Had a particularly heavy loss ever caused him to cry? Bolling is momentarily taken aback, and then laughs. âNo, no,â he says with all the tough-guy resolve you would expect from a former Pittsburgh Pirates third baseman, albeit one forced by injury to quit after just two years. âAlthough â¦â He pauses, then laughs again, this time a little nervously. âThe closest I ever came to crying was in 2002, when my son was in preschool.â He strokes his close-cropped goatee. âIt was my day to read a story to the class, and I have a big position on natural gas, 500 spreads that happen to be the wrong way. The market was just ripping that morning. And Iâm reading The Spider and the Fly, and Iâm getting text messages about where the marketâs going, and the sweat is beating up on me.
âBut Iâm still reading, and when they open it up to questions, the kids turn out to love the story. So I end up having to answer 30 questions, while Iâm seeing the market going worse and worse. By the time I get to the trading floor, I am down - should I say this? - $2 million. Two million dollars - because I was reading a story!â
He shrugs. âBut what can you do? You try to put it aside, and you focus on trading. And to be honest, you make it back. Not all at once, of course. But you take baby steps, and you do.â
http://www.davidrowan.com/2005/11/fuel-economy-hanging-out-with-nymex.html