BruiserKC

Politically speaking here for a moment. Granted, I'm not voting for Obama in November, he's a bit too liberal/socialist for my taste. But a month or so ago people were screaming at him to break ties with Rev. Wright for being a racist nutjob. Finally, Obama recently does it, and these same people that were demanding the good Rev be thrown under the bus say that it was strictly for convenience politically that he did it. I mean, WTF? This is what you wanted and now you're not happy he did it.

John Wooden Sir Winston Churchill General William Tecumseh Sherman Frank Sinatra Michelle Malkin

Some others that need consideration for the list... Rick Steamboat- One of the truly great stars of the business...at the very least "The Dragon" should be considered Bruiser Brody- He inspired hardcore wrestling for our generation Barry Windham- Very solid big man...was a tremendous wrestler in his day. Arn Anderson- One of the most underrated performers of all-time. Solid work rate and his promos were gold

Dan Patrick isn't the same since he left ESPN. I tried to listen to his new show but gave up. I don't know if it was the booking or what, but he just doesn't have that same zing he had with ESPN. Of course he could always count on the ESPN Rolodex if he needed help.

I think it was 1981 or so. Jerry "The King" Lawler in Memphis had told the fans if he couldn't win the NWA World title from Ric Flair by the end of the year that he'd retire. Lawler didn't get his first World title until 1988 but never retired after being unable to beat Flair.

TNA's not perfect...but I'm seeing the improvements from week to week. There's no question TNA has some great stars in Cage, Angle, Joe, Roode, Booker, Styles, Tomko, etc. Plus, they have clearly managed to avoid the pressure of jumping right in and competing with WWE. That would have been a disaster. For the announcing team...I'd go with Scott Hudson and Jarrett or Shane Douglas. Jarrett would make a good heel commentator. I suppose you could do a three-man booth and have Jarrett the face commentator and Douglas the heel. Tenay's good for his knowledge of the business, he'd make a good interviewer. West just screams to garner attention. The move to in-ring action could be a very smart one. With Flair's retirement, one of the last great true pro wrestlers is gone, he was a link to the era of wrestling on TV that came with mostly in-ring action. There might be a few of those that watched WWE only to see Flair that will stop watching now. TNA could be perfect for them. Plus...it's time for TNA to develop its own identity and go with one of their own. Nothing against Angle, but with guys like him, Cage, Rhino, Sting, etc competing for the World title, it made the true TNA non-WWE talent seem as if they weren't worth running the show. If you put the title on Samoa Joe now (and there are plenty of potential battles to choose from for him) it sends a strong message that it's time to turn the page. While guys like Cage, Angle, and Booker T bring attention from the WWE fans, long-term growth depends on their finding future stars and growing their own.

I marked out when the Horsemen came out. I almost broke down. It was awesome to see Barry Windham, even though he clearly looked like he enjoyed too many trips to the buffet line. The one person Vince could have swallowed his pride, forgot his animosity, and let show up. We needed the original Four Horsemen...we needed OLE ANDERSON DAMN IT!

My favorite matches of Flair... His Clash of Champions match with Steamboat, followed by Flair vs. Anderson at Fall Brawl '94. I think he might have held on too long...but at least Flair was willing to put over the younger talent and not clamoring for World title shots he might not have truly deserved (like Hogan). I'll miss Flair...thanks for the memories Ric. Diamonds are forever, and so is Ric Flair. WOOOOOOO!

Goldberg vs. Raven Pillman vs. Liger...ME on the first Nitro show.

the way I see it in terms of Number 1 seeds would be UNC, Memphis, Kansas (barring a loss tommorow) and UCLA in that order, but tommorow we shall see, the seedings should be interesting given all the upsets in the last couple days I'd agree with those four...I'd say the Kansas-Texas winner out of the Big 12 should get the fourth number 1 seed.

In their day, the Briscos were a great team. Jack was even a 2-time NWA World champion. There's more to Jerry aka Gerald than being one of Vince's stooges during the Attitude days. That's the one thing that bothers me about when Vince uses the older wrestlers sometimes. He makes them look rather foolish and it seems to take away from what they did in the past. Lawler is a perfect example. In his prime, "The King" was a solid wrestler and I'd put his matches against Terry Funk, Austin Idol, and Eddie Gilbert up there with any classics of today. Yet, all fans probably know of him today is how he acts like he just hit puberty when the divas come to the ring.

And now Mccain is endorsed by guys like John Hagee and Rod Parsley. Sure Obama's pastor said horrible things but at least they don't want to kill all people that administer abortions like Parsley would want to. While Hagee and Parsley are every bit as ignorant, anti-Semitic, and hate-mongers as Dr. Wright is every bit a racist, anti-Semitic, and a hate-monger, the difference between Obama and McCain is McCain never sat in the pews at the churches of Parsley and Hagee for 20 years. You would figure for as long as Obama sat and listened to Wright's sermons, unless he fell asleep during them he had to have some ideas of what this guy was truly about. I'll call it like I see it. Dr. Wright is a racist, hate-mongering nutjob and is every bit as ignorant and disgusting as a white man burning a cross wearing a white robe.

I'm an Iowa fan, but I'm rooting for Tubby Smith and Minnesota now in the Big Ten tourney. I bet the folks in Lexington now might be regretting letting him go especially if Kentucky is relegated to the No Interest Tournament or that other tourney now they've set up that no one will care about. That game last night with Indiana was un-fucking-believable. Could the SEC have played the remaining games in the Phillips Arena or are the Hawks using it again this weekend, I know the Hawks played there last night.

One moment that stuck out for me...when Rick Steamboat slapped Medusa in the spring of '92. That was truly a "Holy Shit" moment as Steamboat was the last person you'd expect to see do something like that. Then before the shock wears off, they finished off the angle brilliantly by having the Dangerous Alliance jump Steamboat and climax with Rick Rude ramming Steamboat's head into the concrete floor and breaking his nose. That was a moment where they did it perfectly.

Gagne wasn't impressed with the hosses of the day. That was the same thing that happened to Hulk Hogan pre-WWF. Despite of the huge popularity of Hogan, Gagne was hell-bent on eventually having his son Greg win the AWA title from Bockwinkel. That's how Vince convinced Hogan to leave the AWA. Whoever was comparing Jerry Blackwell to Santino Marella..."The Mountain from Stone Mountain" had much more on the ball and I'll take him over Marella any day. I remember how Blackwell could throw a mean dropkick...not bad for a nearly 500-pound man. I also miss seeing Stan "The Lariat" Hansen and King Kong/Bruiser Brody. Sandman might be the Hardcore Icon, Foley the Hardcore Legend, but Brody IMHO was the King of Hardcore.

None of the candidates remaining impress me. McCain wimped out on the border. He wants amnesty for illegals, doesn't sit well with me. He claims to be a maverick beholden to no one, then starts fawning all over the extreme conservatives. Obama seems like a nice guy...but I know a lot of folks that are nice guys I could hang out and have a beer with. I don't necessarily want to see them in the White House. His volunteers won't answer questions...I asked one of them how they would handle the radical Islam threat to the world...he just went on and on about how great a guy he is. Plus, Obama has no real legislative accomplishments that stand out since being elected to Congress. Hillary...all I can say is I'd head for Canada if she won. At least when her husband lied to you and screwed you over, he'd do it with a smile on his face. She'll say whatever the hell it takes to get elected, and it wouldn't surprise me if she takes the fight all the way to the convention and then tries to use the superdelegates to back-door her way into the nomination.

Look at how Bruno Sammartino...WWE/F's first big name...is still not in the HOF. That shows how much of a joke the Hall of Fame is.

I remember turning it on one night expecting the old-school UWF that Cowboy Bill Watts ran in the mid-80s and was very disappointed. I'm looking forward to seeing the AWA stuff again. How come Vince doesn't run it on 24/7 anymore?

What I find funny are people who just get caught up in the liberal or conservative movement because they find it cool. Then when you try to have an intelligent discussion on the issues with them they show how foolish they are.

Considering what Mitchell wasn't given, I think he did OK with the report. He only got two players to talk to him...Giambi and Frank Thomas (and Giambi only because Selig forced him to). He had no subpoena power to make anyone else talk, plus the MLBPA refused to do anything for him at all. That's why I thought it laughable that the union whined about not getting any advance copies. If Selig and Fehr really cared about the good of the game and not jerking off all over themselves over the money they made, they'd tender their resignations right now. Selig was enjoying the possibility of not being remembered as the commish that cancelled the World Series. Now he can be remembered for that and the roid era as he allowed it to happen. Plus, Fehr blocked attempts to stop everything. Wouldn't that be considered criminal if roids are illegal?

Another great Savage promo I remember was after WM 8 when he beat Flair after Flair slapped Elizabeth. Savage went something like, "Wrestling is temporary...championships are temporary also. But my love for Elizabeth is FOREVER!"

Flair over Vader at Starrcade '93...I fully expected the Mastodon to put Flair into retirement. Benoit winning the World title at WM 20. At the time...it was a big thing for Benoit after all the years he'd put in busting his ass.

Ole Anderson's promo rejecting his partner Thunderbolt Patterson for his nephew Arn..."I look at my nephew and see everything an Anderson should be. Today is a free day...tomorrow watch your back!" I got goosebumps from this promo...no screaming, no ranting and raving...just telling it like it was. Jerry Lawler was good on the mic...personal fave of mine was the one before his match with Andy Kauffman talking about how he took the business seriously and how people like Kauffman made it a joke. One of my personal faves came from Sid Justice aka Vicious before wrestling Hogan at WM 8..."There's two types of bees...there's the bees that make honey. And THEN THERE'S YOU FATSO! THERE'S THE USED-TO-BE!" Calling Hulk Hogan "fatso"...priceless.

It's a shame...Bonds was the best player of this generation without the use of roids. It's obvious he couldn't handle all the pub that McGwire and Sosa were getting, so he bulked up. However, the difference between him and Rose is this...baseball looked the other way during this time as the home runs were what brought baseball back from the brink of irrevelance after the 1994 strike. With Rose there was no such ambiguity...gambling on baseball is the number one no-no in the rule book. It's plastered up on every locker room, etc. Selig didn't want to do anything as he knew that without this he would have been remembered primarily as the commissioner that got the World Series cancelled. Eventually, baseball would have been relegated to being as important in the US as hockey or the WNBA. This is going to get a lot uglier now and I see Selig's reputation being permanently tarnished. In no way am I sympathizing with Bonds...payback is a bitch for him and she's clearly on her period right now...but baseball could have done something about this. Ironically...baseball honors another cheater in Cooperstown...one Gaylord Perry. He won 300 games while admitting to throwing spitballs and doctoring up the ball in a bazillion different ways. Last time I checked...the spitball has been illegal since 1920.

When I umpired Little League, I ejected a father one time. He was yelling and screaming at me the whole game, apparently I wasn't making the right calls to suit him. His son was the catcher...and it was tied when a sacrifice play brought a close bang-bang play to the plate. The catcher gets the ball and braces for the collision...the runner knocks the ball out of his glove and scores the go-ahead run. The father goes ballistic and starts swearing up a storm. I walk over calmly and tell him, "Yell at me all you want, pal...but if you taught your son the right way to block the plate with his leg he might have held onto the ball." Seconds later, I ran him. Another mundale achievement...I played soccer in high school before it received sanctioned status by the state. I was a defender and helped our team go 9 matches in a row without being scored on. Then, in the 10th...I hurt my ankle early on, got it wrapped up and stayed in the game. After the final whistle, I could barely stand and I go to the hospital. Turns out I played the entire match on a broken ankle. Our coach one moment says it was the most courageous thing he'd ever seen, then he told me never to pull such a stupid stunt again.