title: Pedro Morales

text: Morales made his first appearance for the World Wide Wrestling Federation, now known as WWE, on November 21, 1970, by teaming with Chief Jay Strongbow in a draw against The Mongols, Newton Tattrie and Josip Peruzovic, as part of a one-night appearance. Now a full-time member of the WWWF roster, he joined Gorilla Monsoon the following month, scoring a win in a three-fall rematch. In his singles debut, Morales defeated Joe Turco. This was followed by wins over The Black Demon, "The Wolfman" Willie Farkas and Bulldog Brower during the following month. On January 7, 1971, Morales won the vacant WWWF United States Championship by defeating Blassie in a tournament final. A team-up with Gorilla Monsoon also took place in two draws involving The Mongols. On February 8, 1971, Morales defeated Ivan Koloff to win the WWWF World Heavyweight Championship only a month after winning his first individual title within the promotion. The move also vacated the United States Championship. This ignited a series of wins over the likes of Jack Evans and his previous opponents The Black Demon and Bulldog Brower. Subsequently, a series of victories in tag team matches involving Blackjack Mulligan evolved into a feud of single encounters, in which Morales won half a dozen events, before scoring two more team victories along Moonson. Meanwhile, The Wolfman and Bulldog Brower became recurrent enhancement talents during this run. Morales also scored wins over the likes of Beautiful Bobby and Tarzan Tyler, who eventually teamed up with Luke Graham, which turned into a double feud against both. Tyler, The Black Demon, Graham and The Beautiful Bobby were the opponents faced by him during a winning streak that extended throughout the summer. Different tag teams along with Monsoon, Jay Strongbow and Manuel Soto experienced similar success. During August 1971, Morales scored several victories over Graham and Tyler, also besting them as a tag team and in a 3-on-3 match that included Lou Albano. However, in his final contest of the month he suffered a loss to Stan Stasiak. In September, Tyler and Graham brought in Jimmy Valiant as a teammate, which led to a series of matches including a win over him in a steel cage. On October 25, 1971, Morales defeated Stasiak in a Texas Death match. The following month brought wins over Tyler and Valiant, but also included an encounter where he bested Freddie Blassie and a continuation of the feud against Stasiak during the second half. During this time-frame, Rivera joined Morales in the WWWF, becoming part of his usual partners along Monsoon and Strongbow. He closed 1971 by defeating Blassie in a Roman Gladiator match, Ray Stevens, Stan Stasiak twice and The Rugged Russians along with Rivera.


title: Pedro Morales

text: First contender Blassie and Stasiak remained Morales' main rivals in the first two months of 1972, against whom he scored several draws and some wins. Graham, Valiant and Toru Tanaka served as enhancement talents. On February 18, 1972, Morales and Rivera defeated The Rugged Russians, continuing this parallel rivalry. March featured several different matchups, in which he emerged victorious against "Baron" Mikel Scicluna, Smasher Sloan and Rugged Russian #2, while consistently teaming with Rivera against Curtis Iaukea and Scicluna, both of whom he defeated individually throughout April. The following month featured feuds which ended in Morales earning several victories over Pampero Firpo, Tanaka, Iaukea and Albano. After disposing of Valiant, Graham, Scicluna and Graham again, the feud against Albano continued with wins in regular and steel cage matches. During June 1972, Morales also bested other notable opponents, including Nikita Mulkovitch, Blue Demon and Ernie Ladd. To continue this run, he defeated George Steele in New York. Following three wins over Tanaka and more against Firpo, Morales teamed with Sammartino on July 18, 1972, to face the former and Mr. Fuji. The match featured the two most popular wrestlers of the era, but finished in a no contest with both of the involved in a confrontation after Mr. Fuji threw salt in both of their faces, ensuing a fight. A rematch took place, this time in a team with Monsoon, but finished in a draw. Morales defeated both Tanaka and Mr. Fuji by countout and won the following two tag team matches. This was followed by a series involving Steele, Fuji, Ernie Ladd, Chuck O'Connor, aka Big John Studd, and "The Spoiler" Don Jardine, none of whom were able to gain an upper hand against him. On September 30, 1972, Morales faced Bruno Sammartino in the first-ever match featuring the two fan favorite, technical wrestlers. The crowd favored him, despite Sammartino's large fan base in the city of New York. After 75 minutes of wrestling featuring several near-falls, the contest ended in a draw, when the city's curfew entered into effect. Subsequently, both performers embraced, signifying the end of their rivalry and the reformation of the tag team. However, the lack of a resolution was not well received, the fans were noticeably angry, and some jumped into the dugouts to shake their fists at the wrestlers. The main event of the 1972 Showdown at Shea later became known as "The Match of the Century" and is still regarded as one of the best events in the history of professional wrestling. After scoring a win over The Spoiler, Morales joined Sammartino in a rematch against Tanaka and Mr. Fuji, this time emerging victorious in a three-fall contest.


title: Pedro Morales

text: This was followed with a rematch, this time teaming with André the Giant. The Spoiler remained Morales most common adversary during the following months, which resulted in wins over him and his partner, Buddy Wolfe. Other wrestlers to fail in their attempts to defeat Morales were Ernie Ladd, The Sheik and Ray Stevens. To close the year, Morales defeated Tanaka individually and in tag team action, before going on to defeat Wolfe on several occasions. On December 2, 1972, he rejoined Rivera in a win. During the first months of 1973, Morales bested Mr. Fuji, Buddy Wolfe and Lonnie Mayne, as well as Hans Schmidt, Lonnie Mayne and Curtis Iaukea. He also teamed with Moonson, Bobo Brazil and Strongbow. A feud with Mayne went on to include a steel cage match. A series against Freddie Blassie concluded with three singles wins for Morales, also including a tag team contest. Throughout April and May, he successfully faced a number of recycled adversaries, including Mayne, Wolfe and Tanaka, along with wins over new ones such as Don Leo Jonathan and Mike McCord, aka Austin Idol. Morales also defeated Blassie twice, including a steel cage match. Throughout the summer, he performed mostly as a singles wrestler, gathering wins over Toru Tanaka, Paul Jones, Lonnie Mayne, Jonathan, McCord and George Steele facing them repeatedly in cyclical fashion. This trend was broken with the arrival of August, when Morales bested other figures including Blackjack Lanza and Stan Stasiak. During the month of September 1973, he was placed over Ib Solvang Hansen, McCord, Steele and Fuji. Morales went on to win a series against Lanza and a Texas Death Match involving Stasiak, before having Fuji serve as enhancement talent for the following weeks. On November 2, 1973, he made an appearance in AWA, winning a three-fall contest over Ray Stevens. Morales worked an angle with the then-villain Larry Hennig, besting him in singles. He followed this by entering a feud with Stasiak which featured mixed results, but concluded with him dropping the WWWF Heavyweight Championship on December 1, 1973. Morales' title run lasted 1,027 days, remaining to this date the longest reign by any Latino and the fifth longest overall. His reign was featured in the independent film "The Wrestler", where footage of him was shown while two characters remarked "C1: Morales... Eastern league champion. C2: And he is young. C1: He sure is good..." as part of a discussion of dangerous adversaries that could be possible opponents for an aging wrestler. Following this, he returned in two tag team matches, before defeating Stasiak twice in three rematches. One of these matches was promoted by Sponsham wrestling and held at Roberto Clemente Coliseum. Morales remained successful as a singles wrestler, gathering wins over Fuji, Eddie Sullivan, Otto Von Heller, Johnny Rodz and Black Gordman during the first half of 1974. During the second half of the year, he bested Nikolai Volkoff and Strong Kobayashi, before exchanging results in a long-running feud against Killer Kowalski. In his final phase of this run for the promotion, Morales was victorious over Butcher Vachon, wrestling his final match on March 1, 1975.


title: Pedro Morales

text: Four days later, Morales returned to California, wrestling for the Big Time Wrestling territory in San Francisco. Despite now serving mainly as a tag team performer along Manny Cruz, Raul Mata, Pat Patterson, Cowboy Lang and The Haitian Kid among others, he also remained a singles attraction, gathering wins over Ricky Hunter, The Brute and winning a feud over Kurt Von Brauner during the following two months. Morales began the summer by teaming with Patterson on a consistent basis, sometimes alternating to include Peter Maivia, Don Muraco or a random wrestler. Their main opponents during this timeframe were The Invaders, against whom they exchanged results, with Morales and Patterson winning the NWA San Francisco World Tag Team Championship on October 29, 1975. Immediately afterwards, they became involved in a series against Don Muraco and Mr. Saito that lasted for the remainder of the year and from which they emerged with the best balance. To begin the following year, Mr. Saito and The Invaders were included in the feud, teaming with Muraco and Fuji on alternate events. The rivalry eventually shifted to singles competition, where Morales defeated Muraco on three dates before losing once. To close this run, he lost a contest to The Great Fuji by being counted out. Morales made two appearances in St. Louis, winning two tag team matches and defeating Ox Baker individually.


title: Pedro Morales

text: On October 30, 1976, he joined the American Wrestling Association as a full-time performer. Returning to his former singles pace, Morales went on to immediately enter an undefeated streak over Bobby Jones, Moose Morowski, Buddy Wolff, Frankie Hill, Baron Von Raschke, Vito Martino, Ray Stevens, Pierre Poisson, Blackjack Lanza, Puppy Dog Peloquin, Rodeo Jones, Roger Kirby, Ray Stevens, Joe Carlos and Frankie Hill to close the year. To open 1977, he continued to trend in matches including Tom DeMarco, Mike Soma, Mad Dog Vachon, Baron Von Raschke, Poisson, Bobby Duncum, Moose Morowski and Jim Brunzell, also winning a battle royale and drawing in a series against The Super Destroyer. His streak continued the following month, this time over Bob Arnel and The Strangler, going on to include matchups against the opponents that he had already defeated. The feud with The Super Destroyer resumed shortly afterwards, this time ending with another draw and two wins for Morales. A rivalry with Nick Bockwinkel also took place in parallel, recording a no contest and a victory. After briefly teaming with Peter Maivia, Morales defeated Armando Rodriguez and entered a series against Alfred Hayes, which ended with a balance of five wins, two losses and two draws. Afterwards, he recorded mixed results in several contests against The Super Destroyer. In what marked the final stage of this AWA run, Morales continued defeating jobbers Mike York, Kenny Jay and The Strangler, but began losing more often to talent that he had bested earlier including Nick Bockwinkel and others such as Angelo Mosca.


title: Pedro Morales

text: After migrating to Championship Wrestling from Florida, he immediately emerged victorious from a rivalry with Pat Patterson. In this territory, Morales’ tag team with Johnson became more active and defeated the team of Patterson & Ivan Koloff on five consecutive encounters. A second feud, this time with Don Muraco was not as successful and he experienced mixed results, but also winning more often than he lost. During this time-frame, Morales also faced “Superstar” Billy Graham and Lars Anderson on a regular basis. On October 8, 1977, Morales unsuccessfully challenged Harley Race for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Afterwards, Koloff joined Mr. Saito as his main partner in the ongoing team feud, but both of the combinations with Johnson and Muraco were able to best them. Morales then teamed twice with Dusty Rhodes in a draw and a win against Lars Anderson & Killer Karl Kox, also teaming with Muraco one last time to defeat Koloff and Saito. On December 6, 1977, Morales wrestled Race for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, failing to win the belt. The following night he faced Race, Dick Murdoch, Baron Von Krupp and Mr. Sakuruda for the title, but was disqualified. To close the year, Morales earned singles victories over Buddy Roberts and Tank Patton. His team along Johnson opened the year by winning their first two matches, going on to defeat Koloff and Saito to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship on January 24, 1978. Concurrently, Morales wrestled Anderson and divided honors in a series which included a win in the Superbowl of Wrestling. A feud with Killer Karl Kox ended in individual and team losses, a streak which ended costing them the titles. After recovering with wins over Koloff and Saito, Morales and Johnson regained the NWA Florida Tag Team Championship on February 14, 1978. This reign was short, lasting only two weeks before dropping them to Saito and Mr. Sato. Morales then wrestled several singles matches, defeating Killer Karl Kox, Bobby Dumcum, Saito, Bob Roop, Jack Ruggers and Charlie Cook, dividing contests with Dick Slater and losing to Koloff. This was followed by three new partners, Tiger Conway, Jr., with whom he won four consecutive bouts, Joe Azzari, which led to two losses, and Jerry Brisco, who wrestled with him in two draws.


title: Pedro Morales

text: On May 5, 1978, Morales returned to Puerto Rico for one night and teamed with Rivera. Afterwards, Ron Mikolajczyk became a recurrent teammate, mostly in matches involving Butch Bronson and a chosen partner. During the following months, Morales scored wins over Len Denton, Butch Cassidy, Rick Oliver and Sir Winston, but lost to Killer Karl Kox, Dick Slater and The Spoilers. On June 23, 1978, he made a tour to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but only participated in tag matches. This was followed by a visit to Kansas, where Morales defeated Alex Perez and lost to Jesse Ventura. In October, he toured Germany, with a win over Amet Chong and losses to Kublai Khan. On November 11, 1978, Morales made a one night visit to California, teaming with Chavo Guerrero, Sr. in a win over Eddie Mansfield and The Grappler. The following year, he began making appearances in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. His first partner became Skip Young, along whom he managed to gain mixed results in matches involving Moose Morowski, John Studd and Baron Von Raschke among others. In singles competition, Morales defeated Mr. X #1, Brute Bernard and Morowski. A secondary teammate, Les Thornton, joined him in several victories, while Abe Jacobs and Johnny Weaver teamed occasionally. Eventually, Jay Youngblood became Morales’s main partner, recording a winning streak while he also teamed with several other wrestlers including Cocoa Samoa, Tiger Jeet Singh and Bob Marcus with similar success. However, as a single performer he lost matches to Nick Bockwinkel, Len Denton and Killer Karl Kox, also failing to advance in a tournament for the NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship. His victories during this time-frame were over Brute Bernard, Rudy Kay and Charlie Fulton. On November 8, 1979, Morales returned to NJPW, besting Kengo Kimura, Kuniaki Kobayashi, drawing with Tatsumi Fujinami and losing to Antonio Inoki. He also teamed with Singh and Bob Backlund in wins that included victories over both Fujinami and Inoki, but lost along with Greg Valentine in return matches. To open the following year, Morales relocated to Canada, where he defeated David Patterson, Mr. X #1, The Scorpion, Doug Somers and Brute Bernard, but lost a series to Ox Baker in alternate dates at South and North Carolina. In his final matches within the NWA circuit, Morales earned wins over Billy Starr, Frankie Laine and The Destroyer, both in singles and tag team matches.


title: Pedro Morales

text: On May 6, 1980, Morales returned to the renamed World Wrestling Federation, defeating Moose Monroe, Frank Savage, Mark Pole, Brute Bernard and Ben Alexander during the course of the following weeks. He formed a tag team with Bob Backlund, which won its first two contests. Meanwhile, Morales continued on his successful run with victories over Ron Shaw, Mikel Scicluna, Tor Kamata, Afa, B.B. Coleman, Johnny Rodz and The Hangman. On August 9, 1980, he won the WWF Tag Team Championship along with Backlund by besting Afa and Sika, the Wild Samoans, at the Showdown at Shea 1980. However, they had to forfeit the championship belts the following day, due to a rule stating that no heavyweight champion could hold a second title at the same time. During the following month, Afa and Kamata served as enhancement talent, while Morales also participated in a battle royale. Afterwards, he went on to defeat several adversaries, including Larry Zbyszko, Scicluna, Afa, Rodz and The Hangman. A series with Ken Patera intensified after a loss, with Morales recovering to defeat him to win the WWF Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship on December 8, 1980. With this win, he became the first man in history to win the Triple Crown Championship, which along his United States Championship reign also meant holding all of the promotion’s titles during his era, a recognition that only he held for almost two decades. Morales also feuded with Sgt. Slaughter, defeating him by disqualification. During the early months of 1981, he continued defeating the likes of The Hangman, Ron Shaw, Jose Estrada and Zbyszko, but tied in contests against St. Slaughter and Stan Hansen. After defeating and drawing with St. Slaughter in another series, Killer Khan became Morales' most recurrent adversary, experiencing more success, while other names such as Greg Valentine and Hansen challenged him occasionally. This was followed by a short feud against The Moondogs, which ended with singles wins over both members of the team. On March 26, 1981, Morales faced Hulk Hogan, dominating throughout the match and winning by count out. The feud with The Moondogs resumed afterwards, with mixed results in tag team competition but another win over Moondog Rex. Another figure who became a mainstay was Sgt. Slaughter, whom he often defeated by disqualification.


title: Pedro Morales

text: Jerry Johnson and Johnny Rodz served as jobbers during this run. After participating in a battle royale won by Angelo Mosca, the two entered a feud, from which Morales emerged victorious. During the month of June, he also scored consecutive wins over his former rivals Killer Khan and Sgt. Slaughter, ending their respective storylines. This led to a feud against Don Muraco, to whom Morales dropped the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship on June 20, 1981. Two subsequent rematches ended in one win, three losses and a draw. Morales began wrestling and defeating other adversaries, including George Steele, The Executioner and Larry Sharpe, besides the usual low card talents that he had consistently bested previously. The feud with Muraco continued and he earned two wins and a draw, leading to a titular rematch between them. Morales entered the contest with wins over The Executioner and Greg Valentine, winning the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship back on November 23, 1981, in a Texas Death match. With this win, Morales became the first man to hold the Intercontinental title twice, and he held it for fourteen months, the longest reign up until that point. He was successful in four rematches against Muraco, with Valentine systematically becoming his main adversary. In his first bout of 1982, Morales defeated Valentine by disqualification. He was able to dominate Hans Schroeder, Larry Dee and Killer Khan, but drew in another match against Valentine, who also went on to win their next encounter by disqualification. Their series continued with the equitable results of one win, one loss and a draw. To continue, Morales won two consecutive contests, including a Brass Knuckles Alley Fight, but got disqualified in the third. This was momentarily interrupted with a short program against Mr. Fuji, Mr. Saito and Lou Albano, which also featured wins over Rodz and Adrian Adonis. After being resumed, Morales won two more matches over Valentine, once again being disqualified in the third, before coming back to win in a Texas Death match. He then entered a winning streak, during which he defeated The Black Demon twice, Jesse Ventura by countout, Adonis thrice, Fuji and Valentine four times, two of these being Brass Knuckles Matches and other a Street Fight. This came to an end when Morales was disqualified against Jimmy Snuka. He wrestled Valentine three more times, winning in a Brass Knuckles match and by countout.


title: Pedro Morales

text: During the summer of 1982, Morales feuded with Bob Orton, Jr., gaining the upper hand after being disqualified in the open bout. Estrada, Saito and Swede Hanson were also bested during this time. However, this streak was also ended in a count out loss to Snuka. In September, Morales won contests over Rocky Cole and Scicluna, but was counted out against Buddy Rose, which led to a draw in a rematch. He opened the following months with victories in matches featuring Bob Bradley, Tony Russo and Swede Hanson, but was counted out in a challenge by Superstar Billy Graham. Morales continued his feud with Buddy Rose, defeating him by disqualification. Two more matches against Graham ended in a draw and a disqualification loss. Afterwards, Morales was involved in a no contest and a double disqualification draw with Rose, going on to close with two consecutive wins. During the month of November, he divided honors with Graham, also scoring victories over Tony Russo and Fuji. On December 28, 1982, Morales wrestled Don Muraco to a double disqualification draw. On his first match of 1983, the result was repeated, this time in a match involving Graham. The following weeks brought wins over Sammy Sanders, Bob Bradley, Fuji and Rose, but also losses to Graham and Muraco, most of which were by countout or disqualification. After besting Graham in another bout, Morales dropped the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship to Muraco on January 22, 1983. However, he countered by winning a rematch, also defeating Graham before losing a second rubber match. Afterwards, Morales gained wins over Swede Hanson, Bob Bradley, Victor Rivera, Buddy Rose, Huertas Gonzalez and Fuji. He also emerged victorious from a feud with Graham, winning the majority of their encounters. Morales and Muraco went on to exchange results, but neither one was able to dominate cleanly, with most wins being consequence of count outs and disqualifications. Meanwhile, he bested Eddie Carson and participated in occasional multi-wrestler team matches.


title: Pedro Morales

text: On April 23, 1983, Morales began a tour in his native Puerto Rico performing for Capitol Sports Promotions (CSP), now known as the World Wrestling Council, challenging Ric Flair for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in his first appearance.


title: Pedro Morales

text: After a brief interruption where he bested Swede Hanson in a WWF card held at New York, Morales returned to CSP joining Carlos Colón, Sr. to win the CSP World Tag Team Championship over The Medics. On June 25, 1983, he defeated Buddy Landel to add the CSP North American Heavyweight Championship. In a rare CSP card outside of Puerto Rican soil, Morales wrestled Hugo Savinovich in Trinidad. On September 10, 1983, The Medics recovered the titles from Morales and Colón. One week later, Morales faced Ric Flair in the first Aniversario event, winning the contest by disqualification. On January 6, 1984, he dropped the North American Heavyweight Championship to Sweet Daddy Siki. After wrestling Cyclon Negro in Trinidad and defeating Buddy Rose in a WWF event, Morales won a rematch against Siki, recovering the title. He held the belt until September 15, 1984, dropping it to Randy Savage during the final stage of his CSP stay. Another notable opponent was J. J. Dillon. This run was highlighted by a feud against Bob Sweetan, who injured Morales' neck with a piledriver during one of their encounters.


title: Pedro Morales

text: During the months of March and April 1985, Morales participated in tag team matches for the WWF, including participation in a show held in Kuwait. Morales later went on to defeat Mr. X, Terry Gibbs and Steve Lombardi during the following months. On May 24, 1985, he wrestled Strong Machine #1 to a draw in a NJPW show. Morales entered the 1985 King of the Ring tournament, besting Johnny V in the opening contest before receiving a bye during the quarterfinals. However, he was eliminated by Muraco in the semifinals. During this time-frame, Tito Santana became his occasional tag team partner. Individually, Morales went on to defeat Mr.X several times, Gibbs, Lombardi and Barry O twice, Rene Goulet four times and Tiger Chung Lee. He was also successful in two team matches along Santana. On September 12, 1985, Morales bested Muraco in New Jersey. The following night he claimed a win over Valentine. Morales defeated Bob Orton, Jr., Goulet and Barry O to conclude the month. October began with a winning streak which featured Les Thornton and Matt Borne along with enhancement talent, until this victory spree was halted by The Missing Link.


title: Pedro Morales

text: Morales made his following appearance in a WWF event held in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he defeated The Spoiler. The second half of the month brought wins in two matches along with Santana and singles success over opponents that he had previously wrestled. This pattern continued in November, when Morales and Santana exchanged results against Valentine and Brutus Beefcake. Individually, he gained victories over several familiar performers including Lee, Barry O, Gibbs and The Spoiler, also winning a series against Alexi Smirnoff and losing a single time to Orton. Contests including Moondog Spot, Thorton and Lee ended in the same fashion, with Morales going on to win a rematch over Orton. On December 12, 1985, Goulet scored a rare win over him. In turn, Morales ended the year with wins over Matt Borne, The Spoiler, Smirnoff, Barry O and Mike Sharpe, in the process successfully teaming with Santana. He won his first two contests of 1986 Moondog Spot and Lee, before losing to Terry Funk. This was followed by a series of tag team matches along Santana and Danny Spivey, which ended with a 2–1 balance. After besting two jobbers, Morales teamed with Steve Gatorwolf to defeat Valentine and Beefcake. After four more wins over his regular opponents, he lost to Orton. This pattern was repeated once more, but this time Morales earned a disqualification victory over Orton after winning the first four contests. Concurrently to this series, he was involved in a 3-on-3 match. On February 15, 1986, Morales defeated Bret Hart in Phoenix, Arizona. This was followed with wins over Goulet, Thorthon, Steve Lombardi and a successful feud against Orton. Morales made his only WrestleMania appearance in 1986 when he was a part of a 20-man invitational battle royal at WrestleMania 2. After two tag team victories along Santana, Morales defeated Hercules and Beefcake among others. This was followed by a prolonged series with both members of the Moondogs, from which he emerged victorious. On May 17, 1986, Morales defeated The Iron Sheik in a WWF return to California. His tag team with Santana remained successful, winning their contests throughout the summer. Meanwhile, Morales earned wins over Paul Christy, Roger Kirby, Lee, The Iron Sheik and Hercules, but began to lose more often against opponents such as Jake Roberts, King Kong Bundy and Savage. Like the year before, he entered the King of the Ring tournament, advancing with a win over Rudy Diamond. Morales advanced further by besting Mike Rotundo in the quarterfinals and Nikolai Volkoff in the semifinals, but lost the final to Harley Race. The following months brought mixed results, with wins over Muraco and Jim Neidhart but losses to Hercules and Adrian Adonis.


title: Pedro Morales

text: Morales recovered by defeating Savage three times and Gibbs once, while drawing with Orton before losing a rematch to Race. He entered the Sam Mushnick Memorial Tournament, winning his matchup against Funk in the opening round before being eliminated by Beefcake in the quarterfinals. On September 20, 1986, Morales defeated Jake Roberts. His next two feuds featured him getting disqualified and defeated by Muraco, exchanging results with Hercules and dominating Moondog Rex. However, his next series against Kamala saw him being counted out and pinned. A feud with Orton ended in similar fashion. Morales' team with Santana suffered the same fate, losing twice and participating in a double count out draw. Two rivalries involving Hercules and Steve Lombardi ended with mixed results. Afterwards, Morales won contests over The Red Demon, Lombardi and Sivi Afi, while losing to Muraco and being counted out against Savage. The following month opened with victories over Sika, Muraco and Lombardi, but also included loses to Dino Bravo, Butch Reed, Kamala and Hercules. In December, Morales bested Jimmy Jack Funk, Volkoff, Frenchy Martin and Bravo, but also featured an unsuccessful rivalry with Race. He opened 1987 with a win over Bret Hart, before teaming with Santana twice with mixed results. At 44 years old, Morales was entering his final year as an active wrestler, now being moved back in the card. He lost a series of matches against Bravo, but, bested Muraco before entering a feud with Nick Kiniski that featured several draws before he gained the upper hand in the final bout. Despite this, during this stage of his career Morales was unable to gain wins over the likes of King Kong Bundy and Bravo, unsuccessfully challenging the new Intercontinental Champion, The Honky Tonk Man, on several dates. Some wrestlers that he had bested in the past, such as Butch Reed or Sika were also booked over him, along with strong adversaries such as Jake Roberts, Bravo, Orton and Paul Orndorff. His wins over this time-span were over Moondog Spot, Sika and Jimmy Jack Funk. On March 8, 1987, Morales teamed with Danny Spivey in the quarterfinals of a tournament for the World Tag Team Championship, but they were eliminated by Rick Martel and Tom Zenk. May was marked by several unsuccessful matches that formed part of a rivalry with Ron Bass, but finished with a win over Lombardi. Morales and Santana teamed twice more, but were unable to overtake the team of Haku and Tama, however, he subsequently joined Jim Brunzell, in emerging victorious over The Hart Foundation which in its original incarnation as cited here was made up of Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart. During July, he bested Martin twice, also losing to One Man Gang and Orndorff. Morales made a final in-ring appearance as professional wrestler by participating in a battle royale held on November 16, 1987.


title: Pedro Morales

text: Following his retirement from the squared circle, Morales became a road agent and later a commentator for WWF's Spanish-language programming, the first time that a Puerto Rican performed this duty for an international promotion. He returned to this role working for World Championship Wrestling during the 1990s, narrating "Nitro" and pay per views alongside Miguel Alonzo. This accomplishment has since been duplicated by Jack Meléndez and Willie Urbina.


title: Pedro Morales

text: Morales made few wrestling related appearances since his WCW days, with his last appearances being at autograph signings in fan conventions. He appeared at Wrestling Reunion III in 2005 and Wrestling Reunion 5 in 2007, reuniting with Sammartino at the latter. Despite living a low profile life following his retirement, he was the inspiration for homages and mentions throughout the decades which followed. A self-proclaimed "old school" wrestler, he was not interested in the overselling of gimmicks and spectacle that is seen in modern professional wrestling, despite admitting the economic success of the "sports entertainment" formula.


title: Pedro Morales

text: Morales was inducted into the WWF Hall of Fame as part the class of 1995. Professional wrestling critics and purists have discussed his contributions to the discipline in widespread publications. Tomás Marín Rodríguez "El Martillo", part of a group led by José Antonio Geigel and one of the founding members of the first promotion in Puerto Rico, expressed in an interview that he considers Morales the best Puerto Rican wrestler in history. Marín considered that both his in-ring style and chivalry made him "unique" among performers. Terry Funk, Stan Hansen, Greg Valentine and Magnificent Muraco have expressed having enjoyed working matches with Morales. Fernwood Gold III and Thor Jensen of UGO Networks listed him as the 36th best face wrestler in history, noting how he appealed to the fanbase in New York. His run as the first Latin American Intercontinental Champions is universally lauded. Bill Barnwell of IGN Sports also included Morales in the site's list of Top Intercontinental Champions, placing him in the sixth slot. Jeremy Thomas of 411.com ranked him fifth as part of a debate among the website's staff. In a similar discussion held at Slam! Sports, writer Greg Oliver considered him the best wrestler to hold the belt, stating that when "he held the title, there was a sense of honour and pride with it". WWE itself ranks Morales in the ninth spot in the "Intercontinental Champions" entry of their Top 25 series. The promotion mentions being the first wrestler to win the title twice and holding it for a combined record of over 600 days, more than any other wrestler, as merits for this recognition. WWE also included him in a compendium titled "Top 50 Good Guys in Wrestling History", which featured wrestlers that performed as fan favorites during their careers. In September 2016, the promotion joined NBC Universo to commemorate National Hispanic Heritage Month, creating a series highlighting the career of several wrestlers including Morales.


title: Pedro Morales

text: Outside of the WWE, he has received recognition as a Latin American and Hispanic pioneer in other promotions. In mid-1996, Morales appeared at an event of the short lived American Wrestling Federation, in the championship match between Bob Orton, Jr. and Tito Santana, along with other superstars and legends like Sgt. Slaughter, Chris Adams, and special guest referee Jim Brunzell. On August 31, 2006, as part of a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling taping, Morales was mentioned by Konnan along fellow Hall of Famers Carlos Colón, Mil Máscaras and the Guerrero family, being acknowledged as Latinos that paved the way within the wrestling industry. This was part of an in-character celebratory speech following The Latin American Xchange's coronation as NWA World Tag Team Champions. In reality, Konnan credits him with "[teaching] a lot" about the politics of wrestling and "the things you need to do in the ring to be a success in this business" during his time in WCW. From 2003 onwards, the World Wrestling Council approached Morales and offered holding an Aniversario event in his honor, but he declined the invitations for ten years. In 2013, Morales accepted being the honoree of Aniversario 40. He was the centerpiece of the International Pedro Morales Fan Club, an independent organization that ran during the 1970s and that recruited members through wrestling magazines. In 2000, "The Ring Chronicle" inducted Morales into its own version of the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame. Modern fan reaction has also been positive in regards to the historical significance of his accomplishments. Nate Scaccia, a contributor to the website Bleacher Report, considers Morales the best Intercontinental champion of all time, ranking first in the title's entry at the website's WWE Champion Series. Michael Robinson and Will Baker, amateur writers for the same site, also consider him the 31st best WWE wrestler in history and 11th greatest WWE Champion respectively. He repeated at the ninth place in a subsequent interpretation. Besides the wrestling and sports media, the mun2 network also featured Morales in an article that listed their selection for the "20 of the most memorable Latino wrestlers in WWE history" which was published in 2012. When compiling a list based on the "[wrestler's] impact on the [Puerto Rican] fanbase", Raúl Álzaga of "Primera Hora" listed him third overall.


title: Pedro Morales

text: As a trainer, Morales was involved in the instruction of Dory Funk Jr., a former NWA World Heavyweight Champion who in 2009 was inducted into the Hall of Fame as part of The Funks. In 2022, his estate signed a deal to appear in Greg Gagne’s AWA-inspired PowerTown action figure line.


title: Pedro Morales

text: His mother Teodora was a businesswoman, who continued to advise him on economic decisions throughout his life. Morales met Karen Johnson in 1965, when she attended an event at Long Beach where he was performing. They dated for five years, with her working as a teacher while his career often took him abroad to other states and countries. The couple married in 1972, in a small ceremony held at Puerto Rico which was only attended by family and the judge, continuing this relationship throughout his wrestling career and afterwards. The couple had a son, Pedro Morales Jr. born in 1974. Due to the nature of his work, Morales had lived in over a dozen cities throughout his career, including some time in Japan. However, when his son was about to start kindergarten, the family bought a house in central New Jersey. His wife began working at Avenel Street Elementary School. The resources gathered in the industry were reinvested in "stocks, bonds and properties" which allowed them to capitalize in the long term.


title: Pedro Morales

text: After his last job in pro wrestling as a Spanish narrator in WCW, Morales retired from the sport and permanently settled in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey where he adopted gardening as a hobby, cultivating tomatoes in his personal garden. Due to working during a time where the ring featured no methods of protection, Morales suffered several injuries that continued to linger after his career was over, limiting the amount of physical exercise that he was capable of doing. However, he remained a frequent visitor to The Club, a gym located in Woodbridge. Despite being a resident of this area, he continued to travel frequently to Puerto Rico, visiting the archipelago multiple times per year. In 2003, he expressed interest in returning to live permanently in a coastal town near the Caribbean Sea once his wife retired. However, this did not materialize. An advanced case of Parkinson's disease prevented him from traveling to Puerto Rico during his final years. By this point his health had deteriorated, with the emergence of cardiac afflictions and cancer as well. Morales died on February 12, 2019, in Perth Amboy, New Jersey at the age of 76. He was survived by his wife, with their son predeceasing them in 2014.


title: Pisaasu

text: Pisaasu (; English: "Phantom") is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language Gothic horror film film written and directed by Mysskin and produced by Bala under B Studios. The film stars Naga, Rajkumar Pitchumani, Ashvatt alongside Radharavi, Kalyani Natarajan, Prayaga Martin and Harish Uthaman. The film released on 19 December 2014 to highly positive reviews. The Telugu dubbed version titled "Pisachi" released on 27 February 2015. The film was remade in Kannada as "Raakshasi" and in Hindi as "Nanu Ki Jaanu".


title: Pisaasu

text: Siddharth Soundaarajan (Naga) is an upcoming violinist in Chennai, who stumbles upon an accident where a girl (Prayaga) is lying in a pool of blood. He rushes her to the hospital with the help of an auto driver and a couple. However, he is too late and the girl passes away holding his hand. Traumatized by the whole episode, Siddharth comes home with one of her slippers. He then drives around the city aimlessly with his red car while helping homeless people, unable to come out of the depression due to the girl's death.


title: Pisaasu

text: After the incident, strange things start happening at Siddharth's apartment. He begins to feel a supernatural presence at his house. The house is cleaned up even if he makes it messy and his bottle opener goes missing whenever he tries to drink beer. With the help of his friend Badri (Ashvatt), he employs a psychic to exorcise the ghost, but she turns out to be a fraud and is scared out of the apartment by a strange apparition. Siddharth also comes to realise that his next door neighbour's autistic son plays with an imaginary friend. When Siddharth's mother Janaki (Kalyani Natarajan), comes to visit him, she is hit by a drunk neighbour (Harish Uthaman), who is abusing his wife (Kani Kusruti). The neighbour is then attacked by a mysterious ghost. The following day, Janaki meets with a freak accident in the bathroom and is saved by the ghost who alerts the neighbours. But, Siddharth mistakes that the ghost had attacked his mother and threatens the ghost that he would kill himself and come as a ghost to take revenge on her. Many rituals of various religions to drive the ghost away were performed by Siddharth, but everything is proven futile and the ghost continues to stay. Also, a petty thief is also stabbed while trying to steal from Siddharth's apartment.


title: Pisaasu

text: Siddharth is assured that the ghost of the girl whose life he tried to save is behind all these strange occurrences and goes in search of her family to see if they can help get rid of her. He finds that girl's name is Bhavani and her father (Radha Ravi) runs a local ice factory. Siddharth confronts the father and asks him to cremate his daughter to save him from her ghost. Siddharth brings the father to his apartment to show him the ghost, when his mother calls from the hospital to tell him that it was actually the ghost who has saved her life. Bhavani's father then tries to see if the ghost is actually trying to protect Siddharth. When the ghost appears as expected, her father begs her to come home with him, but she remains at the apartment. Siddharth understands that Bhavani's spirit never meant him any harm.


title: Pisaasu

text: Realizing that the only way Bhavani can rest in peace is by bringing her killer to face justice, Siddharth and his friends attempt to solve the mystery of her death themselves. They track down the auto driver that helped Siddharth save Bhavani and he tells them that he saw a green car driving away after the accident. They then manage to track down the green car at a shady workshop. The driver turns out to be a young man who stole an orphaned child from the hospital, since he and his wife cannot have children of their own. The driver's cousin, who was in the car that day tells Siddharth that she saw the actual car that hit Bhavani that day and that it was not green but red, much like Siddharth’s own car. Siddharth then goes back to the auto driver and asks him to differentiate between red apples and green ones, which he cannot since he is colour blind.


title: Pisaasu

text: Finally realising that he himself is the killer, Siddharth goes to tell Bhavani's father the truth. The ghost tries to stop him, but he still reveals the truth. Over-ridden with guilt, Siddharth tries to commit suicide. Bhavani's spirit saves Siddharth from committing suicide by cremating her own body that her father had preserved all this time in the ice, thus moving on to the next world. Bhavani's father comforts Siddharth by saying that he is a very kind hearted person and he would have never done that intentionally and that is why his daughter fell in love with him and stayed with him.


title: Pisaasu

text: After receiving positive reviews for "Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum" (2013), Mysskin was signed up by director Bala to make a film under his production house, B Studios. Mysskin subsequently left for the US to research and write the script for the horror film, before a launch ceremony for the venture was held in Chennai in May 2014 at midnight, contrary to typical morning time launches. Newcomers Naga and Prayaga Martin were cast in the principal roles, with the latter being selected to play a ghost after a successful audition. Naga had been selected by Bala, whom he had associated with as an assistant director for the director's project "Tharai Thappattai" (2015). Harish Uthaman was signed up to play a pivotal role and shot for his portions in June 2014. The team shot action scenes with Hong Kong stuntman Tony Leung Siu Hung, who collaborated with Mysskin after "Mugamoodi" (2012), while Ravi Roy, Jayashree Lakshminarayanan and newcomer Arrol Corelli joined the team as cinematographer, art director and music composer respectively. Malayalam actress Kani Kusruti, who had earlier featured in the film "Burma", was also cast for a supporting role.


title: Pisaasu

text: The team released a teaser trailer on 15 November 2014, revealing that production had been finished in fifty two days and the project had entered the post-production stage.


title: Pisaasu

text: Soundtrack was composed by debutant Arrol Corelli and had only one track written by Thamizhachi Thangapandian.


title: Pisaasu

text: The Hindu's Baradwaj Rangan, who called "Pisaasu" a "terrific addition to one of the most exciting oeuvres in Tamil cinema", further wrote, "With most of our movies, we sense pages from the script being transposed to screen -- there's so little that can be called cinema. Mysskin's cinema is all cinema, and it appears to rise from some place deep within him, some place even he may not be aware of. And he's at a point now where he can execute the must-haves of commercial cinema in increasingly inventive ways...The filmmaking is more than clean. It's...pure". Rediff gave the film 3.5 stars out of 5 and wrote, "Deliberately paced, with stunning music and an intriguing plot, "Pisaasu" is a typical, thought-provoking Mysskin film that deserves much applause. The taut screenplay, simple dialogues, excellent characterisation and admirable performances coupled with perfect execution, make Mysskin's "Pisaasu" a must watch". Sify called it a "very satisfying horror movie. The film works to a large extent because there is a level of acting here that's rarely seen in films in this genre. Simple filmmaking techniques like camera angles, keen concepts and fantastic sequencing to create a truly terrifying horror experience that is mostly free of blood and gore, makes it an edge-of-the-seat thriller". silverscreen.in wrote, "The director's fascination for everything morbid is what drives the script. He's one of those artistes that paints penury in flattering colours, glorifies everything that is bare and poor, and gets lyrical with the dark and the dismal. "Pisaasu" is elementally Mysskin that way. It is dotted with the specially-abled, set against a grim canvas".


title: Pisaasu

text: Deccan Chronicle gave 2.5 stars and wrote, "It may not scare you to death, but has interesting elements in it to keep you entertained. It is a different conceptualization of ghost and can be watched once for its novel experience". The Times of India gave the film 3 stars out of 5 and wrote, "the film, the second half to be specific, suffers from the same problem as Naga's "Anandhapurathu Veedu". Once we realize the attitude of the ghost towards the protagonist, it takes away quite a bit of the tension. We know he will remain unharmed and so, there is nothing to dread anymore, and horror films need an element of fear to keep the viewer on the edge of the seat. But, the climax compensates for this..."


title: Pisaasu

text: "Pisaasu" released in 212 screens throughout Tamil Nadu and grossed 11.8 million on its first day, which was the best opening for a Mysskin film. Its opening weekend gross was estimated at 28.6 million. According to Sify, "Pisaasu" was one of the most profitable Tamil films of the year.


title: Pisaasu

text: In 2020, a sequel titled "Pisaasu 2" was announced by the director Mysskin, with Andrea Jeremiah , Shamna Kasim and Rajkumar Pitchumani.


title: Troy Smith

text: Troy James Smith (born July 20, 1984) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Ohio State, was recognized as an All-American, and won the Heisman Trophy in 2006. He was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the fifth round of the 2007 NFL Draft, and also played for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers, the UFL's Omaha Nighthawks, and the CFL's Montreal Alouettes. Despite winning the Heisman Trophy, Smith never found success on the professional level, never appearing in more than six games a season during his four-year NFL career. He played in the CFL for two seasons following his NFL career before retiring from football in 2014.


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith's mother raised him and two siblings in Columbus, Ohio, then moved to the Glenville neighborhood of Cleveland. Smith first brought out an interest in playing football in Cleveland, where he played for the Glenville A's, initially as running back and tight end. Irvin White, his coach, moved Smith to quarterback after a few games and Smith stayed in the position.


title: Troy Smith

text: In 1993, Smith was placed in foster care with Diane and Irvin White while his mother dealt with personal issues.


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith played his first two years at St. Edward High School in Lakewood, Ohio, but was thrown off the team after elbowing an opponent in the head while playing in a varsity basketball game. He transferred to Glenville High School in Cleveland, Ohio shortly thereafter.


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith graduated from Glenville, where he was coached by Ted Ginn Sr., father of his teammate Ted Ginn Jr. Smith and Ginn went on to play together at Ohio State. After his junior football season in high school, Smith was invited to participate in the Elite 11 competition, featuring the eleven top ranked high school quarterback prospects in the United States. He earned good praise following his performance, and although it was relatively late in the recruiting process, Ohio State offered Smith a football scholarship. He verbally committed to the Buckeyes, signing his letter of intent on February 6, 2002, the last player for the upcoming season.


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith threw for 969 yards and 12 touchdowns in his senior year. He played alongside wide receiver, Ted Ginn Jr., while leading Glenville to the state playoffs.


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith also played three years of basketball and ran track (high jump, long jump and 1,600-meter relay). West Virginia University and Ohio State recruited him. Smith accepted the last scholarship of Ohio State's 2002 football recruiting class.


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith received an athletic scholarship to attend Ohio State University, where he played for coach Jim Tressel's Ohio State Buckeyes football team from 2003 to 2006. He redshirted in the 2002 season where the Buckeyes beat Miami in the National Championship. As a redshirted freshman for the Buckeyes, Smith played sparingly at running back and kick returner in 2003. Smith played the season opener against Washington as a scatback and returner, and he compiled fourteen yards rushing and 83 return yards. After the game, he came on the NFL scouting radar as an "athlete."


title: Troy Smith

text: He entered his sophomore season as the backup quarterback to Justin Zwick, but took over as the starter when Zwick was injured halfway through the 2004 season against the Iowa Hawkeyes. Smith won four of the five games he started in 2004, including a victory over the archrival Michigan Wolverines. Smith was suspended for breaking an undisclosed team rule before the Alamo Bowl, with the NCAA extending the suspension to include the first game of the 2005 season after it was revealed that Smith had accepted $500 from a booster.


title: Troy Smith

text: With Smith at quarterback, Ohio State lost only two games in the 2005 regular season, and in only one of those was Smith the starter. The first was to the eventual BCS National Champion Texas Longhorns (which he did not start) and the other was to the Penn State Nittany Lions, co-Big Ten champions. Smith's 2005 stats included 2,282 passing yards with 16 touchdowns and four interceptions. This led to a passer rating of 162.66, the fourth-highest of the season. He rushed for 611 yards and 11 touchdowns on 136 carries. In January 2006, he was named the Offensive MVP of the Fiesta Bowl, after leading the Buckeyes to a 34–20 win over the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.


title: Troy Smith

text: In the second week of the 2006 season, Smith and the Buckeyes took revenge for their 2005 loss to Texas. The top ranked Buckeyes won their rematch with the (again) second-ranked Longhorns, 24–7. Smith went 17 of 27 with 269 yards passing, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. For many fans and analysts, Smith's performance against the Longhorns gave credibility to the preseason Heisman Trophy hype he had received. His passing statistics improved during the 2006 season, completing 67% of his passes for 2,507 yards, with 30 touchdowns and five interceptions. This led to a quarterback rating of 167.87, again fourth in the country.


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith was one of five finalists for the 2006 Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, given to the top senior college quarterback.


title: Troy Smith

text: Teammates voted Smith the 2006 most valuable player. On December 7, 2006, the Davey O'Brien Foundation awarded Smith the Davey O'Brien Award for best college quarterback. He was also a first-team All-Big Ten selection, and was recognized as a unanimous first-team All-American.


title: Troy Smith

text: In three games against Michigan, Smith has a total of 1,151 yards of total offense, two rushing touchdowns, and seven passing touchdowns. The Buckeyes won all three games, making Smith the first Ohio State quarterback since Tippy Dye (1934–1936) to quarterback in three victories over Michigan, and the first to win three straight games against Michigan as a starter.


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith's college football career came to an end on January 8, 2007, when he and the Ohio State Buckeyes were beaten by the Florida Gators in the 2007 BCS National Championship Game, 41–14. Smith completed just four of 14 passes for 35 yards along with an interception, a fumble, and was sacked five times.


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith won the 2006 Heisman Memorial Trophy on December 9, 2006. He beat out sophomore RB Darren McFadden (2nd) from Arkansas and senior QB Brady Quinn (3rd), from Notre Dame.


title: Troy Smith

text: In winning the 2006 Heisman Trophy, Smith took 91.6% of the first place votes, a record that stood for 13 years. His tally of 2,540 votes was the third largest behind that of the then-2005 Heisman Trophy winner, Reggie Bush of the University of Southern California (2,541 votes) and 1968 Heisman winner O. J. Simpson who also played for USC (2,853 votes). His margin of victory (1,662 votes) was also the second largest in the history of the award, eclipsed only by O. J. Simpson who won by 1,750 votes.


title: Troy Smith

text: Troy Smith joined Les Horvath (1944), Vic Janowicz (1950), Howard "Hopalong" Cassady (1955), Archie Griffin (1974 and 1975), and Eddie George (1995) as Ohio State Heisman winners.


title: Troy Smith

text: As a graduating senior, Smith entered professional football in the 2007 NFL Draft. Despite winning the Heisman Trophy, Smith saw his draft stock drop considerably after the 41-14 loss to Florida in the 2007 BCS National Championship Game. At 6'0", his height (considered smaller than ideal) was cited as a liability. Smith was quoted by the media urging his hometown team, the Cleveland Browns, to select him in the NFL Draft. Fans also set up a website urging the Browns to take Smith. However, the Browns drafted Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn, a fellow Ohio native, 22nd overall in the 2007 NFL Draft, reducing the chances of Smith going to Cleveland.


title: Troy Smith

text: On Day 2, Smith was finally drafted at the end of the fifth round by the Baltimore Ravens. He signed a three-year contract with the Ravens on July 24, 2007. On August 27, 2007 Drew Olson was released by the Baltimore Ravens elevating Smith to the third-string quarterback position. Smith was named second-string quarterback for the Ravens on November 13, 2007, backing up new starter Kyle Boller after a shoulder injury to starter Steve McNair. Ravens head coach Brian Billick maintained that Smith could be used in the future. "That's going to be a fun challenge for Troy, because now he's been around enough", Billick said. "The focus and attention that he brings to [preparing] is heightened."


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith got his first regular season playing time in the fourth quarter of the home game against the Indianapolis Colts on December 9, 2007, completing three of five pass attempts and scrambling six yards for his first NFL touchdown in the 44-20 loss. After his relative success against the Colts, many Baltimore Ravens fans were calling for Smith to replace Kyle Boller as the Ravens' starting quarterback. On December 16, 2007 Smith came in for an injured Kyle Boller in the game against the Miami Dolphins. Smith led the Ravens down the field for a field goal that forced overtime. The Ravens lost 22-16 in overtime, after a missed 44-yard field goal. On December 20, 2007, Kyle Boller officially was considered the backup due to injury for the Week 16 game, giving Troy Smith his first professional start against the Seattle Seahawks. He completed fewer than 50% of his passes and fumbled twice in this game. The Ravens lost 27-6, scoring a touchdown with about four minutes to play and the game out of reach. In Week 17, the Ravens beat the Steelers with Troy Smith starting again. He went 16-of-27 for 171 yards and one touchdown, with no interceptions and no fumbles lost. This was the Ravens first win since Week 6, ending a 9-game losing streak with a bye at Week 8.


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith finished his rookie season by totaling 506 total yards and three touchdowns in four games. He had 452 yards and two touchdowns passing and rushed for 54 yards and one touchdown.


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith was scheduled to start in the third preseason game of the 2008 season, but became ill with a rare disease called Lemierre's syndrome. Due to Smith's illness, rookie Joe Flacco was named to the Ravens' starting quarterback position. Early in the season Smith re-emerged in the offense as part of their two-quarterback offense, and was utilized for short-yardage runs. This offense featured Smith lining up at the wide receiver spot as well as under center. Smith appeared in only six of the Ravens' 19 games and had a total of 4 passing attempts for 82 yards in the 2008 season.


title: Troy Smith

text: For the 2009 season, Flacco was named the starting quarterback for the second consecutive year, while Smith was active for only four of sixteen games. Smith completed five of nine passes for 24 yards with one interception during the season. In addition, he also rushed eight times for thirty-one yards, including his career-long fifteen-yard touchdown run.


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith re-signed with the Ravens for one-year worth $1.101 million. Smith received the low 5th round tender as a restricted free agent. However, no team was willing to part ways with the pick so Smith was not signed. After signing Marc Bulger as the team's backup to Joe Flacco, the Ravens released Smith on September 4.


title: Troy Smith

text: On September 6, 2010, Smith signed with the San Francisco 49ers, in a move that reunited him with former high school and college teammate, Ted Ginn Jr.


title: Troy Smith

text: On October 27, Smith was announced as the starter of the 49ers' game against the Denver Broncos. He became the first black quarterback to start for San Francisco. During this game, Smith ran for one touchdown and threw another in a 24–16 49ers win. Smith struggled early on, passing for just 37 yards in the first half; however he excelled in the second half by going 8 for 10 for 159 yards, and leading the Niners to three fourth-quarter touchdown drives. Smith was named the Sports Illustrated NFL Offensive Player of the week for his performance.


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith was again given the start for the 49ers next game against the Rams. He led the 49ers to an overtime victory by out-dueling Rams rookie Sam Bradford in a matchup of Heisman Trophy-winning quarterbacks. He threw for 356 yards, one touchdown and ran for 12 yards without being intercepted.


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith's two straight wins as a starter earned him the starting job for the next three weeks, before he was replaced by the previous starting quarterback Alex Smith. During that time span, (Troy) Smith went 3–2 for a San Francisco 49ers team that finished the season 6–10 overall.


title: Troy Smith

text: Despite Smith's success as their starting quarterback, San Francisco chose not to re-sign Smith after he became a free agent. This was mostly because new head coach Jim Harbaugh was expected to seek different options (though he eventually did choose to go with Alex Smith).


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith was signed by the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League on September 2, 2011. An injury to fellow Heisman Trophy-winner Eric Crouch in the season opener, opened the door for Smith to become the starter, though the Nighthawks decided to go with Jeremiah Masoli who had been with the team longer.


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith's first UFL start came in Omaha's final game of the season, a 25-19 loss to the Sacramento Mountain Lions in the consolation round of the postseason. In the game, Smith completed 17-of-33 passes for 191 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception, including an 81-yard touchdown pass to Chad Lucas.


title: Troy Smith

text: The Pittsburgh Steelers signed Smith on January 20, 2012. He was released by the team on June 25, 2012.


title: Troy Smith

text: On August 14, 2013, Smith signed a two-year contract with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League. Smith recorded his first win with the Alouettes in his first start on October 20, 2013 against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats by a score of 36-5. Smith started the last three regular season games of the season, posting a 2-1 record, leading head coach Jim Popp to name him the starter for the playoffs. Smith finished his first year in the CFL with a completion percentage of 52.6%, 884 passing yards, nine touchdowns, and five interceptions, in six games played. However, against the same Tiger-Cats in Guelph, Ontario, the Alouettes lost 19-16 in overtime. Following the 2013 CFL season, Smith was re-signed to a three-year contract, which keeps him with the Alouettes through the 2016 season. Smith started the first six games of the 2014 season, winning only once. Due to his poor play and the team's underperformance, Smith was unconditionally released from his contract by the Alouettes on October 16, 2014


title: Troy Smith

text: Smith, a father of two children, has advocated for passage of the FIT Kids Act. The act would require school districts to report on students' physical activity and to give health and nutritional information to children.


title: Concretion

text: A concretion is a hard, compact mass of matter formed by the precipitation of mineral cement within the spaces between particles, and is found in sedimentary rock or soil. Concretions are often ovoid or spherical in shape, although irregular shapes also occur. The word 'concretion' is derived from the Latin "(act of) compacting, condensing, congealing, uniting", itself from "con" meaning 'together' and "crescere" meaning "to grow". Concretions form within layers of sedimentary strata that have already been deposited. They usually form early in the burial history of the sediment, before the rest of the sediment is hardened into rock. This concretionary cement often makes the concretion harder and more resistant to weathering than the host stratum.


title: Concretion

text: There is an important distinction to draw between concretions and nodules. Concretions are formed from mineral precipitation around some kind of nucleus while a nodule is a replacement body.


title: Concretion

text: Descriptions dating from the 18th century attest to the fact that concretions have long been regarded as geological curiosities. Because of the variety of unusual shapes, sizes and compositions, concretions have been interpreted to be dinosaur eggs, animal and plant fossils (called pseudofossils), extraterrestrial debris or human artifacts.


title: Concretion

text: Detailed studies have demonstrated that concretions form after sediments are buried but before the sediment is fully lithified during diagenesis. They typically form when a mineral precipitates and cements sediment around a nucleus, which is often organic, such as a leaf, tooth, piece of shell or fossil. For this reason, fossil collectors commonly break open concretions in their search for fossil animal and plant specimens. Some of the most unusual concretion nuclei are World War II military shells, bombs, and shrapnel, which are found inside siderite concretions found in an English coastal salt marsh.


title: Concretion

text: Depending on the environmental conditions present at the time of their formation, concretions can be created by either concentric or pervasive growth. In concentric growth, the concretion grows as successive layers of mineral precipitate around a central core. This process results in roughly spherical concretions that grow with time. In the case of pervasive growth, cementation of the host sediments, by infilling of its pore space by precipitated minerals, occurs simultaneously throughout the volume of the area, which in time becomes a concretion. Concretions are often exposed at the surface by subsequent erosion that removes the weaker, uncemented material.


title: Concretion

text: Concretions vary in shape, hardness and size, ranging from objects that require a magnifying lens to be clearly visible to huge bodies three meters in diameter and weighing several thousand pounds. The giant, red concretions occurring in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, in North Dakota, are almost in diameter. Spheroidal concretions, as large as in diameter, have been found eroding out of the Qasr el Sagha Formation within the Faiyum depression of Egypt. Concretions occur in a wide variety of shapes, including spheres, disks, tubes, and grape-like or soap bubble-like aggregates.


title: Concretion

text: Concretions are commonly composed of a mineral present as a minor component of the host rock. For example, concretions in sandstones or shales are commonly formed of a carbonate mineral such as calcite; those in limestones are commonly an amorphous or microcrystalline form of silica such as chert, flint, or jasper; while those in black shale may be composed of pyrite. Other minerals that form concretions include iron oxides or hydroxides (such as goethite and hematite), dolomite, siderite, ankerite, marcasite, barite, and gypsum.


title: Concretion

text: Although concretions often consist of a single dominant mineral, other minerals can be present depending on the environmental conditions that created them. For example, carbonate concretions, which form in response to the reduction of sulfates by bacteria, often contain minor percentages of pyrite. Other concretions, which formed as a result of microbial sulfate reduction, consist of a mixture of calcite, barite, and pyrite.


title: Concretion

text: Concretions are found in a variety of rocks, but are particularly common in shales, siltstones, and sandstones. They often outwardly resemble fossils or rocks that look as if they do not belong to the stratum in which they were found. Occasionally, concretions contain a fossil, either as its nucleus or as a component that was incorporated during its growth but concretions are not fossils themselves. They appear in nodular patches, concentrated along bedding planes, or protruding from weathered cliffsides.


title: Concretion

text: Small hematite concretions or Martian spherules have been observed by the "Opportunity" rover in the Eagle Crater on Mars.


title: Concretion

text: Septarian concretions (or septarian nodules) are carbonate-rich concretions containing angular cavities or cracks (septaria; "", from the Latin "partition, separating element", referring to the cracks or cavities separating polygonal blocks of hardened material). Septarian nodules are characteristically found in carbonate-rich mudrock. They typically show an internal structure of polyhedral blocks (the "matrix") separated by mineral-filled radiating cracks (the septaria) which taper towards the rim of the concretion. The radiating cracks sometimes intersect a second set of concentric cracks. However, the cracks can be highly variable in shape and volume, as well as the degree of shrinkage they indicate. The matrix is typically composed of argillaceous carbonate, such as clay ironstone, while the crack filling is usually calcite. The calcite often contains significant iron (ferroan calcite) and may have inclusions of pyrite and clay minerals. The brown calcite common in septaria may also be colored by organic compounds produced by bacterial decay of organic matter in the original sediments.


title: Concretion

text: Septarian concretions are found in many kinds of mudstone, including lacustrine siltstones such as the Beaufort Group of northwest Mozambique, but are most commonly found in marine shales, such as the Staffin Shale Formation of Skye, the Kimmeridge Clay of England, or the Mancos Group of North America.


title: Concretion

text: It is commonly thought that concretions grew incrementally from the inside outwards. Chemical and textural zoning in many concretions are consistent with this "concentric" model of formation. However, the evidence is ambiguous, and many or most concretions may have formed by "pervasive" cementation of the entire volume of the concretion at the same time. For example, if the porosity after early cementation varies across the concretion, then later cementation filling this porosity would produce compositional zoning even with uniform pore water composition. Whether the initial cementation was concentric or pervasive, there is considerable evidence that it occurred quickly and at shallow depth of burial. In many cases, there is clear evidence that the initial concretion formed around some kind of organic nucleus.


title: Concretion

text: The origin of the carbonate-rich septaria is still debated. One possibility is that dehydration hardens the outer shell of the concretion while causing the interior matrix to shrink until it cracks. Shrinkage of a still-wet matrix may also take place through syneresis, in which the particles of colloidal material in the interior of the concretion become gradually more tightly bound while expelling water. Another possibility is that early cementation reduces the permeability of the concretion, trapping pore fluids and creating excess pore pressure during continued burial. This could crack the interior at depths as shallow as . A more speculative theory is that the septaria form by brittle fracturing resulting from earthquakes. Regardless of the mechanism of crack formation, the septaria, like the concretion itself, likely form at a relatively shallow depth of burial of less than and possibly as little as . Geologically young concretions of the Errol Beds of Scotland show texture consistent with formation from flocculated sediments containing organic matter, whose decay left tiny gas bubbles (30 to 35 microns in diameter) and a soap of calcium fatty acids salts. The conversion of these fatty acids to calcium carbonate may have promoted shrinkage and fracture of the matrix.


title: Concretion

text: One model for the formation of septarian concretions in the Staffin Shales suggests that the concretions started as remirigid masses of flocculated clay. The individual colloidal clay particles were bound by extracellular polymeric substances or EPS produced by colonizing bacteria. The decay of these substances, together with syneresis of the host mud, produced stresses that fractured the interiors of the concretions while still at shallow burial depth. This was possible only with the bacterial colonization and the right sedimentation rate. Additional fractures formed during subsequent episodes of shallow burial (during the Cretaceous) or uplift (during the Paleogene). Water derived from rain and snow (meteoric water) later infiltrated the beds and deposited ferroan calcite in the cracks.


title: Concretion

text: Septarian concretions often record a complex history of formation that provides geologists with information on early diagenesis, the initial stages of the formation of sedimentary rock from unconsolidated sediments. Most concretions appear to have formed at depths of burial where sulfate-reducing microorganisms are active. This corresponds to burial depths of , and is characterized by generation of carbon dioxide, increased alkalinity and precipitation of calcium carbonate. However, there is some evidence that formation continues well into the methanogenic zone beneath the sulfate reduction zone.


title: Concretion

text: A spectacular example of boulder septarian concretions, which are as much as in diameter, are the Moeraki Boulders. These concretions are found eroding out of Paleocene mudstone of the Moeraki Formation exposed along the coast near Moeraki, South Island, New Zealand. They are composed of calcite-cemented mud with septarian veins of calcite and rare late-stage quartz and ferrous dolomite. The much smaller septarian concretions found in the Kimmeridge Clay exposed in cliffs along the Wessex coast of England are more typical examples of septarian concretions.


title: Concretion

text: Cannonball concretions are large spherical concretions, which resemble cannonballs. These are found along the Cannonball River within Morton and Sioux Counties, North Dakota, and can reach in diameter. They were created by early cementation of sand and silt by calcite. Similar cannonball concretions, which are as much as in diameter, are found associated with sandstone outcrops of the Frontier Formation in northeast Utah and central Wyoming. They formed by the early cementation of sand by calcite. Somewhat weathered and eroded giant cannonball concretions, as large as in diameter, occur in abundance at "Rock City" in Ottawa County, Kansas. Large and spherical boulders are also found along Koekohe beach near Moeraki on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The Moeraki Boulders, Ward Beach boulders and Koutu Boulders of New Zealand are examples of septarian concretions, which are also cannonball concretions. Large spherical rocks, which are found on the shore of Lake Huron near Kettle Point, Ontario, and locally known as "kettles", are typical cannonball concretions. Cannonball concretions have also been reported from Van Mijenfjorden, Spitsbergen; near Haines Junction, Yukon Territory, Canada; Jameson Land, East Greenland; near Mecevici, Ozimici, and Zavidovici in Bosnia-Herzegovina; in Alaska in the Kenai Peninsula Captain Cook State Park on north of Cook Inlet beach and on Kodiak Island northeast of Fossil Beach;


title: Concretion

text: Hiatus concretions are distinguished by their stratigraphic history of exhumation, exposure and reburial. They are found where submarine erosion has concentrated early diagenetic concretions as lag surfaces by washing away surrounding fine-grained sediments. Their significance for stratigraphy, sedimentology and paleontology was first noted by Voigt who referred to them as "Hiatus-Konkretionen". "Hiatus" refers to the break in sedimentation that allowed this erosion and exposure. They are found throughout the fossil record but are most common during periods in which calcite sea conditions prevailed, such as the Ordovician, Jurassic and Cretaceous. Most are formed from the cemented infillings of burrow systems in siliciclastic or carbonate sediments.


title: Concretion

text: A distinctive feature of hiatus concretions separating them from other types is that they were often encrusted by marine organisms including bryozoans, echinoderms and tube worms in the Paleozoic and bryozoans, oysters and tube worms in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. Hiatus concretions are also often significantly bored by worms and bivalves.


title: Concretion

text: Elongate concretions form parallel to sedimentary strata and have been studied extensively due to the inferred influence of phreatic (saturated) zone groundwater flow direction on the orientation of the axis of elongation. In addition to providing information about the orientation of past fluid flow in the host rock, elongate concretions can provide insight into local permeability trends (i.e., permeability correlation structure; variation in groundwater velocity, and the types of geological features that influence flow.


title: Concretion

text: Elongate concretions are well known in the Kimmeridge Clay formation of northwest Europe. In outcrops, where they have acquired the name "doggers", they are typically only a few meters across, but in the subsurface they can be seen to penetrate up to tens of meters of along-hole dimension. Unlike limestone beds, however, it is impossible to consistently correlate them between even closely spaced wells.


title: Concretion

text: Moqui Marbles, also called Moqui balls or "Moki marbles", are iron oxide concretions which can be found eroding in great abundance out of outcrops of the Navajo Sandstone within south-central and southeastern Utah. These concretions range in shape from spheres to discs, buttons, spiked balls, cylindrical forms, and other odd shapes. They range from pea-size to baseball-size.


title: Concretion

text: The concretions were created by the precipitation of iron, which was dissolved in groundwater. The iron was originally present as a thin film of iron oxide surrounding sand grains in the Navajo Sandstone. Groundwater containing methane or petroleum from underlying rock beds reacted with the iron oxide, converting it to soluble reduced iron. When the iron-bearing groundwater came into contact with more oxygen-rich groundwater, the reduced iron was converted back to insoluble iron oxide, which formed the concretions. It is possible that reduced iron first formed siderite concretions that were subsequently oxidized. Iron-oxidizing bacteria may have played a role.


title: Concretion

text: Kansas pop rocks are concretions of either iron sulfide, "i.e." pyrite and marcasite, or in some cases jarosite, which are found in outcrops of the Smoky Hill Chalk Member of the Niobrara Formation within Gove County, Kansas. They are typically associated with thin layers of altered volcanic ash, called bentonite, that occur within the chalk comprising the Smoky Hill Chalk Member. A few of these concretions enclose, at least in part, large flattened valves of inoceramid bivalves. These concretions range in size from a few millimeters to as much as in length and in thickness. Most of these concretions are oblate spheroids. Other "pop rocks" are small polycuboidal pyrite concretions, which are as much as in diameter. These concretions are called "pop rocks" because they explode if thrown in a fire. Also, when they are either cut or hammered, they produce sparks and a burning sulfur smell. Contrary to what has been published on the Internet, none of the iron sulfide concretions, which are found in the Smoky Hill Chalk Member were created by either the replacement of fossils or by metamorphic processes. In fact, metamorphic rocks are completely absent from the Smoky Hill Chalk Member. Instead, all of these iron sulfide concretions were created by the precipitation of iron sulfides within anoxic marine calcareous ooze after it had accumulated and before it had lithified into chalk.


title: Concretion

text: Iron sulfide concretions, such as the Kansas Pop rocks, consisting of either pyrite and marcasite, are nonmagnetic. On the other hand, iron sulfide concretions, which either are composed of or contain either pyrrhotite or smythite, will be magnetic to varying degrees. Prolonged heating of either a pyrite or marcasite concretion will convert portions of either mineral into pyrrhotite causing the concretion to become slightly magnetic.


title: Concretion

text: Disc concretions composed of calcium carbonate are often found eroding out of exposures of interlaminated silt and clay, varved, proglacial lake deposits. For example, great numbers of strikingly symmetrical concretions have been found eroding out of outcrops of Quaternary proglacial lake sediments along and in the gravels of the Connecticut River and its tributaries in Massachusetts and Vermont. Depending the specific source of these concretions, they vary in an infinite variety of forms that include disc-shapes; crescent-shapes; watch-shapes; cylindrical or club-shapes; botryoidal masses; and animal-like forms. They can vary in length from to over and often exhibit concentric grooves on their surfaces. In the Connecticut River Valley, these concretions are often called "claystones" because the concretions are harder than the clay enclosing them. In local brickyards, they were called "clay-dogs" either because of their animal-like forms or the concretions were nuisances in molding bricks. Similar disc-shaped calcium carbonate concretions have also been found in the Harricana River valley in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue administrative region of Quebec, and in Östergötland county, Sweden. In Scandinavia, they are known as "marlekor" ("fairy stones").


title: Concretion

text: are sandstone concretions found in Oligocene (~30 million years) aged sediments near Fontainebleau, France. Gogottes have fetched high prices at auction due to their sculpture-like quality.


title: Liquidity trap

text: A liquidity trap is a situation, described in Keynesian economics, in which, "after the rate of interest has fallen to a certain level, liquidity preference may become virtually absolute in the sense that almost everyone prefers holding cash rather than holding a debt (financial instrument) which yields so low a rate of interest."


title: Liquidity trap

text: A liquidity trap is caused when people hoard cash because they expect an adverse event such as deflation, insufficient aggregate demand, or war. Among the characteristics of a liquidity trap are interest rates that are close to zero and changes in the money supply that fail to translate into changes in the price level.


title: Liquidity trap

text: John Maynard Keynes, in his 1936 "General Theory", wrote the following: There is the possibility...that, after the rate of interest has fallen to a certain level, liquidity-preference may become virtually absolute in the sense that almost everyone prefers cash to holding a debt which yields so low a rate of interest. In this event the monetary authority would have lost effective control over the rate of interest. But whilst this limiting case might become practically important in future, I know of no example of it hitherto.


title: Liquidity trap

text: This concept of monetary policy's potential impotence was further worked out in the works of British economist John Hicks, who published the IS–LM model representing Keynes's system. Nobel laureate Paul Krugman, in his work on monetary policy, follows the formulations of Hicks: A liquidity trap may be defined as a situation in which conventional monetary policies have become impotent, because nominal interest rates are at or near zero: injecting monetary base into the economy has no effect, because [monetary] base and bonds are viewed by the private sector as perfect substitutes. In a liquidity trap, people are indifferent between bonds and cash because the rates of interest both financial instruments provide to their holder is practically equal: The interest on cash is zero and the interest on bonds is near-zero. Hence, the central bank cannot affect the interest rate any more (through augmenting the monetary base) and has lost control over it.


title: Liquidity trap

text: In Keynes' description of a liquidity trap, people simply do not want to hold bonds and prefer other, more-liquid forms of money instead. Because of this preference, after converting bonds into cash, this causes an incidental but significant decrease to the bonds' prices and a subsequent increase to their yields. However, people prefer cash no matter how high these yields are or how high the central bank sets the bond's rates (yields).


title: Liquidity trap

text: Post-Keynesian economist Hyman Minsky posited that "after a debt deflation that induces a deep depression, an increase in the money supply with a fixed head count of other [financial] assets may not lead to a rise in the price of other assets." This naturally causes interest rates on assets that are not considered "almost perfectly liquid" to rise. In which case, as Minsky had stated elsewhere,The view that the liquidity-preference function is a demand-for-money relation permits the introduction of the idea that in appropriate circumstances the demand for money may be infinitely elastic with respect to variations in the interest rate… The liquidity trap presumably dominates in the immediate aftermath of a great depression or financial crisis.


title: Liquidity trap

text: In the wake of the Keynesian revolution in the 1930s and 1940s, various neoclassical economists sought to minimize the effect of liquidity-trap conditions. Don Patinkin and Lloyd Metzler invoked the existence of the so-called "Pigou effect", in which the stock of real money balances is ostensibly an argument of the aggregate demand function for goods, so that the money stock would directly affect the "investment saving" curve in IS/LM analysis. Monetary policy would thus be able to stimulate the economy even when there is a liquidity trap.


title: Liquidity trap

text: Monetarists, most notably Milton Friedman, Anna Schwartz, Karl Brunner, Allan Meltzer and others, strongly condemned any notion of a "trap" that did not feature an environment of a zero, or near-zero, interest rate across the whole spectrum of interest rates, i.e. both short- and long-term debt of the government and the private sector. In their view, any interest rate different from zero along the yield curve is a sufficient condition to eliminate the possibility of the presence of a liquidity trap.


title: Liquidity trap

text: In recent times, when the Japanese economy fell into a period of prolonged stagnation, despite near-zero interest rates, the concept of a liquidity trap returned to prominence. Keynes's formulation of a liquidity trap refers to the existence of a horizontal demand-curve for money at some positive level of interest rates; yet, the liquidity trap invoked in the 1990s referred merely to the presence of zero or near-zero interest-rates policies (ZIRP), the assertion being that interest rates could not fall below zero. Some economists, such as Nicholas Crafts, have suggested a policy of inflation-targeting (by a central bank that is independent of the government) at times of prolonged, very low, nominal interest-rates, in order to avoid a liquidity trap or escape from it.


title: Liquidity trap

text: Some Austrian School economists, such as those of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, reject Keynes' theory of liquidity preference altogether. They argue that lack of domestic investment during periods of low interest-rates is the result of previous malinvestment and time preferences rather than liquidity preference. Chicago school economists remain critical of the notion of liquidity traps.


title: Liquidity trap

text: Keynesian economists, like Brad DeLong and Simon Wren-Lewis, maintain that the economy continues to operate within the IS-LM model, albeit an "updated" one, and the rules have "simply changed."


title: Liquidity trap

text: During the Global Financial Crisis, in the period 2008–2010, as short-term interest rates for the various central banks in the United States and Europe moved close to zero, economists such as Paul Krugman argued that much of the developed world, including the United States, Europe, and Japan, was in a liquidity trap. He noted that tripling of the monetary base in the US between 2008 and 2011 failed to produce any significant effect on domestic price indices or dollar-denominated commodity prices, a notion supported by others, such as Scott Sumner.


title: Liquidity trap

text: U.S. Federal Reserve economists assert that the liquidity trap can explain low inflation in periods of vastly increased central bank money supply. Based on experience $3.5 trillion of quantitative easing from 2009–2013, the hypothesis is that investors hoard and do not spend the increased money because the opportunity cost of holding cash (namely the interest forgone) is zero when the nominal interest rate is zero. This hoarding effect is purported to have reduced consequential inflation to half of what would be expected directly from the increase in the money supply, based on statistics from the expansive years. They further assert that the liquidity trap is possible only when the economy is in deep recession.


title: Liquidity trap

text: Modest inflation during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, despite unprecedented monetary stimulus and expansion, was similarly ascribed to hoarding of cash. The M1 money supply (currency and demand deposits and other checkable deposits which pay negligible interest) exploded from $4 trillion to $20 trillion during this period, consistent with the theorized hoarding of a liquidity trap.


title: Liquidity trap

text: Post-Keynesians respond that the confusion by "mainstream economists" between conditions of a liquidity trap, as defined by Keynes and in the Post-Keynesian framework, and conditions of near-zero or zero interest rates, is intentional and ideologically motivated in ostensibly attempting to support monetary over fiscal policies. They argue that, quantitative easing programs in the United States, and elsewhere, caused the prices of financial assets to rise across the board and interest rates to fall; yet, a liquidity trap cannot exist, according to the Keynesian definition, unless the prices on imperfectly safe financial assets are falling and their interest rates are rising. The rise in the monetary base did not affect interest rates or commodity prices.


title: Liquidity trap

text: Taking the precedent of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, critics of the mainstream definition of a liquidity trap point out that the central bank of the United States never, effectively, lost control of the interest rate. Whereas the United States did experience a liquidity trap in the period 2009/10, i.e. in "the immediate aftermath" of the crisis, the critics of the mainstream definition claim that, after that period, there is no more of any kind of a liquidity trap since government and private-sector bonds are "very much in demand". This goes against Keynes' point as Keynes stated that "almost everyone prefers cash to holding a debt." However, modern finance has the concept of cash and cash equivalents; Treasuries may in some cases be treated as cash equivalents and not "debt" for liquidity purposes.


title: Negation

text: In logic, negation, also called the logical complement, is an operation that takes a proposition formula_1 to another proposition "not formula_1", written formula_3, formula_4 or formula_5. It is interpreted intuitively as being true when formula_1 is false, and false when formula_1 is true. Negation is thus a unary logical connective. It may be applied as an operation on notions, propositions, truth values, or semantic values more generally. In classical logic, negation is normally identified with the truth function that takes "truth" to "falsity" (and vice versa). In intuitionistic logic, according to the Brouwer–Heyting–Kolmogorov interpretation, the negation of a proposition formula_1 is the proposition whose proofs are the refutations of formula_1.


title: Negation

text: "Classical negation" is an operation on one logical value, typically the value of a proposition, that produces a value of "true" when its operand is false, and a value of "false" when its operand is true. Thus if statement is true, then formula_3 (pronounced "not P") would then be false; and conversely, if formula_3 is false, then would be true.


title: Negation

text: Negation can be defined in terms of other logical operations. For example, formula_3 can be defined as formula_14 (where formula_15 is logical consequence and formula_16 is absolute falsehood). Conversely, one can define formula_16 as formula_18 for any proposition (where formula_19 is logical conjunction). The idea here is that any contradiction is false, and while these ideas work in both classical and intuitionistic logic, they do not work in paraconsistent logic, where contradictions are not necessarily false. In classical logic, we also get a further identity, formula_20 can be defined as formula_21, where formula_22 is logical disjunction.


title: Negation

text: Algebraically, classical negation corresponds to complementation in a Boolean algebra, and intuitionistic negation to pseudocomplementation in a Heyting algebra. These algebras provide a semantics for classical and intuitionistic logic, respectively.


title: Negation

text: The negation of a proposition is notated in different ways, in various contexts of discussion and fields of application. The following table documents some of these variants:


title: Negation

text: In set theory, formula_23 is also used to indicate 'not in the set of': formula_24 is the set of all members of that are not members of .


title: Negation

text: Regardless how it is notated or symbolized, the negation formula_3 can be read as "it is not the case that ", "not that ", or usually more simply as "not ".


title: Negation

text: Within a system of classical logic, double negation, that is, the negation of the negation of a proposition formula_1, is logically equivalent to formula_1. Expressed in symbolic terms, formula_28. In intuitionistic logic, a proposition implies its double negation, but not conversely. This marks one important difference between classical and intuitionistic negation. Algebraically, classical negation is called an involution of period two.


title: Negation

text: However, in intuitionistic logic, the weaker equivalence formula_29 does hold. This is because in intuitionistic logic, formula_3 is just a shorthand for formula_14, and we also have formula_32. Composing that last implication with triple negation formula_33 implies that formula_14 .


title: Negation

text: As a result, in the propositional case, a sentence is classically provable if its double negation is intuitionistically provable. This result is known as Glivenko's theorem.


title: Negation

text: Let formula_37 denote the logical xor operation. In Boolean algebra, a linear function is one such that:


title: Negation

text: Another way to express this is that each variable always makes a difference in the truth-value of the operation, or it never makes a difference. Negation is a linear logical operator.


title: Negation

text: In first-order logic, there are two quantifiers, one is the universal quantifier formula_43 (means "for all") and the other is the existential quantifier formula_44 (means "there exists"). The negation of one quantifier is the other quantifier (formula_45 and formula_46). For example, with the predicate "P" as ""x" is mortal" and the domain of x as the collection of all humans, formula_47 means "a person x in all humans is mortal" or "all humans are mortal". The negation of it is formula_45, meaning "there exists a person "x" in all humans who is not mortal", or "there exists someone who lives forever".


title: Negation

text: There are a number of equivalent ways to formulate rules for negation. One usual way to formulate classical negation in a natural deduction setting is to take as primitive rules of inference "negation introduction" (from a derivation of formula_1 to both formula_50 and formula_51, infer formula_3; this rule also being called "reductio ad absurdum"), "negation elimination" (from formula_1 and formula_3 infer formula_50; this rule also being called "ex falso quodlibet"), and "double negation elimination" (from formula_56 infer formula_1). One obtains the rules for intuitionistic negation the same way but by excluding double negation elimination.


title: Negation

text: Negation introduction states that if an absurdity can be drawn as conclusion from formula_1 then formula_1 must not be the case (i.e. formula_1 is false (classically) or refutable (intuitionistically) or etc.). Negation elimination states that anything follows from an absurdity. Sometimes negation elimination is formulated using a primitive absurdity sign formula_16. In this case the rule says that from formula_1 and formula_3 follows an absurdity. Together with double negation elimination one may infer our originally formulated rule, namely that anything follows from an absurdity.


title: Negation

text: Typically the intuitionistic negation formula_3 of formula_1 is defined as formula_14. Then negation introduction and elimination are just special cases of implication introduction (conditional proof) and elimination (modus ponens). In this case one must also add as a primitive rule "ex falso quodlibet".


title: Negation

text: The exclamation mark "codice_1" signifies logical NOT in B, C, and languages with a C-inspired syntax such as C++, Java, JavaScript, Perl, and PHP. "codice_2" is the operator used in ALGOL 60, BASIC, and languages with an ALGOL- or BASIC-inspired syntax such as Pascal, Ada, Eiffel and Seed7. Some languages (C++, Perl, etc.) provide more than one operator for negation. A few languages like PL/I and Ratfor use codice_3 for negation. Most modern languages allow the above statement to be shortened from codice_4 to codice_5, which allows sometimes, when the compiler/interpreter is not able to optimize it, faster programs.