His name was Michael Douglas. Chances are you've never heard of him, but he had his moment of glory, and a great moment it was too. Michael, a 15 year old boy, was fishing off the wharf at Cocoa Beach, Florida. Surf fishing is a popular sport in this area and you can never be sure what will take that bait on the end of your line. It was three in the afternoon when Mike got a strike and from the pull on his hand he knew he'd hook into a big one. At that moment the fight was on and what a battle it turned out to be. For the fish that Mike had hooked was a gigantic jewfish that was estimated to weigh in excess of 300 pounds. Mike fought with that monster for the rest of the day, on through the night, and into the next day. For 33 hours he did his best to land his catch but no dice. The slender, plucky boy refused offers of help because he felt a real sportsman had to land his catch by himself. He refused a swivel chair, turned down an offer to go out in a boat and rejected a suggestion that the fish be shot. "It became a personal thing," Mike said. "This was something I wanted very badly but I wanted to play fair to get it." Over 10,000 people showed up at the pier to watch the battle and offer what encouragement they could to the lad. At the end of 33 tiring hours, the fish won out over the boy and the battle was over. I imagine that young lad learned a lesson that he'll never forget. There are times in all our lives when we give everything we have to the task, play the game as fairly as we can, and still lose the battle. It's at this point but the real man lies down to bleed awhile, then rises to fight, or fish, again.
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