Prophet of Mike Zagurski

They need people to buy this game so they will as a many modes as they can. Get over it.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/8851251.htm Steroid survivor By JOSEPH PERSON Staff Writer Del Wilkes never hit rock bottom, try as he might. Every time the former South Carolina football All-American and pro wrestler thought his life could sink no lower, he would dive deeper into the muck of his drug addiction and hard-living lifestyle. There was the day when his wife, Teresa, now his ex-wife, drove him to the Columbia airport while he sat in the passenger seat jamming as many syringes of steroids into his muscles as he could before a flight to Japan. One of the needles hit a vein in his buttocks and a stream of blood sprayed on Teresa, like a scene from a Quentin Tarantino movie. Only this was real. And as Teresa tried to wipe away the tears and the blood and asked aloud what kind of life they were living, Wilkes figured his wife was just having a bad day. Or there were the two occasions he took demo cars off the lot of his employer, Herndon Chevrolet, and disappeared in search of the next party and line of cocaine. There were the two weeks he spent in jail in Greenville, where he had gone to forge prescriptions for pain pills because all the pharmacies in Columbia were on to his scam. Wilkes, an All-American guard on USC's famous 1984 "Black Magic" team, was arrested 18 times between 1998 and 2002. Most of the arrests stemmed from forging prescriptions for painkillers, but there are other ugly marks on Wilkes' six-page rap sheet, including the 1999 night when he roughed up Teresa, his second wife. "Your whole life is out of control," said Wilkes, who drank and used cocaine regularly after getting off the painkillers. "Things that you thought you'd never do, places you thought you'd never go, people you thought you'd never hang around with, become part of your life." So when a judge in Newberry County finally sentenced Wilkes to prison for a parole violation in 2002, it was with a sense of relief that Wilkes walked into the Lower Savannah Pre-Release Center in Aiken for the most important nine months of his life. "You're finally clean and straight long enough where you can think properly," Wilkes said. Mostly, Wilkes thought about trading his rock 'n' roll lifestyle for the kind of normal life he always had mocked. That is what he has tried to do since his release last year. A big weekend for Wilkes now means making breakfast and playing in the park with his two school-age children near his home in Newberry. He has been off drugs and alcohol for two years. He has a job selling cars again, but no license to drive one. He has three children and two ex-wives. And he has a fascinating story that he shares with church youth groups throughout the state. The message from a man who made his living wearing a mask and climbing into a ring: Normal is not so bad. FROM FOOTBALL TO WRESTLING Wilkes weighed 225 pounds in 1979 when he played offensive line as a senior at Irmo. "Today, that wouldn't make a decent linebacker," he said. The era of the supersized football player was beginning when Wilkes arrived at USC the following fall. He remembers seeing pictures of the Pittsburgh Steelers' offensive line, a unit that included former Gamecock star Steve Courson. "Those guys were jacked," Wilkes said. "They had legs hanging off their shoulders." Courson also had steroids streaming through his body. The first time he tried steroids, Wilkes was a sophomore during Jim Carlen's final season at USC. Having trouble gaining weight, Wilkes contacted a team doctor and asked if he would call in a prescription for the anabolic steroid Dianabol. "His response was, 'What's the pharmacy number?'" Wilkes said. "So it was that easy." Carlen was the reason Wilkes chose USC over Clemson, Georgia and Georgia Tech. So when Carlen was fired before the '82 season, Wilkes left with him, quitting school and driving a delivery truck for a year. When Joe Morrison replaced Richard Bell as head coach in '83, Morrison called Wilkes and invited him to lunch at Shealy's Sandwich Shop. By the end of the meal, Wilkes was convinced Morrison was the "ultimate players' coach" and decided to return to the team. Wilkes encountered a different locker-room atmosphere when he returned. Steroid use was more widespread, with four of the five offensive line starters on the '84 team doing cycles of injectable steroids, according to Wilkes. And though USC was at the center of a steroid scandal in 1988 after the publication of Tommy Chaikin's Sports Illustrated article, Wilkes believes steroid use was just as common among the Gamecocks' opponents as it was at USC. "You could go into any gym back then and get anything you wanted," he said. "It was like buying a cell phone. There was nothing to it." Wilkes was USC's most decorated player in '84, when the Gamecocks finished 10-2 for the best season in school history. He had tryouts with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons but did not make an NFL roster. So he decided to follow his other passion. In high school Wilkes and his friends from Irmo showed up at The Township whenever the pro wrestling circuit came through Columbia. In 1987 Wilkes gave up on a football career and visited the Fabulous Moolah, the Columbia woman famous for training wrestlers. "It was with pure intentions of having a great career. And I did," said Wilkes, who made as much as $250,000 a year wrestling. "But you never realize your dream would end up being a nightmare." Wilkes began wrestling as "The Trooper," an ironic role given his future dealings with law-enforcement officers. He later became "The Patriot," a flag-waving, masked character created to take advantage of Americans' nationalism after the end of the first Gulf War. Wilkes was a bigger hit in Japan than he was in the United States, but that didn't stop him from living like a star. Wilkes says a pro wrestler is like a rock star without the guitar. "You're exposed to the same vices and same excesses," he said, "a young guy with a lot of money." At night the wrestlers found alcohol, drugs and women waiting in every city, from Tokyo to Toledo. Days were spent in local gyms, where Wilkes lifted weights to ensure he received the maximum effect of the steroids he pumped into his body for the better part of a decade. "It was a part of my job," he said. "I made a living without a shirt in front of large audiences and on worldwide TV every week." The 6-foot-3 Wilkes bulked up to 300 pounds and had muscles that were too big for his tendons and joints to support. He ruptured the tendon in his right triceps twice in a two-year span. In all, the 42-year-old Wilkes has had nine surgeries on knees, shoulders, elbows and triceps. PRESCRIPTION SCAM The injuries helped lead to a vicious cycle of pills. Wilkes took pain pills and muscle relaxants before his matches, sleeping pills to get through the night and cocaine to get the next day started. Marcus "Buff" Bagwell, a wrestler and longtime friend of Wilkes, said drug abuse was widespread in the wrestling industry. "We did 'em all," Bagwell said. "We did everything." At one point, Wilkes was scarfing down more than 100 pain pills a day, preferably Percoset or Percodan. "You're caught up in it and you just think that's the normal way of living," Wilkes said. "Everyone else I worked with is doing it, so it's almost like you're going out here living the normal lives. (Other people) are the weirdos." When he wrestled in Japan, the last thing Wilkes would do before leaving Columbia was inject steroids rather than risk taking them on the plane. And the first thing he would do when he returned home was to have Teresa take him to the closest pharmacy. "Directionwise, he just kind of wandered," Carlen said. "I think he wanted to be big and strong, and then he got there and the drugs just controlled him." Joel Hackett, a former World Wrestling Federation doctor based in Indianapolis, was the "Doctor Feelgood" for wrestlers who needed steroids or painkillers, calling in hundreds of prescriptions for at least a dozen wrestlers. As a gesture of thanks, Wilkes once paid for a Las Vegas vacation for Hackett's family. Said Wilkes: "He was part of your budget - light bill, mortgage, Hackett." When Indiana's Medical Licensing Board suspended Hackett's license in 1999 amid allegations of illegally prescribing steroids and painkillers, Wilkes needed a way to feed his addiction. He had heard Hackett call in enough prescriptions that he was familiar with the lingo. Having obtained Hackett's Drug Enforcement Agency licensing number, he started calling Columbia pharmacies pretending to be Hackett. Wilkes also used the names of a couple of Columbia doctors whom he refused to identify. It worked for several months. And when it stopped working, Wilkes got in his car and drove to Sumter, Lexington, Newberry and Fountain Inn, four places where he was arrested for forging prescriptions. Other than the two weeks he spent in the Greenville County Detention Center in November 2001 on the Fountain Inn charges, Wilkes managed to escape serious consequences. Officials at Herndon Chevrolet declined to press charges when he took off with the dealer cars, and at least one of the drug sentences was suspended contingent on Wilkes getting treatment. He did four stints in rehab, although each time he began drinking and using drugs again. Wilkes went through a tortuous withdrawal from the painkillers while imprisoned in Greenville, and managed to kick his pill addiction. "But I just pointed it in another direction," said Wilkes, who continued abusing cocaine and alcohol. "I think I may have gotten even more out of control after that point than I ever did." Wilkes' memory is hazy on the details from this period of his life. Teresa divorced him in the spring of 2000. Recurring injuries forced him to quit wrestling that same year. In 2001, Lexington police were searching for him and the stolen car, and his various other legal problems were stacking up. Said Wilkes: "The reason I drank was to get my mind off the miserable mess my life was then. I couldn't take it stone-cold sober." Several times Carlen and Allen Adkins, who dated Wilkes at USC, intervened on his behalf. Both admit now that their assistance enabled Wilkes to continue his downward slide. "People kept saying the best thing to do is shoot him and forget him," Carlen said. "I just kept thinking if I stay (involved) long enough, he'll recover. Well, they were right and I was wrong. I should have let him go to jail." Eventually, Wilkes did go to jail, a nine-month stint that might have saved Wilkes from himself. A NEW LIFE For a man who had traveled the world during his wrestling heyday, Wilkes' longest road trip might have been the 45-minute bus ride he took in shackles while being transported from Kirkland Correctional Institution in Columbia to Lower Savannah in Aiken in May 2002. Wilkes had blown most of the money he had made wrestling. His kids, who lived with Teresa in Cayce, were not in contact with him. And he was heading to jail. But at least he was alive. "At the end of nine months I'm going to walk out of here and you get a chance," Wilkes remembers thinking. "You do right or you don't." Wilkes tried to make the most of his time in the minimum-security facility, where he was assigned the same private room that rock 'n' roll legend James Brown had stayed in previously. In charge of the canteen, commissary and library, Wilkes did not get back to his room until after 10 most nights. There he would read and write weekly letters to his children, who never wrote back. "I hadn't been a daddy at all," he said. Wilkes had his 18-month sentence cut in half for good behavior, and walked out of Lower Savannah a free man on Valentine's Day, 2003. He moved in with his mother, Kathleen Wilkes, in Newberry, landed a job at Love Chevrolet Hummer in Harbison and later moved into a rental house not far from his mother's place. With his driver's license revoked until August at the earliest, Wilkes relies on family members to transport him to and from work. He has done well at Love, where he divulged his past problems during his interview. "We felt like he deserved a chance. We gave him a chance and he's become a very good salesperson," said Love general sales manager Mike Corley, noting that Wilkes consistently scores high on customer-service surveys. "From day one, I guess, he really appreciated (the second chance)," Corley said. "He's lived up to everything he said. He's got a job here as long as he wants it." Former employer David Herndon called Wilkes a "good salesperson and a good person, period." 'HE WAS THE HERO' Clean and sober for two years, Wilkes isn't a member of support groups. But he is committed to his new lifestyle, taking doctor-prescribed nonnarcotic painkillers to ease his chronic knee pain. Wilkes has not had a thorough physical since he quit wrestling, afraid to find out what the years of drug and alcohol abuse might have done to his body. He was diagnosed with high blood pressure last year, but is uncertain whether it is related to his steroid use. The 255-pound Wilkes walks 30 minutes every morning and has no interest in going inside another weight room. Several pro wrestlers, including some of Wilkes' friends, have died since 1997 from problems brought on by steroid and other drug use. The BALCO scandal has brought renewed scrutiny to a new blend of designer steroids. When Wilkes speaks to area youth groups, which he has done a handful of times, he stresses abstinence: "The best way not to have a drug problem is don't try it." Adkins, Wilkes' friend since college, accompanied him to one of his speaking engagements. "He was the hero," Adkins said. "I cried. It was just hard to believe how far he'd come. And he'd done it all himself. He'd chosen, with God's help, to pull himself up from the depths." Wilkes is again involved in his children's lives. He gets his two youngest, 8-year-old Mallie and 7-year-old Del III, every other weekend, and sees Robert when the 18-year-old's schedule allows it. The only wrestling Wilkes does these days is with the two school-age children on the living room floor. They like it when their father pretends to be a ring announcer, introducing the main event. Other than that, Wilkes and his children rent movies, take walks to the park and cook sausage and eggs on Saturday mornings. Pretty boring yet Wilkes would not trade it for anything. "I used to say, 'Man, I never want to live a normal life.' But you know what? It's so much better than how I was living," he said. "To see them come running through the front door, you're glad they're with you."

Down with the Brown.

How much of what their saying is true? I wonder if John Kerry endorses it since it points to his website.

That man has the best drop kick in the business. Do not make fun of him.

Is there a transcript of this anywhere?

It's a nice DVD set but... but... It's not out this moment, seriously. Also, Hard Knocks. Reminds me of Mick Foley's Hard Knocks, Cheap Pops. Eh. Good job, I think to whoever picked the matches, but I might not have put the triple treat match and opted for something else. Does the WWE have Stampede footage? They could have used that.

I want to go but it depends on if I can get tickets or not. How fast did the last Wrestlemanias sell out?

Just wanted to say, I hate Victoria's new entrance. When she came to the WWE she was a nut case but now she is sane. What did she do to cure her self? Turn face?

So, you're expecting Vince to use logic here? Remember how they put the belt on Jericho, never pushed him except for when he faced Rock at the Rumble, and he still drew damn well under the circumstances? He also outdrew HHH during that lousy face run. However, guess who never came near the main event since and guess who was champion almost the entirety of 2002....with a major push the entire time. Throw logic out the window here. The obvious problem is that Bradshaw hasn't been pushed and developed enough. Got it? How can you tell he was drawing well? Jericho was not pushed during his title reign. He wrestled the Royal Rumble which draws because of the Rumble and the return of HHH. No Way Out was about the nWo returning and Austin was not going to win the belt. Jericho was not a credible champion because during those two PPV's he did not win cleanly. Eddie should not be blamed. The company should be blamed.

Wait, a card that had 4 matches known before the last Smackdown before the PPV failed? I mean, they had 2 months to promote matches and they came up with 4 and then came up with the rest at the last minute. Vince should not let Smackdown degrade itself to this. He owns a publicly traded company and this looks bad for the company even though Raw is doing well.

I booted up my computer today, like just now and my Netscape bookmarks are missing. My IE bookmarks are fine. Does anyone know why this could happen?

I went to a lot of Ducks game during the 2002-03. During these games, I thought it would be great to be one of them one day. After the season was over, I bought my first pair of Roller Blades. They were street skates that were one size too big and I went to the local Wayne Gretzky center to learn how use them (well I did practice before that). It helped a little bit. The lessons started to become tough because I was wearing oversized skates. Moving on to February, I had my stick and my puck and I added to my collection a decent pair of roller hockey skates. I was still practicing in my garage at least two times a week. I signed up for Learning Roller Hockey so I could be able to join the first season of Roller Hockey at my school. My father spent more than $200 on the equipment needed to play hockey. The first lesson, I had my gear on for the first time and she saw me. We had talked on the phone for maybe three or four times. She was the parent who was arranging this whole roller hockey program. I stumbled out on the floor just knowing she and her son is who infinitely better than me were watch. What I did not matter that day? They knew who would show up for the first practice/tryout. About two weeks later, I think seven high schoolers ranging from Freshmen to Juniors and I (lone Senior) piled in the locker. The coach came; he was the grandfather of the talented/more experience player. He asked if anyone did not have roller hockey experience. I raised my hand. He told the team, if I need anything that they should help me. The players knew who I was and they were friendly to me. The experienced kid taped my stick for me. We slowly put our gear on and headed out in the playing area. When I got there, I attempted to give the biggest slap shot of all time, that what I could show them what I could do. I missed the puck several times and skated using one foot over to where the other players were. My friend who was the assistant coach at the time explained the basic drill to me. The player skates to the half court mark, stops, catches a pass, handles the puck to the goal and then shoots it. Yeah, I wished I could have done it then. I tried several times and while I was leaving the net, I fell. I felt so bad. After the drill was over, I took one of three breaks because I was out of shape. Brent, my friend, took me aside to work on shooting, passing, and puck handling. I was starting to get it. We ended the practice in a skirmish situation. The coach in the locker room told me that I should skate in front of the opposing net and screen the goalie and catch rebounds. I was at the point where I did not want to be there anymore. I kept watching the puck and I was slow turning around and I was shot in the thigh. (This why we wear girdles when we play). My father told me to ask the coach if I was off the team because I might hamper the team. I was only told there was going to be another practice next week. Pretty much the same things happen but this time I really did keep my eye on the puck. (I have the scores listed at school.) Our first game, I was pushed down by a defenseman twice and we lost 2-1. I thought that was a good start and gave me more expirience. We were losing games before Easter vacation. My father told me and I observe during my time out there that most roller hockey players pick up their feet while skating. I spent Easter vacation working on that and then we played and we won. It really was not due because of my skating revelation but we just clicked. Today we were in the playoffs and we lost in the first round to a team we hated. I was mad and upset because I did not score any goals for them and I almost had assist (I passed it, to a guy who passed it to someone who scored.) I liked my teammates and stories they shared. I liked putting on the uniform and trying my best in front of everyone. I put to much time and money into this, so hopefully I'll be playing somewhere else. I realize now, it was not about the game: it was about the people. It was great when we scored, when the people cheered, and I could pump my fist in the air. I know I am thankful to everyone on the team, my parents, and the coach for giving me the opportunity.

It was due to the power of Hulkamania, brother! That's the first time I saw him at the Ice Palace. I was at home watching him.

After joining Xbox Live today, I had a realization. Why do people name themselves certain names? They weren't offensive but... why is your name that on this forum? For instance, I am Undertakerhart because I liked the Undertaker and I like Owen/Bret Hart and this is a wrestling messageboard.

At last seasons Ducks home opening, I told my dad the Ducks would win the Stanley Cup. They were one game short of it.

The Chicago Blackhawks and the Montreal Candiens. The Blackhawks have an owner who refuses to spend money on the team and the Candiens should not have traded Roy.

What about Hank Hill? He sells propane and propane accessories. How can he be wrong?

WWE Championship Eddie Guerrero vs. John Bradshaw Layfield. Prediction: JBL because Eddie is the cause of all of Smackdown's problems. WWE Tag Team Championship Charlie Haas & Rico, w/ Miss Jackie vs. Hardcore Holly & Billy Gunn. Prediction: Haas & Rico U.S. Championship John Cena vs. Rene Dupree Prediction: Cena sucks....I mean wins Cruiserweight Championship Jacqueline vs. Chavo Guerrero, with Chavo Classic. Chavo will wrestle with one hand tied behind his back. Prediction: Jackie because of uh... she's a woman fighting in a man's world and why do they renew her contract. The Undertaker, with Paul Bearer vs. Booker T Prediction: Undertaker after the lucky charms fail The Dudley Boyz vs. Rob Van Dam & Rey Mysterio. Prediction: RVD and Rey. Add the Dudleyz to the list of people who need to be fired. Torrie Wilson vs. Dawn Marie. Prediction: Why are they fighting? Torrie wins cause she's blonde Mordecai vs ? Prediction: The ? I heard he/she/it is a great up and comer. The ? should carry the match to at least ********************************************************************. Is that enough stars?

Hey, I remember a man named Mick Foley who played as Mankind. No one ever thought he would win the WWF Title. I think Eugene and Mankind play similiar roles.

I do not think that this was a good idea because the company just released the GBA like 3 years ago. They're just spliting the market again. Now I won't have enough money for PS2, Xbox, Gamecube, GBA and maybe the new system.

What's the battery life on a N-Gage and what will the PSP's battery life be?

Wah! Look wrestling has it's ups and downs just like any sports team. I'm tired of coming on this board to I hate HHH, Randy Orton, Bradshaw...etc. HHH will always be there and at least he only up to beating up HBK. Randy Orton is improving. I liked his Mania match. Bradshaw will go where Hardcore Holly was: back in to the abyss. Stop watching wrestling then you can spend your time dedicating your life to another TV soap opera where backstage politics are taking place. Tazz and Cole > JR and King The whole business is exposed because of the internet so you know what, stop reading the net and stop reading the spoilers. What it comes down to is that everyone here should stop taking wrestling so seriously. Think about it: Guerrero and Benoit are champs. Shawn Michaels came back from retirement and has been wrestling some really great matches. Enjoy RAW at least. I know Smackdown sucks.

Action: Star Fox 64 Adventure: Shenmue 2 Fighter: Super Street Fighter II Turbo Driving: Gran Turismo 3 Puzzle: Super Puzzle Fighter Role-Playing: Final Fantasy VII Simulation: Sim City 3000 Sports: NHL Hitz Pro Strategy: Total Annihilation

So he complained about the Internet on the Internet. I'm so glad the WWE's top priority is bashing the Internet.