Michael Moriarty:
"We breezed through the playoffs
and wrapped up the series on a Sunday.
My win. I took the scorecard home
and threw it on the shelf and left it lay there.
It would've been simple to shove it in the mail.
How long would it have took? Couldn't I afford the stamps?
In my Arcturis calendar for December 10, it says:
'Desoto visited Georgia, 15-40.' This hands me a laugh.
"Bruce Pearson"/Robert DeNiro also visited
Georgia. I was his pallbearer. Me and some local boys.
There were flowers from the club but no person from the club.
They could've sent somebody.
He wasn't a bad fella...
no worse than most
and probably better than some...
and not a bad ballplayer neither
when they give him the chance...
when they laid off him long enough.
From here on in, I rag nobody."
-Bang the Drum Slowly- (1973)
---------
On professional wrestling...
"Of course it's fake. Americans wouldn't have it any other way."