Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Don King

While I expect that I wouldn't want the life of Don King, I enjoyed Howard Stern's interview with him today. I guess the most impressive part is his ability to make just about any statement into an impressive factoid about himself, or a compliment to the interviewer. It's so transparent, which, in a way, is a part of his charm. I find this to be an interesting trait, to complimentarly run roughshod over anyone and still be liked. Either the boxers he promotes are extremely gullible, or he's able to sound sincere when not in "Marketing Mode" (I wont venture a guess until I can hold my own against Mike Tyson... so don't hold your breath) Either way, I can see why he's so controversial.

He was asked at some point, how much he was sued, to which he replied "I don't really know." This led me to look up the number. Wiki shows about $845MM, of which he's paid out $109.5M... Even with all that, when asked about being sued for $385M he said how happy and impressed he was that people think he had that much money. He went on to say that after the Jury sided with him, he took them on a trip to go fishing in Bermuda. Win money from me at penny poker and I'm busted up. I'm gonna have to ask Ant how to get Zen with that. :)

Anyway, while I think the man might be the devil himself, I still am impressed by how he keeps his composure. I wonder how he might do if he had to do the interview dressed like spiderman. I don't think it would have changed a thing.

4 comments:

Anthony & Patti Gazzillo said...

Mike,
How do I get on the Jury for the next Don King trial?

-Anthony

P.S. I can't get zen with gambling - there's no way to control the risk :)

Em & Tim said...

Don King, Howard Stern and Spiderman... Spiderman really is the center of your universe these days isn't it? How much time do you kids spend dressed up as spiderman???

Mike G (moobier) said...

I think I have said that teh kids dress up just about every day as a superhero. Lise and I only do so on Weekends :)

Mike G (moobier) said...

Ant,
Funny... I never thought of Zen being about "control". :)
-M