Steve and Evel are dead and gone
By Libby
Evel Knievel passed from these earthly confines yesterday. He wasn't that old but he was broken for a long time. May he rest in peace.
I loved Evel. He appealled to my inner daredevil. He was crazy fearless. The poor man's Steve Fossett, always chasing after world records, willing to push the envelope to the thin edge of the danger zone. I remember watching him jump over stuff when I was a kid, wide-eyed with awe at his reckless stunts. If he had Fossett's money, he would have been celebrated as an intrepid adventurer too instead of a somewhat eccentric oddity and treated with more respect.
But death is the ultimate equalizer. Ulimately they both suffered an ignominious end. Fossett's family has just asked he be declared dead by court order this week. Evel passes to mere time and disease. Neither will go out in the public blaze of glory I would guess they would have preferred.
Evel Knievel passed from these earthly confines yesterday. He wasn't that old but he was broken for a long time. May he rest in peace.
I loved Evel. He appealled to my inner daredevil. He was crazy fearless. The poor man's Steve Fossett, always chasing after world records, willing to push the envelope to the thin edge of the danger zone. I remember watching him jump over stuff when I was a kid, wide-eyed with awe at his reckless stunts. If he had Fossett's money, he would have been celebrated as an intrepid adventurer too instead of a somewhat eccentric oddity and treated with more respect.
But death is the ultimate equalizer. Ulimately they both suffered an ignominious end. Fossett's family has just asked he be declared dead by court order this week. Evel passes to mere time and disease. Neither will go out in the public blaze of glory I would guess they would have preferred.
Labels: Obits
posted by Libby Spencer at 7:50 PM
2 Comments:
despite his recent frivoulous lawsuit against kanye west, knieval was still the man. Those jumps he made were on motorcycles that weighed like 200 pound and had no shock absorbers. here is my review of one my favorite movies ever "viva knieval" his much maligned bio pic
"I'm pretty stingy with the elusive 5 stars, but I threw in the towel about 5 minutes into this one. How can you give less than 5 stars to a guy who is wiling to ride his Skycycle through a sanitarium to rescue a friend (Gene Kelly) locked in a padded cell? I don't know if the character Kelly plays is based on a real person, but he is a strange choice for a best friend: a totally depressed cantankorous drunk who is rude to his long lost son. a little 10 year old kid. Luckily he has Evel around to show him there's more to life than drinking and being mean and sad. knieval can't act. He hits his landings on his jumps with greater ease and frequency than he hits his lines. Anything more than one sentence forget it. But he more than makes up for it with his unique macho, humorous, and even a little tortured persona. It's easy to see why this man was a hero to so many. There are inconsistencies for sure: the jump over the cage of lions and tigers semms far more dangerous to the animals than Messr. knievel and nothing Gene Kelly does makes much sense. but it's hard to be concerned when Evel is riding his custom american flag motorcycle over the bad guys (Leslie Nielson) car, through resteraunts and anywhere else he can think of. "
RIP to both gentlemen
Quite a eulogy Lester.
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