Kickbox
Continued from Page 9
George was still trying to get into
the ring when the music stopped. He
entered the ring to silence broken
only by laughter. He jumped and
taunted his opponent anyway, which
made him a crowd favorite.
I made it to the ring without inci
dent, which, at the lime, felt like a
major accomplishment.
The ring announcer told the crowd
about the interests and hobbies of the
two fighters. Willie liked drag racing
and chasing women. Bob liked pain,
the announcer said.
In the ring, two huge men from
Gold’s Gym (one of the evcnf s spon
sors) put me into gloves, foot pads, a
waist pad and headgear.
While I was being dressed, I looked
down at the announcer. He was ogling
at the ringgirl and making lewd
comments to the crowd.
This is the same loaded cretin who
earlier, during one of the women’s
matches, yelled, “That’s 417 pounds
of b*xf in there.”
I looked down to the ringside doctor.
He was drinking a beer.
At the other tables were the judges.
One of than, Marvin, worked at Econo
Lodge and got the job judging be
cause he’s “watched a lot of boxing
and karate on TV.”
Obviously, this was a class act.
Worst of all, Willie was beginning
to look a lot tougher.
Moments before the bell rang, I
remembered my karate instructor’s
advice:
“Keep your hands up and head
down. Keep your body at an angle so
they can’t get to your kidneys. Keep
moving to lessen any blow. Look him
in the eyes. He’s probably as scared
as you.”
The bell rang for the first round. I
planned to keep my distance and wear
him down with kicks to the kidneys.
I roundkickcd him and he didn’t
seem to care. Then he came after me.
We began wildly flailing at each other’s
heads.
Willie said later that I clocked him
sometime in the first 30 seconds. He
said that I “got (him) good early” and
that he “thought (he) was in trouble.”
He said he knew then he was in for a
good fight.
After about 15 seconds of fighting,
I had no idea where I was punching,
or from where I was being punched.
We were simply brawling — throw
ing anything as hard and as often as
possible in the general direction of
the other person.
Near the end of the first round, he
hit me hard in the head a few times. I
began backing up. I was starting to
feel like I was losing.
The bell rang and I walked to the
comer exhausted and scared. My two
huge comer men gave me no advice.
I think they were rooting for Willie.
They asked me if I wanted a drink
of water. I nodded, and they squirted
something at my mouth, which, be
cause they didn’t take out my mouth
piece, dribbled into a large puddle on
my sweat pants. People ringside said
I !nr»kf»/t like I u/nntr>.H tn he else
where.
The bell rang for the second round.
I blocked both of Willie’s first two
kicks. Then I kicked and missed. We
began brawling again.
After about 15 seconds, I was
backing up with my head down and
arms extended fully to keep him away.
Then one of his punches landed hard
and I felt most of my remaining en
ergy, willpower and pride fall out my
feet.
About 10 seconds later came The
Punch.
Getting knocked out doesn’t hurt
that much because you’re quickly
unconscious. It’s the smaller punches
that hurt because you must deal with
them fully awake.
If you ever have been losing a
fight, you would know why in many
war movies, people being tortured
often beg their captors to kill them.
The Punch made more sound than
it did pain. My ears rang on impact,
much like they would had I set off a
cherry bomb on my medulla. This, I
assume, is why they call it “getting
your bell rung.”
The ref helped me up and helped
me to my comer after calling the |
fight. Within a few seconds I was
coherent again, and nothing was bro
ken.
Afterward, while being interviewed
by DN Sports Editor Paul Domeier,
Willie said emphatically that I “was a
good fighter.” He said he was getting
really frustrated because anytime he
“wanted to throw a kick,” I “always
knew it.”
So maybe he was patronizing me.
It still was nice. And no matter how
flip I tried to take this thing, it still
sucked to lose. I was beginning to
think I was a little bit of badass.
I called my mom about 11:30
Thursday night to tell her I was all
right. She was concerned about my
future.
“You’re never going to do some
thing stupid like this again, are you,
Bob?”
“No,” I said. "I don’t think I’m the
fighting type.
“But what of it?”
Rec Scoreboard
Results from Thursday's games.
Co-rec softball
A
St. Andrews Slicers 12, Chicks &
Sticks 4, Law 44 3, ETC 2, Free Dirt 12,
Sigma Phi Epsiion-A 11; Alpha Tau
Omega/Alpha Phi 17, Gamma Phi Beta
9.
B
Beta Sigma Psi 17, Bruins 4; Ace in
the Hole 13, Demon Bunnies 11; St.
Andrews Slicers-Jantzi 9, The Trash
cans 2; Jagers 12, Big Sticks 4
C
Abel 11S13 by forfeit over Abel 4/
Sandoz 7; Lambda Chi Alpha/ and
friends 13, Sigma Nu #2 10.
-SPORTS BRIEFS--—
Husker golf teams shooting for improved Big Eight finishes j
Both the Comhusker men s and
women’s golf teams will be trying
to improve on last year’s second
division finishes at this year’s Big
Eight golf championships.
Each team is competing today
and Tuesday, with the men in
Leawooa, ivan., anu uie women in
Columbia, Mo.
Last season, the men finished
sixth and the women were fifth in a
seven-team race.
The Kansas women won the
conference title last season, while
me v/Kidiiuiiid juue men wv/ii uiv
Big Eight and national champion
ships in 1990.
The Husker men’s team has not
won a Big Eight championship since
1937, and the women haven’t cap
tured the title since 1983.
Eight NU tennis players earn conference acaaemic nonors
Rachel Collins, Ann Flannery,
IldikoGuba and Nancy Tyggum of
the Nebraska women’s tennis team
and Steve Barley, Karl Falkland,
Matthias Mueller and Jay Segrist
of the Comhusker men’s tennis
team have been named to the Phil
lips 66 Big Eight Academic Honor
Roll.
Meghan Quinn, Andy Auch
Mocdy and Todd Broaderick re
ceived honorable mention.
Baseball
Continued from Page 8
Anderson went 5-for-6 and scored
four runs, while Corty Kulhanek went
3-for-5 with four RBI. DiGrandi, Gary
Tackett, Bill Vosik and Jeff Rhein
also had multiple-hit games.
Dave Matranga pitched 5 2/3 score
less innings of relief for his seventh
victory.
Just as quickly as Nebraska’s of
fense crushed Kansas Slate with 12
runs in the fourth and fifth innings of
the first game, the Husker offense
disappeared in the second game, with
two runs on eight hits.
Kansas State scored two runs iri
the sixth for die winning margin.
First game Saturday
Nebraska ... 101 661 012 — 18 19 2
At Kansas State ..112300 000— 7131
WP—Matranga (5-2). LP—Hipp (5-5).
N—Zajeski, Mosser (4), Matranga (4) and
McKenna KS—Hipp. Pedersen (4), Smith
(5), Stewart (5), Hierhelzer (6), C Wilson (9)
and Ryan 2B—N Anderson, McKenna,
Rhein. Tackett KS Culp, Hmielewski,
C Wilson, Rippelmeyer 3B—KS L Wilson
HR—N DiGrandi (1), Anderson (1), Tackett
(4), Kulhanek (2) KS Rippelmeyer (9)
Second game Saturday
Nebraska.000 110 0 — 2 8 2
At Kansas State . 110 002 x — 4 6 0
WP—DriskiH (5-3). LP—Rutledge (4 4)
N—Rutledge, Matranga (6) and Arntzen
KS—Churchman, DriskiH (6) and Rvan
2B—KS Stroth SB—KS Culp
I Softball
Continued from Page 8
Earlier in the day, Nebraska was
stumnned 3-0 by Oklahoma, which
had lost all of its previous games.
The Sooners took advantage of
two Nebraska errors in a three-run
sixth inning in which eight batters
came to the plate.
First game Saturday
Oklahoma 100 000 000 00—143
At Nebraska .. 000 000 100 01 — 2 8 1
WP—Skegas (12-6). LP—Haag (10
10) 2B—O Greene, Alameda N Vucurevic,
Cuddetord.
Second game Saturday
Kansas 000 300 1 — 4 7 2
At Nebraska 000 000 0 — 0 1 1
WP—Sack (12-0) LP—Bowie (8 9)
First game Sunday
Nebraska 000 000 0 — 0 5 2
Oklahoma 000 003 x — 3 11 0
At Lincoln
WP—Frate (10-8) LP—Skegas (12-7)
2B—N Sloan O Parr
Second game Sunday
Nebraska 000 000 1 — 1 6 3
Kansas 000 000 0 — 0 4 0
At Lincoln
WP—Bowie (9-9) LP—Williams (16 8).
8—Skegas (3) 2B—N Trenka. 3B—K Spi
taleri.
