You could challenge whomever you wanted, and while you didn’t have to accept every challenge, you did have to do one thing: fight.
Which, as the son of full-on 1960s parents, I was told only angry people did. But this was not so much about anger as it was a primal desire to “out-think, outfight and outlast” just about anyone who had the same inclination. A particular part of the male psyche, this spiel is on a 24-hour loop, just about whenever a man meets another man. I even thought about it when I met Bill Clinton for the first time. And I’d probably think about it if I were meeting Jesus Christ. I’m not choosing to think of it. It’s hardwired in my brain and the question just surfaces:
Can I take him?
