Round and Round We Go

A movie on Turner Classic Movies (TCM) the other morning reminded me of what would now be a sporting anachronism if it were to suddenly appear, if even for a day: A 6-Day Bicycle Race. 

The movie was "The Girl from Missouri," a 1934 film starring Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore (upright) and Franchot Tone. The Jean Harlow character is being shown a ballroom in a mansion and cracks wise," Gee, you could fit a 6-Day bike race in here."

You have to be as old as me, or someone born in the late 1880s who is appearing in a seance brought back by a medium, to remember 6-Day Bicycle racing.

"Oh, I get it. It was like the Iditarod on a bike? You start somewhere and go point-to-point and arrive somewhere else, like a running an ultramarathon?"

"No. You start, and 6 days later you're still in the same place. You haven't left the building."

"Jesus. People did that?"

"Yes. And you could bet on the sprints they would announce when the bell went off."

"They had FanDuel and Draft Kings and prop bets then you could make on your phone."

"No, you moron. You had to know a guy to bet. Or, you had to know a guy who knew a guy. Someone who hung out in bars, candy stores, and pool halls."

"Huh?" 

"A bookmaker, stupid. Those were the days if you wanted to get down with a bet on anything you either needed to be at the racetrack, or you had to know a bookmaker."

"Oh. What's a bookmaker?"

"Jesus, did you just wake up? A bookmaker is someone who quotes odds, sets point spreads and takes bets with a 10% commission called a vigorish, who may offer credit, and may have someone break your knees if you get in too deep with credit and aren't keeping up with paying the juice. Vigorish, vig, is according to the OED: 'Vigorish is probably Yiddish from Russian vyigrysh gain, winnings.' 

"Did you ever see Rocky, the first one? Stallone plays a collection agency of sorts for the mob to collect from people who get behind in their losses. You have to at least keep up with the juice. Otherwise it's negative amortization."

"Juice?"

"Juice is the interest on the loan the bookmaker gave you to make the bets that you're the ultimate sucker to make. Today we call it credit card interest."

"Oh. The bookmaker beats people up?"

" Not the bookmaker. The mug, the enforcer, the knuckle buster he hires to do his dirty work. You're getting the picture."

"So you go to the race, watch guys on bikes go round and round till you're dizzy, then look to make a bet on a sprint result once the bell goes off?"

"You've got it"

"Jimmy Breslin in his book on Damon Runyon tells the tale of the coat snatchers. These were the West Side ruffians, juvenile delinquents, who would sneak around Madison Square Garden. When the sprints started and the gamblers jumped up with their coats on the railings, and when no one was looking, would snatch the coats and do their own sprinting." The dolls' mink coats as well.

"Did you ever see a 6-Day race?"

Madison Square Garden

"No. But I remember seeing one being advertised as being at Madison Square Garden sometime in the '60s. Turns out it was the last one there, in 1961."

"Were the sprints fixed?"

"There probably was a degree of chicanery. Anything that is bet on that talks can be used by the mob to their advantage. Look at the recent kerfuffle over basketball and prop bets with the explosion of online sports betting.

"Riders took a fair amount of amphetamines to keep going as well. There was no drug testing."

"Is anything ever on the level?"

"Sure.  A level."

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