Prophet of Mike Zagurski
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Posts posted by Prophet of Mike Zagurski
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As an American fan, of a team that's been around longer than most current Canadian teams, I think it's a fucking insult that people up North are making this a "Canada vs. the US" thing. Do you think Boston fans love the idea of a team from Florida winning the Cup? I was pretty much apathetic about who won (just wanted good hockey) but now that I see that it's an us-vs.them thing, I'm stoked that the American team won.6 Canadian teams to...how many American teams?
It's about pride.
But we Americans don't necessarily love the idea of their being teams in Florida, Carolina, Arizona, Texas or California, either ... trust me, I'd rather have an old-time team win than an expansion team, regardless of where they're from.
I just find it kind of offensive that all US teams have been lumped together, it's as if the Bruins or Red Wings or Blackhawks are every bit as bad for hockey as a team like the Lightning.
You can have your pride, but to make it a "US vs. Canada" thing rather than just a "that city shouldn't have a team at all and is part of the expansion that's killing the sport that I love" thing is fucked up.
Hey, we love our California teams!
AVG Attendance Kings for 03-04: 17,877
AVG Attendance Ducks for 03-04: 14,987
AVG Attendance Sharks for 03-04: 15,835
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Kevin Nash doing an armbar to Goldberg.
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I'm just upset that more American's did not tune in for this series. The Canadians watched in record numbers while no one relly cared about it. I hope Calgary gets another shot next years as well as the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim
I'm a Ducks fan, what can I say?
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They need people to buy this game so they will as a many modes as they can. Get over it.
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Down with the Brown.
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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."
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How much of what their saying is true? I wonder if John Kerry endorses it since it points to his website.
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That man has the best drop kick in the business. Do not make fun of him.
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Is there a transcript of this anywhere?
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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.
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I want to go but it depends on if I can get tickets or not. How fast did the last Wrestlemanias sell out?
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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?
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Blaming Eddy...wow, what a gem. Try checking out the weekly observer ratings numbers for Guerrero, he's the only thing keeping the show from sinking to Thunder levels.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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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At last seasons Ducks home opening, I told my dad the Ducks would win the Stanley Cup. They were one game short of it.
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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.
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Welll, if you are lazy like most Americans, you go with gas. If you go to Texas and want to BBQ with gas, you will get shot. Charcoal taste better, but it takes more talent to cook with it. Gas grills need the hickory or the Mosquite chips to counter-act the gas. The better one is a toss up but a nice grilled burger will work any style with me.What about Hank Hill? He sells propane and propane accessories. How can he be wrong?
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
The OAO Showdown: Legends of Wrestling Thread!
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Go Tomb Raider 44!