OSJ

Let me second the love for the Buddy bio! Now all we need is a comprehensive bio of the late, great Johnny Valentine and we're all set!

Oh well, I'll just settle for having a bad haircut and spitting on people randomly.

Hogan's got a forty year headstart on him but the kid is trying to catch up. Fuck them both.

Yeah, hard to leave Tanahashi off the list, fact is that we were spoiled watching him, I'd like to go back in about three years and watch a retrospective of his career as I think it would really show just how great he was, hell at 45 he can still bring it when he wants to, he just works a lot smarter these days. Okada has done so much and has so much left in the tank that it is really hard to fathom just how good he is. Steamboat gets props for working the same routine his entire career and making it work. The epitome of the fired-up babyface who never ever took the easy way out.

Always thought we were about the same age, 52 is way too young to check out.

He did it like he did everything else in the business... Better than anybody.

My that's high praise indeed and I'm not sure that you're wrong. I'd put Jumbo, Billington and Benoit up there, with Misawa and Kawada coming in very close behind and I'd have to say Daniel Bryan is in the discussion. Nope, when all is said and done, you're right, top three of my lifetime and that covers six decades.

There are circles of Hell...

I'm late to the game on this, but the dude is from Detroit, 8-mile to be more specific, the idea that he doesn't watch wrestling is absurd.

Frightening, but true. Stengel was one of those guys that looked 65 when he was 35. When he was in high school the college kids would get him to buy beer for them.

Cool! I got my first baseball cards in 1962, when I was five. I remember having cards of Roger Craig and Gil Hodges, in 1964 I got a Stengel Mgr. card and my parents were all excited by it because he was such a legendary figure. To me, he looked like an old man who should be taking a nap, not suited up in the dugout.

What a dreadful loss.

If you remember the Reagan years you weren't there.

My friend, we know that there's no poli on this board for a reason, so I'll just leave this here and shut up. I lived through two terms of Richard Fucking Nixon and made it through to the other side. This too will pass. We have a long way to go, and it may seem like things are worse, but that's the first step of combatting a problem, realizing that you have one. Today we're having conversations about shit that was getting swept under the carpet ten years ago. Yeah, the progress is maddeningly slow and I'm not going to live to see any kind of utopia, but I will be able to say that things are looking brighter than they did when I got here. Just for one example we no longer have grade school kids practicing hiding under their desks in case of a nuclear attack. An example of foolishness on the grand scale that would be hard to replicate.

A New York baseball guy named "Mickey" a serial harrasser? Where have I heard this before?

Stay strong, bro. It's not easy being the only adult in the room, but sometimes ya gotta be. Don't know which of the two would be the most receptive to hearing it, but the ol' "You can be right or you can be kind." usually gives 'em a bit of time to cool down. ?

He, better yet... How about DD (Deceased David) is royally pissed about his dad forging his signature on tons of 8 x 10s and he comes back from the grave to GET HIM!!! You want to do fantasy booking where real horror authors hang out you gotta understand that shit like this comes with the territory.

All: Keep in mind that you have one weapon at your disposal that is certain to send the venal, petty, and humorless bastards screaming and gibbering into the night... That is to say the POWER OF POETRY!!! When faced with a pompous and annoying relative, co-worker, fan of Chris Jericho or Metallica, or similar loathsome entities drop this one on 'em and watch 'em run like Dr. Jerry Graham heading to an open bar: I sit on the floor and pick my nose and think of dirty things Of deviant dwarves who suck their toes and elves who drub their dings. I sit on the floor and pick my nose and dream exotic dreams Of dragons who dress in rubber clothes and trolls who do it in teams. I sit on the floor and pick my nose and wish for a thrill or two For a goblin who goes in for a few no-nos Or an orc with a thing about glue. And all of the while I sit and pick I think of such jolly things Of whips and screws and leather slacks Of frottages and stings. Courtesy of Bored of the Rings by the staff of the Harvard Lampoon

Lamp: It's said that we can pick our friends and can't pick our relatives. Well, bullshit on that! We might not be able to choose who we have blood relations to, but we can damn sure choose whom we associate with. I haven't spoken with my younger sister in years and am just fine with that. She's more of an automaton spouting whatever the latest trendy corporate buzzwords are than anything that a real human being might say. Just creepy.

It is quite simple, if you have two guys fighting and one eats horsemeat and the other doesn't, bet on the guy that doesn't eat horsemeat. Yes, that means that most of the time you will be betting against Overeem, which is perfectly fine when you stop to think about it. You can also have some fun by going to Jonathan Snowden's website and posting that the reason he lost his last match was due to eating horsemeat. He will go off like a rocket and demand that you send him your address so that he can come and "sort you out". Yes, a man in his mid-forties will spend a goodly amount of time challenging people to fights on the Internet. He's remarkably easy to provoke and you can have hours of fun tearing apart his ridiculous opinions on MMA in that instant-remainder book he put out a few years ago. Little-known fact, for non-fiction (read: "sports books") for anything that isn't a biography the most expensive part of the book is the cover. Publishers will often print "four up" that is to say that they will print four covers off the same plates because it is far cheaper to do it this way regardless of whether or not you actually have four books or not. As a publisher, you can always find some buffoon to fill 200 pages of drivel and pay them next to nothing because all you're really trying to do is break even on the cover cost. Since you really aren't putting any money into this (maybe giving your "author" $1000 as an "advance") and you likely have $5000 tied up in the cover photography, piggy-backing the printing of the cover with three other "real books" you can actually re-allocate most of that $5000 against the three "real books" which leaves you with having to earn back the $1000 advance you had to give your "author". That's not going to be a problem as your "author" will get himself on every MMA podcast you can think of to push the book. No worries about the fact that it was an "instant remainder", your "author" will spin that as a "special publisher's discount" for all their friends in the MMA community.

Yes, the place is rec.sport.pro-wrestling Not to be a nabob of negativity, but the fact that made your inquiry thirteen hours ago and received only one response might indicate that a deeper reading of the room is called for.

We have eight cats, when we moved, we lost Waldo, Varys, and Tyrion. Actually, Tyrion had sort of disappeared a couple of months before. Waldo would disappear for days and recently showed up wearing a new collar that we didn't get for him. Obviously double dipping with another family. When we moved, he took off and wouldn't come back. We spotted him sitting in the window of a house a few blocks down the street. Sandor disappeared in August, the whole gang went trooping outside to do the potty and patrol thing and everyone came back except Sandor, we didn't think much of it as he frequently would skip dinner (he was all about the dry food, and could have cared less about the canned stuff). When it got dark and he still hadn't come home we started to worry, the next day we put up flyers and called the Humane Society. The good news was that no one had reported him being hit by a car, the bad news was that he just vanished. We figure that someone took him. All of our cats run from other people EXCEPT Sandor, who was just too damn friendly. He wound up going on a three-hour drive with our neighbor as he just hopped in their car and took a nap in the backseat. He was also the one cat who wouldn't wear a collar, he'd find ways to pull it off within minutes. So add up too friendly, no collar and it seems very likely that someone just called him over and away he went. He brought us a lot of joy for the five years he was with us and hopefully he's in a nice home now. We miss him, but it's really amazing how everyone else mellowed out once it was clear he was gone. Apparently he was constantly challenging Jackpot and Seven and intimidating Cersei and Sansa. Odd how one cat can have such a negative effect on the whole group. Anyway the breakdowns are: Jorkens - 17 (the last Seattle cat) Sumuru - 13 (the psycho, if we'd known what she was going to be like it would have been a hard pass. Now we feel sorry for her and realize that she just has to live out her days with us. No one would adopt her and they would wind up putting her down, so we'll just put up with her. Jackpot & Seven - 8 The big boys, born in Las Vegas as our neighbor wasn't sure that Bella (their mom) would know what to do. It was absolutely hilarious watching this 6 '4 280 lb. former marine freaking out over four kittens. Ramsey ended up keeping one, gave us two and the fourth went to a friend of his. When we got them both boys would fit in my palms, now Jackpot is 21 lbs and Seven is around 19.5. Jackpot is totally Kathy's cat and Seven is my boy. Jackpot is the boss of the entire gang and rules with an iron paw. If he's not getting his way (like getting to go outside, having cat treats or whatever) he'll make everyone miserable by randomly attacking the other cats. Cersei - 7 My baby girl. Just the sweetest little thing. Sansa - 6 The screamer. Noisiest cat that I've ever seen. Howls just to hear herself howl. All of the above except Sumuru are all black. Which brings us to the babies (who turn two in May) Spike - A B & W tuxedo cat, far too smart for his own good. Arya - I guess you would call her a tortoiseshell. Everyone else is definitely a shorthair, Arya moves well into medium length territory. Hell, she looks like she could be part Maine Coon, but we know that isn't the case. We did have four clown loaches and two plecos, but sadly their bag sprung a leak as we went through Utah and they didn't make it. I was so bummed that I tossed the tank and all related equipment in the motel dumpster and just said "fuck it" as far as tropical fish are concerned. The clown loaches had grown to between five and six inches in length from around two inches when we got them. As two inchers they cost around $7.50 each as five-six inchers you're looking at $35.00 each. Once they get that big, barring stupid shit like their bag getting punctured, they are pretty much set . They might have to deal with a bout of ick, but at this size they'll tolerate the medicine with no problem. Now that Kathy has a new phone we need to take some cat pics...

In that horrible nasally, whiney Mid-western accent of his, the horror, the horror!

It is a bit funny, but if you'll check out my posts regarding this aspect of Lars, it really seemed like the WWE dropped the ball when their self-stated goal is to take one's existing personality and crank it up to "11". Lars is pretty well-spoken and they were just touching on the duality of his being a bright articulate guy away from the ring and a roaring monster once he got between the ropes. They really didn't push on this as hard as they should have, maybe they thought the whole concept was too subtle for the "Universe", but if anyone recalls him being interviewed while "No Way Jose" is having a match, he's just pure gold as he gradually slow burns over Jose's annoying music and finally loses it and does a run-in stomping Jose into the mat. Pure gold, and anyone with half a brain would "get it". Lars was a real missed opportunity, though it sounds like his own demons were doing a pretty good job of sabotaging him as it was. The dude sounds like he realizes that 90% of his problems are self-created and that in and of itself is a tremendous step. Yeah, he's said some nasty, hateful things that you would expect from a self-loathing meathead, but it sounds like he's matured a bit and knows what the problem is which is the first major step in fixing the problem, y'all need to honestly identify what the problem is, and it sounds like he's done that. I wish him well.

I'll bet that Seth is one damn fine barista!