How many, have nursed a knocking Rod home?

I had a '90 Ford Bronco with a 5.0, that had a slight rod knock when I would first start it up. After a second or two of running, it would quiet down once the oil pressure came up. It was like that for about a year. I used to pound the wee out of it, doing a lot of off roading and just general horsing around. One morning, I started it up, and the rod knock was horrendous. I looked at the oil pressure gauge, and I had nothing. It wasn't nice enough to fix, so it got parted out.