The Critic

Fukudome is 4-for-4 today. He's basically abandoned going for the long ball, but he's an on-base machine right now. His throw to get Fielder was very nice, but with Fielder tripping over his fat folds Kosuke had a good amount of time to set up his throw. Somebody better tell Prince that eating a 55-gallon drum of cheese is no healthier than eating meat.

QUOTE (Brian @ May 1, 2008 -> 03:18 PM) The Managers list makes me miss the old days of managers and stables. I loved the Dangerous Alliance and of course whatever Heenan did. Sunny was underrated as a manager. She was hot and that was what she was known for, but she was a very good talker and had a great brain for the business. Cornette in the NWA was phenomenal. I can't think of a great manager as of recently. Estrada could be. Estrada could have been if he wasn't so criminally underutilized. Frustrating how Vince hates managers at a time when he also loves giant steroid freaks who can't form a sentence if they had a gun to their heads. Also frustrating how he'll hire any piece of ass who walks past Titan Tower, yet he won't hire any managers who might actually make his shows more interesting to watch.

I'll do a list of my favorites, but I won't include theme music because when I first got into wrestling almost no one had themes. I'll just list the reasons I like them. 1. Mick Foley - great on the mic, crazy risk taker, great as a face, comic heel or serious heel. 2. Bruiser Brody - his flying kneedrop was one of my favorite moves, and he was great in that intense/psycho heel role. He almost never played a face, and the few times I saw him play one were really uncomfortable. It just didn't suit him. 3. Nick Bockwinkel - my first favorite wrestler, solid all-around worker - good promos, good workrate, told a good story in the ring. Plus, he had Bobby Heenan as a manager, even though Bockwinkel didn't need a mouthpiece. 4. Steve Austin - again, very interesting promos (he got a little stale, then did the WHAT? thing, and then that got a little stale as well, but overall very fun to listen to), he could work funny or serious equally well, he has probably my favorite finisher ever, and he represents to me maybe my favorite era of wrestling (Monday Night Wars/Attitude Era). 5. Adrian Adonis (before he went to WWE) - this is kind of my dark horse. I loved the East-West Connection (his tag team with Jesse Ventura) - Adonis was a cocky, athletic heel who was very under-rated both in the ring and on the mic. I hated what he became in WWE, but it kept him in the business so it was better than nothing. Honorable mention: Ric Flair Arn Anderson Billy Robinson Kurt Angle Christian Cage Managers: Bobby Heenan Jim Cornette Paul Heyman (aka Paul E. Dangerously) Paul Ellering Sunny

Yet more Michael Hayes racism: http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2008/articles/1209579469.php It's absolutely amazing to me that Vince hasn't been sued to death if these stories are true. I have to wonder if boycotts are on the way.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Apr 30, 2008 -> 10:47 AM) You can manage my netflix queue anytime. Anger Management was about the only film I could tolerate Sandler in. He is one of the few actors that I just will not watch anything he is in. Happy Gilmore owns all!!!!! You can have the rest of Adam Sandler's collective work, and I'll keep Happy Gilmore, and we'll call it even.

This is wonderful news. No more falling asleep during a Hawks game and waking up to the hideous David Stein or (God forbid) Mike North show. Now the Sox need to leave the Score and I'll be happy.

QUOTE (longshot7 @ Apr 29, 2008 -> 03:59 PM) let's tailor this to current WWE goings-on. HHH deserved the belt on Sunday, did he not? Of the four options they offered to be champ, I'm most comfortable with H. As I said earlier, H makes the most sense of anyone on the roster to be champ right now. I liked the way H and Orton worked together last night. Orton seems very comfortable when he works with H, and I think it brings out the best in him. As I've beaten the point into the ground, I'm not an Orton fan at all, but I was kept interested and that's good enough for me.

QUOTE (Kid Gleason @ Apr 29, 2008 -> 10:25 AM) Well we could all sit around and talk about what should be, and that's fine. But the simple fact is that it is against the law to drink under the age of 21 and the Sox and their organization back that law, as any business would. To whine about makes no sense at all. Truth.

QUOTE (Gregory Pratt @ Apr 28, 2008 -> 08:38 PM) I've been watching wrestling since 1997, thanks. And it is chic to rip Hunter on the Internet. Instead of there being this mini-controversy because I argue that Hunter is about as great as Flair, there should be a controversy over people saying he isn't. HHH didn't get to be where he is by screwing the boss' daughter -- he's gotten to where he is by being a great wrestler, overall. Sure, there are politics, but it's hilarious to hear people rip his politics while arguing that Flair's are better. Like Flair never played politics. Every wrestler plays politics to varying degrees (usually determined by how much stroke they have). Flair's actually been IMO the victim of more politics than he's played. Dusty, Kevin Sullivan, Hogan, Bischoff - they've all played politics on Flair down the line. Bischoff nearly broke Flair with the garbage he played on Flair in Hogan's behalf. And as good as HHH is (and I think he's very good), it cannot be denied that he has aligned himself with connected people since basically Day One in WWE. First it was The Kliq, then he maintained his relationship with Michaels, and of course leaving Chyna for Stephanie cemented his place in the power position. The wrestling business being what it is, I can't really blame a guy for protecting his "spot", but it's absolutely valid to debate whether or not stroke has passed talent as far as his position in WWE today is concerned. He does seem to still generate a decent face pop, so EVERYONE doesn't hate him, obviously. Personally, I'd rather see H as champ right now, because I can't see another believable titleholder on Raw these days other than maybe JBL, and I do NOT want to see that again any time soon.

JBL's titties flopping around was something I didn't really need to see. [vomit smiley]

I'll be rooting for the Wolves. They've provided the only local hockey championships I've ever seen in my lifetime. I'll cheer for the Rockford guys when the Indianhead moves from their shoulders to their chests.

The Room Service Killer -- According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, former WWE Champion Randy Orton had yet another "incident" during WWE's most recent European tour. Orton was reportedy upset that the hotel staff woke him up earlier than they were supposed to. Orton put his clothes on, took his left over room service food, went down the hall and threw the food on the staff that woke him up. Orton laughed at them and went back to his room.

QUOTE (Brian @ Apr 28, 2008 -> 09:10 AM) You forgot the green. There's no amount of green to cover that.

QUOTE (Brian @ Apr 27, 2008 -> 10:33 PM) The closer HHH gets to 16 time champ, the sicker I get. The guy is doing it politically, not based on skill and work rate like Flair did. I understand your point, but even in Flair's day the booking of a champ was political. It was a different basis of politics - which promoters stood to gain from any particular champ, which territory the champ would call home and how often he'd travel to each other region, in some cases the belt was a pawn, handed out for favoritism or loyalty - there were all kinds of factors. Flair was handed the belt most of his 16 times because the booking committee believed he was the guy who could deliver money, not necessarily because of workrate or popularity (although those are certainly taken into consideration). H's politics are lower-rent than that, for sure, but I'm not sure if I mind him holding the belt right now. I don't see a ton of guys these days who can come across as a believable champ, and H comes across that way to me.

QUOTE (ChiSox35 @ Apr 26, 2008 -> 10:55 AM) /\/\/\ What do you call two drums and a cymbal falling down the stairs? A drummer being evicted from his apartment?

Unfortunately, it's a statistical inevitability. You have enough people drinking, a percentage of them are going to go too far. I personally never did anything dangerous or belligerent while drunk, but some people are going to. It can be amusing in small doses, but the joke gets old in a hurry.

QUOTE (Whitewashed in '05 @ Apr 25, 2008 -> 05:49 PM) Like everyone else has a few women they don't agree should be on there so here's mine... I have no idea why Fergie is on that list. She looks like a drag to me. She might have a body, but with a face like that I don't care what types of curves she has... ugh... Agreed. I don't find her face attractive at all. Nice body, though.

QUOTE (Steve9347 @ Apr 25, 2008 -> 08:40 AM) His homer last night went to left center baby. Nothing more beautiful than a lefty parking one in the left-center seats. It's my favorite thing about baseball. Of course, I batted lefty when I played, so I'm partial to the hook.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Apr 25, 2008 -> 04:28 PM) I thought it was common knowledge that MVP had been in prison. When they said he wore his costume because Vince wanted to cover them up, I just automatically assumed they were prison tats. I had no idea who he was when he debuted in WWE, and I wasn't a fan of his character right off the bat, so I never researched anything about him. I still don't know his real name, except that the Wiki blurb posted before mentioned the surname Burke. He's won me over to a pretty large degree, but I still can't say I'm a fan. I watch his segments now, though, with no channel flipping.

QUOTE (Brian @ Apr 25, 2008 -> 03:21 PM) From MVP's wiki page Kind of strange that he wouldn't alter or laser them, no?

QUOTE (Shadows @ Apr 25, 2008 -> 03:01 PM) MVP apparently spent 9 years in prison and has a lot of "prison ink" so thats the reason for the covering of it That makes more sense, although I would have expected Vince to exploit that rather than cover it up.

QUOTE (MHizzle85 @ Apr 25, 2008 -> 12:10 PM) IIRC, he has one of malcolm X on the left side of his chest. That better not be the "offensive" tattoo, with all the sick s*** he's said and done.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Apr 25, 2008 -> 11:10 AM) what are his tattoos? There are some goofy ass ones going around, I would love to know what Vince doesn't like I don't know what they are, I just read on a couple sites that his tats were the reason for the full-body outfit. With all the guys in WWE with tattoos, I'd also be very interested to know what could possibly cross Vince's line. I didn't even think Vince HAD a line, with all the psycho storylines he's done and wanted to do (the worst being that he wanted to be the storyline father of Stephanie's baby, and then when she refused he asked her if she'd be OK with Shane being the storyline dad).

QUOTE (Shadows @ Apr 24, 2008 -> 04:29 PM) Hes pretty good in the ring too Yeah, I meant all-around. His mic work is good, he's funny and can still get serious in a heel role, and his matches are interesting. The outfit is still goofy, though. I know Vince stuck him with the outfit because he doesn't like his tattoos, and I realize it's supposed to be "flashy", but it's too Flash Funk or Jushin Liger for my taste.

QUOTE (SoxFan562004 @ Apr 24, 2008 -> 03:25 PM) I don't know why, but I enjoyed watching that In that suit he's like a JBL version of the Warrior.