WEBVTT

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Let me try this one
because this is kind of--

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I hadn't planned
on reading this,

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but I have a friend,
Martín Espada,

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who says if you're Hispanic,
you have to have a boxing poem.

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[LAUGHTER]

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I finally qualify.

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Affirmative.

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Action.

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So when I was a young man,
the champion of the world,

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I think at about 150
pounds, was from Mexico,

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and his name was Gaspar Ortega--

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a good fighter.

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There was a guy from our
neighborhood named Joey Limas--

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a good fighter.

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And I swear that I will never
see a better fighter than--

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I'm not a boxing fan.

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But this thing looked
like it was choreographed.

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It was ballet.

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They would hit and
counterpunch for I

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think it was 13, 14 rounds, I
don't know, maybe probably 12.

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It was a non-title fight.

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And I felt that Joey
Limas, who later

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did nothing and kind of just
sat around drinking wine--

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there was not much
more in life for him.

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But I felt he had triumphed
and had been cheated.

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And I make a reference
to Palookaville.

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Those of you who've
seen On The Waterfront,

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in one scene of
Marlon Brando where

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he tells his brother, who
just saw them down the tubes,

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he's a boxer.

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He says, "I could
have been a contender.

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I could have been a contender."

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And he says something like,
we saw people this and this,

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and you saw me, you
gave me a one-way ticket

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to Palookaville--

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meaning nowhere.

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So I guess this also states
some of my feelings about

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my hometown,too.

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"Poem for Joey Limas."

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"I was there the night
you battled Gaspar Ortega.

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Your fists as fast as his.

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Whirling defiant counterpunches,
you beat the champ.

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At worst, a draw.

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But the money wasn't on you.

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I, who did not
learn to hit back,

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never stopped
being proud of you.

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Even though you're
quiet, a gentleman,

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your fists were ungracious.

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This was not the first time
you lost in your own hometown.

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This had always been,
and would forever be--

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Palookaville."

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