Bob And Sport

Dylan plays at the Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday night and while he will not be thinking about tennis there have been boxing matches there. Dylan's association wiuth boxing goes back to 1963 when he wrote "Who Killed Davey Moore. In 1964 he inserted Cassius Clay into "I Shall Be Free No 10 & 11.
Years later he posed for a picture with the by them Muhammad Ali at a fund raiser for Rubin Carter who was imortalised in "Hurricane"
He also chose a boxing annecdote to begin "Chronicles Vol 1 where he recalls meeting Jack Dempsey a former world heavy weight champion.
In 2002 Los Angeles Magazine claimed he owned his own boxing gym in Santa Monica, although it was claimed the paper work was held in his manager's name to keep the Dylanologists away.
He told Der Spiegel in 1997 that his golf handicap was 17 even though he hit as if it were a baseball bat.
According to ESPN Golf, "Golf Digest " placed him at number 63 on its list of top 100 musican golfers with an asterisk and a note imploring "if you've seen him play lately , call us ".

He used to spar with Gina Gershon, in an LA gym. She went easy on him. He loves the fights. Jack Dempsey's on page 1 of Chronicles. Saw him on TV, in the customary shades, front row at a Sugar Ray fight, back in the late 80's.

Quentin Tarantino's comments after sparring with Dylan:

"He wanted to play hard... (and) he nailed me with a really good one (punch). We were sparring together, and he got one in there when I wasn't paying attention. I think it was a right jab. I let my guard down for a minute, and he just thumped it in... It was a good punch."

In Australia he supports the Carlton Football Club

Yakima Canutt wrote:In the seventies and eighties, Bob Dylan would occasionally play basketball.  He thought he was pretty good but truthfully he was awful.  I don't think anyone told him though.

Were they too scared to tell him, or did they just enjoy the fact they were playing with him?

it is rumoured he watches cricket with Mick Jagger.

he also used to run a good 200 yards in track.

pinhedz wrote:I always thought that Bob should have got himself a real tennis racket, instead of using that banjo uke.

As a teenager he was good at tennis.

I think he should attempt an Iron Man event.