"It began with a star Salomon bond trader whom I’ll call Franky Simon. One day not so long ago, Franky boasted to a nearby trader that he could run a mile in less than eight minutes. The trader took one look at the putto-like Franky and said he doubted that Franky could run to the elevator if the building were on fire. Franky stood firm. Franky was a fighter. The argument became a spectacle. A crowd began to gather. The debate raged into Salomon’s system-wide loudspeaker—called the Hoot and Holler. Traders and brokers in Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, Boston, London, and even Tokyo joined in. Before long a market was being made in Franky’s mile that by the end of the day was 7:30-7:40. (A bet for Franky was that he could run a mile in less than seven minutes and thirty seconds; a bet against him was that he couldn’t finish in under seven minutes, forty seconds.) Franky had his doubters. “He used to jog some in college,” said a trader who sold Franky short, “but that was thirty pounds and seven years ago. I thought he could probably run half a mile at that pace. The question was, could he gut out the last quarter mile? I figured he’d collapse.” When the betting finished—three hours after it had begun—$8,000 said Franky couldn’t beat the clock. On the other hand, $8,000 said that he could."