IN THIS WICKED WORLD….

IN THIS WICKED WORLD…. I have posted here and elsewhere on THE COAST OF UTOPIA, about nineteenth century intellectuals who dreamed of utopia. I have never been attracted to utopian thought. One of the stories I tell often is from what I remember from an article I read in the old SPORT magazine when I was ten or twelve. It was an excellent article about Doc Kearns, best known as the manager of Jack Dempsey. I believe the article was by Jimmy Cannon. The author established the reputation of Doc Kearns as knowledgeable about the shady side of boxing, including a claim that Kearns put plaster of paris in Dempsey’s gloves when he knocked out Jess Willard. Kearns said he could hear the crunch when Dempsey connected, and that it made him feel a little guilty.

Now, the story: The reporter and Doc Kearns are sitting in a hotel room late at night when the house detective knocks on the door seeking ethical advice from Kearns. He says, “I just rolled a drunk, Doc, and I need to know, did I do wrong?” Kearns asks, “How much did the drunk have on him?” “Nine hundred dollars.” Kearns says, “You should put three hundred dollars back on him so that when he wakes up in the morning, he’ll think he spent the rest.” “Thanks, Doc, I knew you would know what to do.” After the hotel detective leaves, Kearns turns to the reporter and gives the ethical moral of the story: “In this wicked world, we do the best we can.”