In response to Ric Flair's comments regarding Bret Hart.

Ric Flair is one of the most accomplished and recognizable names in professional wrestling.  Whether  you regard him as the greatest of all time or not, is up for debate.  The fact that he deserves mention on anyone’s top 5 lists however is not.   When considering and weighing out who the top performers in the world of pro wrestling are, any list not including “The Nature Boy” is illegitimate.  Anyone that knows anything at all about professional wrestling knows that Ric Flair is one of the all time best. 

For the most part, I concur with what Flair has said in regards to statements he has made on the business.   There is one statement though, that he has stood steadily by over the years that I have never agreed with him on.   He claims that in the discussion of the greatest of all time, Bret “Hitman” Hart does not belong on the list.

Flair justifies his remarks by claiming that, “Bret never drew any money”.  He unfairly compares Hart to Hulk Hogan and dismisses himself in the same manner of comparison.  Fact of the matter is no one, and I mean no one was going to fill Hogan’s shoes.   Expecting Bret to come in and replace the most popular professional wrestler of all time on an equal level was asinine.   Unrealistic expectations are no more achievable in professional wrestling than they are anywhere else.    Secondly Flair needs to step back and take a deep inwardly look at himself, before making such comments about Bret.   Yes, Flair was a huge draw in the NWA/WCW.  Matter of fact such a huge draw that his face alone could be considered a full representation of the company.   I’ll argue that Sting has as much right to that position as does he, but no one else even remotely comes close.  NWA/WCW wise Flair is as every bit as good as he and others claim him to be.

WWE wise however,  he is no better than Bret.  Matter of fact, WWE wise,  I’ll state that he wasn’t even as good as Bret.   In his first 1991-1993 stint with the WWE, he was the first World’s champion to not headline a Wrestlemania in 8 years.   The WWE didn’t trust him to be the main draw, even when he carried the title.   The put Hogan in a match with Sid as the main event instead.    Even with Hogan in the following wrestlemania,  they had enough assurance in Bret to main event him ahead of Hogan.   Hart was the first wrestler to  main event a Wrestlemania  besides Hogan, and the only wrestler ever to main event a wrestlemania with Hogan in it.   I’ll also note that even with Hogan as WWE champion, Hart main evented the King of the Ring PPV ahead of him.    Flair never received top billing.   He wants to make snide remarks that Wrestlemania X, with Hart as champion was one of the most unsuccessful wrestlemanias of all time, placing the blame directly on Bret.   The truth of the situation is,  wrestlemania X’s unfavorable outcome was due directly to the absence of Hogan.   Without Hogan in the picture a Wrestlemania X with Flair as champion wouldn’t have fared any better than did Bret’s.

Bret IS one of the greatest of all time and for Flair to claim that he has no business being on the list is asinine.  In comparison WCW/NWA wise,  Flair without a doubt wins out easily hands down.  In a comparison to the overall spectrum of professional wrestling, they are on level playing ground.  WWE wise,  “The Hitman” is every bit as good as “The Nature Boy” if not considerably better.

Actors that look alike (2-14-2009)

Victor Garber and David Morse - Garber's most famous role is probably his remarkable portrayal of the real life Thomas Andrews in James Cameron's "Titanic". Morse, if you have ever seen "The Green Mile" plays the part of Brutus 'Brutal' Howell, the good hearted but big and strong prison guard. They are both big tall men and have a similar facial structure.

Johnny Depp and Skeet Ulrich - Depp is one of the most well known and famous actors of our generation, so I'll skip the description. Ulrich is best known for his work as Billy Loomis, in Wes Craven's original "Scream" film. Not only does Ulrich and Depp look a lot a like, but they sound a lot a like when they speak as well. They also have similar manorisms.

Christian Slaytor and Kevin Kostner - I'm not the only person who believes that these two look a lot a like. Infact, Pen Densham casted Slaytor as Will Scarlet in the film, "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" strongly on the factor that he looked enough like Kostner to make a believable brother.

Christopher Meloni and Elias Koteas - Meloni is most famous for his work as the admirable and heroic Elliot Stabler on the hit television series "Law and Order: Special Victems Unit". Koteas has been in a numerous amount of films. Much like Tracey Walter and Bill Paxton, he almost seems to be in every movie ever made. Some of his roles include Casey Jones in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle film made in 1990 and as Sgt. Jack Malanax.

Thomas Jane and Christopher Lambert - I don't think I've ever seen anything with Jane in it other than "The Punisher" film in 2003. Lambert most famous for his "Highlander" performance, usually plays science fiction type rolls such as Radon in "Mortal Combat". They both have this pissed off look on their faces all the time, and even side by side, despite a contast in height they're hard to tell apart.

Alright this was fun. More to come.

Yellow Cab Stories for the Heart: Story 1 (10-2-2010)

It was about 4:00  in the morning a few nights ago.  I got a call to the Emergency room at the University of Iowa hospital.  As I arrived, I noticed a nurse open up the door and help an elderly lady outside.  I got out of my cab, opened up the passenger door and helped her inside the cab.

Our ride wasn't even a mile long, but sometimes it's not the length of a conversation as much as it's the quality of the conversation that makes it something you'll hold onto forever.   I'll certainly never forget this amazing woman or the feeling of hope that she instilled within me.

As we sat at the stop light on Burlington and Riverside,  she put her finger up to a hole in her throat and asked me looking at my notebook, "Are those your notes for school?"

"No", I replied, "they're just for writing"

"Oh, you're a writer?"

"Wanna be writer", I laughed, "It's just a dream of mine"

"What kind of writer do you want to be?"
I have tried very hard to restrain myself from talking about my writing to too many people, because I realize that I can get very egotistical about it and even at times arrogant.  However, she did ask, so I told her all about my goals as a novelist.

As we parked the car, she looked over at me and smiled.

"Do you know what my goal in life was?"

"No", I said giving off a vibe that was more than obvious that I did want to know what it was.

"I wanted to be a mother"

We both laughed as she continued, "A little simpler than trying to be the next Stephen King, but it was my dream"

"It's not what the dream is", I gave her a personal belief of my own, "but how passionate you are about it.  Being a good mom isn't easy.  It takes just as much dedication, sacrifice and devotion as being a good writer"

She smiled at me again and then reached into her purse.  She pulled out a black and white picture and handed it to me.  It was a smashed up car that looked to be in such horrendous condition that I had a hard time believing anyone could have survived it.

"1973", she said, "Drunk driver bumped me from behind into the other lane and a Truck smashed right into me"

I felt a rage of anger go through my body as I thought of how unfair life could be to someone for it to allow the wrongs of another person to have such a negative effect on an innocent person.

"I was eight months pregnant with my first child"

She paused.  My anger for the drunk driver heightened and was joined by one of absolute sorrow.  I looked from the picture back at her not wanting to even think about the pain of not only losing a dream, but a child.   I sat in the driver's seat, and prepared myself for her to tell me that she lost her baby in the accident.

She reached into her purse and pulled out another picture.

I took it from her hand.  It was a beautiful tall, thin woman with the straightest brightest shade of red hair that you ever have seen.

"My Daughter"

My tears just as I expected they would came, but for a much different reason than I expected.

She then told me all about her growing up and how much of a joy it was to raise her and live out her dream of being a mom.   It was such an inspiring story, one that I'll share fifty years from now the same way I share it with you today.

As I went to help her out of the cab, she told me that she was in too much pain to make it all the way to her room.  I asked her if she thought she could make it with me acting as a crutch.   She said she didn't think so as she got on her phone and called a friend to bring down her wheel chair.

Her friend came downstairs, but didn't have the wheel chair.

"Can you come up to her room and help me get her wheelchair" she asked.

"Sure"  I said.  As I went up to her room with her friend, I was expecting to grab a push wheel chair and wheel it down to her.  I was in for a big surprise when I saw that it was instead one of those huge mechanical ones.  Trying to see if it had some sort of way to be pushed from behind, I came to the conclusion after messing around with it that it didn't.   Her friend suggested to me that I sit in and ride it down.

Before I knew it, I was flying around the halls of this retirement home on a motorized Wheel chair.  To be quite honest, the chair moved a lot faster than I thought it would and it was rather fun.

When I got down to the cab, she laughed looking at me in her wheel chair.

"You know" she said as I got out of it and helped her into it, "Not many cab drivers would have done that for me. I really wish I had more money to tip you better than the dollar I gave you.  You're a good kid, I wish I had a better tip to give you"

"You already have" I smiled as I got back into my cab and gave a little wave, " 'mom' "

Yellow Cab Stories for the Heart: Story 2 (10-2-2010)

Last night was an extremely busy night.  I had a ton of runs and made a good amount of money.  If I could make have that good of a night every night, worrying about paying my bills month to month would no longer be a problem.   I had a rich night and money wasn't the only form those riches came in.

I picked a gentleman up from the AmericInn in Coralville and took him to the Mercy emergency room to get a weird rash checked out.

We had a good conversation in those seven miles, mainly me asking all about him.  I came to find out that he was just stopping in Iowa for the night in a move to Montana near Butte.

He grew up in Montana and had a great childhood among the beautiful landscape and open skies.  It was rewarding to hear a man speak so fondly of his home and even more rewarding to see him longer to get back to it.

"I've lived in Louisville, Kentucky for the last almost thirty years", he told me, "Loved it.  Loved every second of it, but it's time to go home"

We continued to talk about Montana and Kentucky and all of the other sights for intriguing eyes that our great nation has to offer on such a journey.  Before we knew it, we were at our destination.

"You got a phone on you kid?" he asked as he paid me for his fare.

"Yeah", I said as I went to hand it to him, "you need to call somebody?"

"Yeah" he said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, "You"

I wished him the best of luck, hoping that he'd find out that his rash was nothing serious and be on his way.

The night went on and I had about five more calls and then about an hour and a half later, my phone started buzzing.

"Steve?"
"Yeah"
"Guy at the Mercy E.R. come and get me"

I swung by picked him up and headed back to the AmericInn.

"So what's your story?"  this time he was going to be the one to initiate the conversation.

I wasn't quite sure what he meant by that so I asked him, "My story?"

"Yeah" he said, "You a student?  You doing this to put yourself through school?"

"No" I said to him, "it's my job.  It's what I do for a living"

"I find that that hard to believe", he said almost disappointed in me, "You see too enthusiastic to settle for such a career"

"Well" I said back to him, "It's not the greatest money in the world and there are no benefits or insurance, but it gets me by till something better comes along.  Besides I enjoy it"

"You thought about getting a degree?"

"Have one"

I then went on to explain to him how my college career didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to because of the many differentiating reasons both within and out of my control. 

"My real problem is" I said to him, "is that my dreams aren't easy ones to achieve.  I'd like to desire and want something simpler sometimes, I really would, but I don't.  I've tried it before.  I'm only happy if it's what in life I want that I strive for."

"And what is that?" he was really eager to learn

"Well" I answered him, "for one, I want to be a novelist"
My answer led us to a rather lengthy conversation that lasted about 3/4's the rest of the way.

"You know I can tell you're gonna make it as a writer", he said back to me, "I can tell you as I know that the sun will rise tomorrow, you will be an accomplished novelist someday"

It struck me odd that he was so sure of his belief.

"How do you know that?" I asked him, "I mean that's an awful encouraging thing to say having never read any of my work"

"Don't need to read it" he said not backing down from his confidence in me, "I can just tell your the type of person who would let himself die before he let himself give up"

Isn't it amazing how a complete stranger, someone that I'll know but for a total of thirty minutes of my entire life knew me better than some people I'll know my whole life?

"You know kid" he continued, "I know where you've been.  When I was your age, I took a ton of these shit jobs.  I scraped by on what I could chasing my dream for seven years.  Believe me, I know what it's like to have a job where you wonder if you're gonna make it day to day.   I've been there, but I imagine you probably make a killing on Saturday's don't you?"

"Actually" I said to him, "I don't work Saturdays"

"Don't work Saturdays!!?!?" I seemed to shockingly amaze this guy every time I spoke, "Why in tarnation not?"

"Well" I said to him, "That's my other dream"

I then went on to explain to him my love for professional wrestling.  How ever since I was four years old, I've wanted so badly to call myself a pro wrestler.

"Yeah" I said to him, "I know I'm small.  5'7, 180 lbs, but it's my dream"

"We all have setbacks and obstacles in our path to our destination.  I know I did in mine."

"And what was your dream sir?"

"Like you watching your rasslin on TV as a kid, I was always hanging out around airports as a kid.  I wanted to fly planes." he said to me as he looked up into the sky, "Your small stature was my eye sight.  I thought that since I had to wear glasses and didn't have 20/20 vision that I'd never be able to, but you know a fact doesn't kill a desire"

"Yeah" I said to him knowing that last line all too well, "it doesn't"

"Seven years" he said to me shaking his head, "Seven years.  Seven years of working shit ass jobs hoping that one day I'd get my break.  A part of me wanted to give up and settle for something else, but the part of me that wouldn't let that happen prevailed.   I found out a short period of time later that I could operate a plane with (gave me a number of passengers but I've forgotten) or less, so I got a job as a flight instructor"

"Oh cool" I said wanted to ask him more about it, but he cut me off.

"Didn't pay worth a shit", I laughed as he laughed, "Yet I was doing what I loved.  I loved being in the air.  That's where I belonged"

"You know money isn't everything" I said back to him, "but I think happiness is.  Even though you never made much money, you sound to me like you were happy with your decision"

He looked at me and his smile turned to a smirk, "Oh, I made money.  I made lots of money"

"How?"

"Story wasn't over yet kid" he said to me, "I met and befriended a man of the UPS that three months after meeting him came up to me and told me about a conversation he had with one of the heads of the department.  They were in need of someone that could fly the 747 jets with goods all over the world.  He said he knew the perfect person for the job, me"

"Awesome"

He cut me off once again before I could finish, "Awesome isn't the word. It was more than awesome. I got to spend 25 years of my life doing what I loved.  Flying all over the world and I got paid $100,000 a year to do it"

We pulled up to the lobby of the AmericInn.

"How much is my fare?"

"$14.75 sir" I said to him as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a $20 bill and handed it to me.

"No change" he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out another $20.  He held it in his hand, "Now $10 of this is for you to put towards writing or wrestling somehow.  The other $10 of this is for you to allow me to give you a piece of advice, and for you to promise me that you'll live by it"

I laughed, "Deal"

"You go after in life what it is that you want.  You don't ever let anything or anyone ever stop you from doing that.  You go after in life what it is that you want, and everything else will take care of itself"

I nodded in agreement.  He got out of the cab and walked over to my window and looked me dead in the eye as I rolled it down.

"If you don't" I couldn't tell if he was joking or being serious, "I'll want that $10 back"

"You won't be getting the $10 back", I said to him, "I promise you, you won't ever want it back"

I'll never see that man again, but the words he spoke to me that night, I'll hear again.  Through my own voice, I'll hear them again.