The Prowlin Italian

Lately YES has been running one of the all-time greatest episodes of The White Shadow, the one where Salami (real name on the show - Mario Pettrino - I'd forgotten that) starts moonlighting at a local meat-market boxing club to make some extra money. It turns out that his dad was a pro fighter for seventeen years and he used to take him to the gym when he was a kid. But Salami is estranged from his dad now, and he's still raw as a fighter, getting his ass kicked every night by older dudes in these backroom bouts.

Coach Reeves gets wind of it (through Goldstein of course, the weasel) and takes him to a real gym, a Latino joint in East L.A. where this Mexican boxing guru is training Carlos Palomino, the former WBC welterweight champ who actually makes a cameo in the show. Salami convinces Reeves to train him for a local tournament (of course Reeves used to box - he's from Queens, everybody from Queens used to box), but then Salami's dad butts in and tells the Coach to piss off. So Salami goes back to the boxing clubs, and threatens to leave town for NYC to start a boxing career there. Meanwhile, Reeves returns to the East L.A. gym to ask the Mexican boxing guru what might be making Salami's dad so bitter. While they stand watching Palomino spar, the guru gives this speech in his thick made-for-TV Mexican accent:

"You know, it takes a certain kind of man to climb into the ring. You're different in here (points to his head), but mostly you're different in here (points to his heart). Dedication, dedication to the most... it takes a special kind of feeling, a real love, to do it for seventeen years. Man that's a lot of agony. And when the time comes and you've got nothing to show... it's like having lived with a mad woman... you gave it your all and you've got nothing but pain. You're bitter, and you're so embarrassed. And you're alone, even when you're not. It takes time to come out of it."

I don't know what the hell any of that means, but it sounds really cool when the dude is saying it, particularly the part about the mad woman. After he finishes, Reeves asks him how much time it usually takes to get over the pain, and the guru pauses and thinks. "A long time," he says, his eyes full of sadness. It's all very mystical.

Another great scene is in the locker room, when Thorpe gives Salami a fake Howard Cosell boxing intro and then everyone tries to come up with a good nickname for him. "You know, all the pugs got good names these days," Reese says. "You got Sugar Ray Leonard, Danny "Little Red" Lopez, Smokin Joe Frazier, and even Larry Holmes... the Easton Assassin!" Sugar Ray, Frazier, Larry, okay... but I don't know how the hell Little Red Lopez's name ever made it onto national TV. Those were different times for real. It's like someone on American Idol mentioning Jorge Arce.

Anyway, the name they come up with for Salami is The Prowlin Italian, which is just too awesome for words. The episode ends with a father/son reconciliation - Salami's getting his ass kicked at the club and his dad shows up in his corner to give him some tips. "Didja fuhget everything I teach ya?" he says. Salami's beaten face breaks into a smile. Roll credits. It's a thing of beauty.