New York Daily News Legendary Scribe Bill Gallo Adored Manny Pacquiao

The legendary New York Daily News columnist/cartoonist Bill Gallo passed away this Tuesday at the age of 88.
Boxing was the favorite sport of Gallo, who, amazingly was still contributing work to the tabloid he has worked at for an astonishing seven decades.

Gallo wrote a column after watching the Manny Pacquiao-Antonio Margarito clash last November and was dazzled and awed by the performance of Pacquiao.

Here are some excerpts from Gallo’s column three days after the fight in Dallas, Texas: “…As soon as the bout started, it was amazingly apparent that the difference in weight would have nothing to do with the outcome. Nor did the 4-inch height advantage Margarito had over this brash Philippine Piston. All right, are you getting a bit of the picture? You want more, like how good is he as a fighter? Here it is, and you can quote: This is one hell of a fighter, the likes of which I haven’t seen since Willie Pep and Sugar Ray Robinson. Yes, those two whom I’ve always regarded as the best ever.”

“By the second round, Pac already had figured out how to beat this big man, who had his right hand cocked to throw at an unprotected chin,”  Gallo wrote. “Never happened. Nearly every time Margarito threw that right, Pac, with his shifty, inventive head moves, eluded the punch – the same one Margarito had used to score 27 knockouts.”

“It seemed so natural for Pac – every time Margarito would miss, like a flash came two pumps of Pac’s right to Margarito’s jaw, followed by a nice left half-hook, half-uppercut. Those were the kind of moves Pep and Robby used to make. To the eyes of a fight buff, it was an artful and beautiful performance. Round by round, the slaughter continued.”

Gallo, an International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee and winner of the prestigious James J. Walker Award from the Boxing Writers Association of America, was ready to compare Pacquiao with great prizefighters from other generations:

“With every good – let’s make that, great – fighter there are always comparisons. It goes way back to Jack Dempsey: Was he as good or better than Joe Louis? Was Joe Louis better than Muhammad Ali or Rocky Marciano? Who really was the greatest? Was it Ali?”
“Some fight guys might say Ali, but most still won’t hand him that special title. The thing in boxing is that when the greats are compared, it always winds up in some kind of a fierce barroom argument.”

“So now we have a gym full of great lightweights – we’ll just stick with this division for now – to compare with Pacquiao. Take these: Is he as good or better than: Tony Canzoneri? My opinion – better. Barney Ross? Better. Roberto Duran? As good or even better. What about Henry Armstrong, who held three titles at the same time? Wasn’t he in the same class in throwing punches in multitudes? Didn’t Armstrong fight somewhat like Pacquiao?”

“My answer: No. They are different fighters. While Armstrong would bury his head into his opponent’s chest, firing lefts and rights to the body and head, Pacquiao is a thinking, deliberate puncher who rarely misses. I see Pac as the better fighter.”

Gallo, then, in his column, asked himself the toughest question of all – if Pacquiao is the best boxer his eyes have ever seen?

“I’m going to wind this up by asking myself this question: Okay, Mr. Boxing Man, are you telling me this Philippine Dynamo is the best you have ever seen? Yes, in a very long time. And he might just be the man who will eventually put boxing back in the upper deck of sports. Believe me, this kid who aspires to be big in Philippine politics, with his perpetual smile and special brand of punching ability, is indeed the goods.”

May 21, 2011: rapture or party time?

Oakland minister Harold Camping of Family Radio has 5,500 billboards worldwide with his rapture date.

If everything goes as Oakland minister Harold Camping predicts, the Bay Area will suffer a world-ending earthquake around 6 p.m. Saturday, God-fearing Christians will ascend to heaven and everyone else is in big trouble for eternity.

And if Camping is wrong, the American Atheists will gather in an Oakland hotel meeting room Sunday to celebrate.

"We're confident we'll still be here," said Larry Hicok, the California director of the American Atheists who scheduled the 200-member meeting to coincide with Camping's forecast that the biblically ordained rapture is at hand. "But if it does happen, we wanted a front-row seat."

The 89-year-old Camping first declared that May 21, 2011, would be the end of the world nearly 15 years ago, shortly after his earlier 1994 Judgment Day prediction passed without incident. In spite of his track record, his latest Armageddon announcement has attracted a constant stream of national media reporters, bloggers and documentary film crews to his headquarters near Oakland International Airport.

"God is utilizing the media," Camping said from the offices of his Family Radio last week, after concluding a Skype interview with a popular website. "And my, my, has the media been busy with me."

Around the world

Camping's radio and television shows are broadcast in dozens of countries, and his organization has paid for 5,500 billboards to advertise the rapture date on every continent except Antarctica. Armadas of RVs painted with Scripture have crisscrossed the country to enlist new believers before it's too late.

Tom Evans, 51, who has worked for Family Radio for 25 years and has a wife and two children ages 3 and 7 months, said it was difficult to explain the assurance he felt within, knowing that Jesus Christ will return Saturday to retrieve saved souls.

"You can understand it intellectually, but to really know it is going to happen, you have to understand it spiritually," Evans said. "You have to feel it."

To answer one popular question: Camping has not sold his Alameda home, nor has he given away his possessions, although media reports suggest a handful of believers have cashed in and pulled up stakes in anticipation of the final day.

Camping says God wants people to live every day humbly and as evenly as the next.

New Zealand is first

Saturday, said Camping, "will start like any other day. There's no reason to behave or act differently."

New Zealanders will be the first to know, Camping said. At 6 p.m. their time - 11 p.m. Friday in the Bay Area - a great earthquake will shake the island asunder, triggering an apocalypse that rolls relentlessly our way.

"It will continue across the Earth at such a rate," Camping said, "every Richter scale in the world and every news organization in the world will have no doubt - Judgment Day is here."

It will reach San Francisco around 6 p.m. PDT. The saved Christian souls will ascend to heaven, including those dead and buried. All others will remain as the Earth falls into fiery chaos.

To answer a second popular question: Camping and his followers will not gather at one location Saturday, preferring to stay home with their families.

Camping lives with his wife and says only one of his eight adult children shares his convictions. Few of his grandchildren have contact with him.

His follower Evans plans to huddle at home with his wife and children.

"I know I want to be with them when it happens, God have mercy," he said.

Mocking and concern

A few nonbelievers have suggested throwing a party outside Family Radio's headquarters Saturday night, mimosas in hand. Other skeptics, however, say the fact that Camping has assembled a dedicated following is nothing to laugh at.

Pastor Dave Nederhood, who knew Camping before the minister split from Nederhood's Christian Reformed Church in Alameda nearly 20 years ago, said a cult of personality surrounds Camping that makes this "every bit as dangerous as a Jim Jones or a Heaven's Gate situation."

Nederhood said Camping encouraged his followers to isolate themselves - "to stay at home and listen to Family Radio all day" - and of the few he's met, he's picked up on some "serious psychological damage."

"I just really feel a sense of sadness and apprehension for the people who've taken a big bite on this hook," Nederhood said. "All kidding aside, what are some of these folks going to be doing on Saturday when the one person they followed told them they would be in hell if they wake up on Sunday, May 22?"

Harold Camping of Family Radio in Oakland, Ca. on Saturday May 14, 2011, during his nightly radio program Open Forum. Camping has been saying that the world will end May 21, 2011.

Filmmaker Zeke Piestrup has been following Harold Camping for about a week, posting his teachings online. The minister says that "God is utilizing the media."

Harold Camping of Family Radio in Oakland, Ca. on Saturday May 14, 2011, talks with callers during his nightly radio program Open Forum. Camping has been saying that the world will end May 21, 2011.

Kye Allums leaves GWU basketball team, will accept NCLR award this weekend

A transgender member of the George Washington women’s basketball team, whose ground breaking season was cut short by a pair of concussions, has said they won’t play their senior year.
The school announced that Kye Allums, who is physically female but wants to be referred to as 'he', has: 'Decided that it is in his best interest to no longer participate in intercollegiate athletics.'
In a statement released by the university, Allums continued: 'I alone came to this conclusion and I thank the athletic department for respecting my wishes.'

Allums made international headlines last year after announcing the wish, before the start of the season in November, to be referred to as a man.
Despite this, the 5 ft 11 player had delayed hormone treatments and gender-changing surgery in order to continue playing for the women's team.
Today's statement offered no further details, although GW said Allums has enrolled in classes for the fall semester.
Allums suffered two concussions early in the season and played in only eight games.
Speaking in March, Allums talked memory problems resulting from the concussions.
The blackouts led to lingering doubts about the player's medical fitness to participate in the next season.
Doctors at the time said that if the same were to happen to a football player, their days would certainly be over. A defiant, Allums said in March: “I’m a fighter. I’m still trying to come back.
I really do want to come back and play.'

Allums made history last year as the first openly transgender player in Division 1 college basketball.

The player instantly became an icon for transgender people in sports, and received thousands of letters and emails in support.


The announcement follows international controversy caused by gold medal winning South African track athlete Caster Semenya.

In 2009 the middle distance runner found herself at the centre of an diplomatic war of words, after athletics governing body IAAF questioned whether she possessed male attributes that gave her an advantage over other female athlete.

In 2008 Thomas Beatie, who was born Tracy Lagondino, had gender reassignment surgery to become legally male.

He hit the headlines after becoming the world's first pregnant man, after deciding to carry a baby for his wife who was unable to get pregnant.

  Despite the obvious physical obstacles, he was able to conceive because he had kept his female organs when switching genders.

Mr Beatie has just eight menstrual cycles a year instead of 12, and only half of these cycles are useful for conception as he has previously had a fallopian tube removed due to an ectopic pregnancy.

'I am only able to get pregnant four days out of the year,' he said.

'We'd need to try to conceive sooner rather than later.'

May 21st Doomsday: Does Harold Camping’s Ministry Have Money?

May 21st, Doomsday is one of the hottest search topics in Google.
So in case you haven't heard by now, Harold Camping is the preacher who claims to have the calculations set on May 21, 2011 as The Judgment Day, Rapture Day, Doomstay  -or whatever you want to call it. Camping's apocalypse hype is getting worldwide attention.

Harold Camping, 89, is a former civil engineer and Bible scholar. He is president of the religious non-profit Family Radio based in Oakland, California which fervently preaches the message about the end of the world, now days away. He and a caravan of trucks have been plastering over 5,000 billboards, spending millions of dollars to spread the message.
So, where do they get the funding for all this?
Tax returns indicate that the radio ministry raised a staggering $100 million dollars over the past seven years. The ministry also owns 66 radio stations worldwide valued at $72 million in 2009.
Not to mention donations have soared as well. The contribution comes from radio listeners, according to Tom Evans, board member of Family Radio.

However, Camping claims that it is not about the money, but spreading the message and saving as many people as possible.
"When Judgment Day comes, if someone is a billionaire, how will they take their money with them? If we have any money left, and we will because we have to pay bills up to the very end "... it will all be destroyed because the world will be in a day of judgment.
"The money is not important at all. It's a vehicle to spread the judgment and a vehicle of the Lord."
According to Camping, "I've never taken one nickel out of Family Radio. Many evangelists have become very rich, but my wife and I live very modestly."
"We have no interest in talking about money. We never tell people what to do with their money, that's between them and God."
And in case one might wonder, Family Radio has no intention of giving away their money before May 21.
The explanation?
"There isn't going to be a Saturday. So certainly none of Family Radio's assets will be left because it won't matter," says Evans.
"The last thing people should be concerned with is what Family Radio is doing or what their assets are. They should be concerned with what I am doing and how I will stand before God."