Hope?

Posted by Bob on November 08, 1999

In Reply to: Hope? posted by Joe Pessell on November 08, 1999

: : : : Please help me finish this phrase!! It is NOT hype, shark, hunter, or north!!!

: : : "The Great White Way." Title of a novel, 1901, by Albert Bigelow Paine (1861-1937). Now refers to Broadway in NYC?

: : The traditional label hung on any caucasian prizefighter, particularly a heavyweight, ever since people of color began to dominate the category. There was a play, later a movie entitled Great White Hope about the first black heavyweight champion. Good movie.

: I believe that the last "Great White Hope" was a heavyweight named Gerry Cooney who fought his best fights in the mid-80's. Seems like he was always getting the crap knocked out of him, though...

Cooney was a prime example of what fight people call a "tomato can," a delightful linguistic invention describing a fighter who would please (some of) the crowd by bleeding profusely.