"I need a guy who can act like a bar lizard and backchat like Fred Allen, only better, and get hit on the head with a beer truck and think some cutie in the leg-line topped him with a breadstick" (Chapter 1, p. 9).

"Old man Jeeter ruined my father - all proper and legitimate, the way that kind of heel ruins people - but he ruined him, and my father committed suicide, and my mother died and I've got a kid sister back East in school and perhaps I'm not too damn particular how I get the money to take care of her" (Chapter 3, p. 19).

"Listen, If you want to call all the plays in this game, you can carry the ball yourself" (Chapter 5, p.. 28).

"So I went over to see Miss Huntress and after a lot of finagling around with this itchy-handed house dick I got to see...