The Killing Game

If you listen to the radio long enough, you can hear just about anything. Due to the nature of the medium and the existence of radio shows devoted to nothing but talking, odds are sooner or later you’ll hear something that stops you dead in your tracks. From HG Wells duping the nation to shaved hamster stories on Love Lines, and everything in between, the public airwaves have always been abuzz with scintillating tales and titillating stories.

This morning on my way to the gym I was listening to sports talk radio (1430 KCBL) and had the pleasure of hearing Jim Rome interviewing Lennox Lewis. Now normally I don’t like Jim Rome, but his interview with Mr. Lewis had three pleasant surprises. The first was that Lennox Lewis was remarkably articulate for a former world heavy weight champion. Bill Clinton he was not, but he was fairly pellucid and managed to stay coherent and engaging through the entire interview. I was impressed, and Lord knows he's doing better than I would be after 40-some-odd heavy weight fights. The second was that because Jim was talking to a huge death machine of a man, much of his customary smarminess had magically evaporated. It was like listening to a 6^th grade girl interview Tom Brady; Rome was all giggles and breathlessness and profuse, “Thank-you, Mr. Lennox”es. Priceless. Better than either of these two combined, however, was Lewis introducing Chess Boxing, the sport which has finally combined the game of Chess with the sport of Boxing. I won’t try to take away from it by explaining the whole process, but check out the wiki site and the WCBO site. Pure genius and about damn time.