Soccer’s my game, though my Dad (“back in the day”) was a fan of Live Atlanta Wrestling and “Classy Freddie Blassie” http://www.atlantatimemachine.com/Misc/blassie.htm and other tag-team guys, but I just wanted to come in and (out of respect for you), just say I am sorry for the loss of this obviously very multi-talented man!
It’s very apparent he had your respect and admiration, but cancer, for the time being, can beat any of us, no matter how strong we are, or how mucch ass we can kick.
So even though I don’t follow wrestling, I too say R.I.P. Steve “Dr. Death” Williams!
Your compassion is appreciated Quasi, truly, by this one wrestling fan at least. Too many people think that pro wrestling is solely the domain of knuckle draggers and rednecks when that simply isn’t the case. It takes a great deal of athleticism, showmanship, and dedication to excel to the highest levels, as it does in any performance based medium, and there are those of us out there who greatly respect the men and women who choose to put themselves through such to entertain us.
Whether it’s Bryan Danielson putting on a hour long clinic or Ric Flair wowing us with his innate charisma in a 20 minute promo, to some of us it speaks of a unique passion that can’t be duplicated elsewhere.
I can understand people simply not buying into the illusion at all, and there’s nothing wrong with that as lord knows there are pop culture movements that I don’t buy into, so I try not put too large an emphasis on any negativity. (Which I must reiterate I did not see in Shirley or Lamar’s post as this is not in any way directed at them), but unwarranted assumptions do play into responses at times which can lead to over reactions, which might explain Happy’s own response.
Over all though I have to say that while the Dope’s usual interests fall outside of the realms of pro wrestling, which explains the lack of discussion, it seems that most of us are rather tolerant of it when the subject is brought of up for whatever reason. I don’t get a general vibe of negativity here.
Hmm, honestly Benoit’s a terribly unique case on any front so I’m not looking to defend or excuse him at all.
I’ll see if I can find your thread RNATB and if I have any relevant response I’ll consider answering here.
I don’t know if I want my illusions about the Dope busted at this juncture, are we talking about general negativity? I remember that week in June of '07 vividly but my attention was directed in places other than the board.
When I (and my bro) watched our Dad watch “Live Atlanta Wrestling” back in the 60’s, he didn’t only watch. Our dad (a muscular guy himself) got down on the carpet, looked at the screen, and actually PREDICTED the next move to be made.
Was it “theatrical”?
Hell, I don’t know!
What I do know is, my Dad faced down a “bully” taller than him at a cotton milll in Fullerville, Georgia, I used to work at when I was 13 (the guy got pissed because I had found a way to “doff” using my legs, thereby being faster and making “production” faster than anyone else there), pushed me aside, and dared that guy to take a swing at me!
That guy (easily 6 feet - Dad was MY height: 5’8") backed off in a hurry.
When Arthur Craig fixed his eyes on you, he was either in love, or you were in deep shit. Most times the latter.
That was my Dad, and I miss him so much.
And yeah, I wanted to add that me and my bro got to watch Live Atlanta “Rasslin’” (He called it that) with him in the afternoons and then enjoyed our ice-cold chocolate milk and “tater chips” at 11 o’clock on Ted Turner’s first TV station (on UHF) with Bistoink Dooley, who introduced the Saturday Night Thrillers!