Word: knievel
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...college track star, finds that "the violence in sport is magnified by television. The fan can identify with violence in terms of what he would like to do with the forces he cannot control." And in a recent paper in the medical journal Pediatrics, three physicians reported an "Evel Knievel syndrome" -imitation of exhibitionism in sport. "Televised violence," explains the paper, "especially during sporting events and news reporting, is increasingly implicated in imitative and aggressive behavior exhibited by children...
...years ago, he was going "70 or 80" on Mt. Auburn when suddenly he saw a double parked Volkswagen behind a police car right in front of him. He says he considered jumping the cars. "Even if I had killed myself, it would have been spectacular--not even Evel Knievel jumps police cars." As it was, he barely negotiated, the space between the two rows of parked cars. He so impressed the policemen, he says, that they didn't ticket him, because, the police said, the way he drives he'd be dead before he got to the courtroom anyway...
Despite the 50 broken bones he had already suffered as a motorcycle stunt man, Evel Knievel was back last week, hurtling his way to fame, fortune and another hospital bed. Knievel came to London's Wembley Stadium to attempt a leap over 13 single-decker buses. Twelve might have been better. The spectacular 100-m.p.h. jump, which began with Evel atop the bike, ended 140 feet later with the bike on top of Evel. "I will never jump again," he announced to a crowd of 60,000 after aides had helped him struggle to a microphone. Following a night...
September 8: Evel Knievel tries to clear Idaho's Snake River Canyon in a homemade rocket. He fails, parachutes to safety, and earns a guaranteed $6 million...
...After Knievel was helicoptered back to the launch site, some of the crowd began smashing TV equipment, ripping off technicians' headsets and cutting wires. Later several hundred bikers burned the concession stands to the ground, then pushed a car to the ramp and set both afire. Even Evel took abuse from the fans. He had promised free beer in the event of a successful landing and, when none was served, some of the crowd cursed him. The next morning, when Knievel was about to be whisked away to the airport to go back to Butte, his car came...