Sunday, May 22, 2011

Macho Man

I have to admit, I'm a little sad.  Earlier this week, Randy "Macho Man" Savage died in a car accident down in Tampa, Florida.  He was one of the leading wrestling entertainers from the 80's, from the same generation as Hulk Hogan and Rowdy Roddy Piper.  At first, he was an ally of, and later feuded with the Hulkster.  If I recall correctly, it all started because of Randy's wife/valet, Miss Elizabeth.  She was so pretty.  She died a few years ago from an overdose.  These wrestlers lead traumatic lives.

Ok, so now my secret shame is exposed for all to see.  When I was growing up, I LOVED wrestling.  But everyone did, at least here in the South.  It's kind of funny, because  professional wrestling is like soap operas for straight redneck men.  So it was HUGE, and continues to be huge to this very day.  The local newspaper here in Charleston still covers all the happenings in the Sports section.

My neighbor/best buddy growing up, Clay, and I would watch all the matches on Saturday, when we weren't running through the woods playing ninja warriors.  No one told us that it was all scripted, so we would get very wrapped up in all of the drama and rivalry.  Each week, we would analyze the action, and then attempt to recreate all the moves.  It's amazing that I never broke a bone until the age of 16, and that was a stress fracture from running cross country.

One summer we came very close to running away from home so that we could go see Summer Slam, an annual wrestling festival and series of championship matches.  It was held in Charlotte, about an hour and a half away from home.  It could have been in California for all we cared, we were little boys and a city like Charlotte seemed like a world away.  We had no money to fly, so we planned to hitchhike.  In the end, it just seemed like too much trouble, as it was a very hot and humid summer.

In other news, the South Carolina baseball team clinched the SEC regualar season conference title yesterday with their win over Alabama.  Now on to the SEC tournament and the NCAA tournament, where they will have to work hard to defend their national championship.

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