For many folks the circus of professional wrestling is a “shake their head” kind of thing. They can't understand how anyone would be interested in men in tights fake fighting. And, yes the “matches” are scripted but that certainly doesn't lessen the athletic ability needed to make it all look somewhat real. Think of them as performers. And to make it most interesting, not only do they have to be able to “sell” the performance to an audience that's in on the “secret” from a physical standpoint…they also have to be able to talk. To convey the character they are playing using ad-libbed (for the most part) “promos”. One of the best at that craft was Bobby Heenan who passed away over the weekend at 73. Heenan spent most of his career as a bad guy or “heel” in wrestling parlance. And he was magnificent at it. I first saw Heenan when I was a kid watching AWA Wrestling (or All-Star Wrestling as we called it.) It emanated from small tv studios in Minneapolis and promoted matches that would take place in Green Bay, Milwaukee and points in between. Heenan was the a wrestler himself but particularly shined as the mouthpiece for other wrestlers and later as an announcer in the WWF (later the WWE). He constantly broke the rules, wore a neck brace for years claiming injuries so he wouldnt get throttled by the other wrestlers (didnt work) and stabbed so many backs he got the nickname “The Weasel” . He was a master at drawing heat from wrestling fans…a skill that makes pro wrestling as entertaining as it can be. These guys would get little old ladies so incensed they would bring their knitting needles to the arenas and stab the bad guys on their way to the ring.
His announcing work with Gorilla Monsoon was a big part of the explosion of pro wrestling in the 80's. He and Monsoon played off each other brilliantly
Bobby Heenan was unique in a business that craved it.
The Brewers take 2-3 from the Marlins this weekend and are now 4 back of Chicago and 2 1/2 back in the wild card race with 13 games to play. Can't lose too many anymore. Pitcher Jimmy Nelson is scheduled for surgery on Tuesday.
Congrats to Edgar High School football coach Jery Sinz on his 400th coaching victory. The Wildcats have yet to give up a point in 5 games this season!
Badger basketball tickets for the student section sold out in 12 minutes. Big Red should be rockin again this season!
Son Wade found another interesting restaurant in the Twin Cities…the Shish Grill on Grand Ave in St. Paul (near Macalester) is worth a visit. We were there for breakfast and the menu was eclectic and tasty.
Another obituary from the weekend…actor Harry Dean Stanton passed away at the age of 91. He appeared in dozens of movies and tv shows and usually stole the scene he was in.
Elections have consequences…Nice to know that we have a President who beleives that it's a good thing to start his morning by re-tweeting a video from an ani-semitic Twiiter account that show a photo-shooped Trump hitting Hillary Clinton with a golf ball. When his base tells you “Its just a joke”, you may want to remind them that a woman get assaulted by a man very 9 seconds in this country…having a President thats a sexist pig sends that exact wrong kind of message…..Not only is it extremly dangerous and wrong for a President or members of his administration to call for the firing of a private citizen over a critical comment, there is also a law in the Connecticut (where ESPN is based) that prohibits it. It reads “any employer, including private emploers, who subjects any employee to discipline or discharge on account of exercise by such employee of rights guaranteed by the first amendment to the US Constitution is liable for damages, including punitive damages caused “by such discipline or discharge”……like Frankenstein's monster, Trumpcare seems to be rising from the grave. Don't let McConnell or the others try and tell you that the Graham-Cassidy repeal plan is anything different. They just cannot bring themselves to understand that the majority of Americans like the ACA. If they got out of the right-wing sqawk machine bubble for a awhile that might become clear…..when a Federal official stayed at Mar-A-Lago overnight, to visit the President, Trump charged the government $546 per night. This stuff is an absolute looting of the US Treasury by the family of the man in power. This is what happens in banana republic dictatorships. It will certainly be interesting how long it takes the country to recover from the Doanld Trump regime.
Songs Of The Day
