You think this thing could jump a canyon? (Photo from bigchuckandliljohn.com)

If you've been reading the obituaries for Evel Knievel, you may have come across passages like this one, from the Associated Press:

In 1977, (Knievel) served five months and 22 days in the Wayside Honor Rancho near Castaic for smashing the left arm of television executive Sheldon Saltman with a baseball bat. Knievel, utterly unrepentant, told the judge he did it because the uncomplimentary book Saltman had written about him was a "filthy lie."

A little over 10 years ago, I was sitting in a California restaurant with Saltman, who had had a long and successful career in TV and promotion. The reason had nothing to do with Knievel. …

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