My Favorite Moments in WWE/WCW

Well I made a list of my least favorite moments,  I might as well make a list of my favorite moments as well.   Ironically when I put this list together, it had the same turn out as my least favorite moments list did.   I came up with six moments that really stick out in my mind as being my favorite and five of them were from WWE while only one of them was from WCW.

In chronological order my favorite moments in WWE/WCW

6. Mr. Perfect turns face

 For the most part I did what I was "supposed to do" as a fan.   I booed the heels and I cheered the faces.  However, there was one "bad guy" that I always cheered for and that was Mr. Perfect.   Matter of fact, in WWE when I was a little kid, he was the only bad guy I cheered for.   I just thought he was so cool, so when he actually turned face, I was ecstatic.  What's really, really ironic about this, is around the same time one of the only faces that I booed and didn't like was Johnny B Badd in WCW.   When Badd came to WWE and was known as Marc Mero,  Mr. Perfect made a heel turn by turning on Badd.   Even after his turn back to heel, I still though Mr. Perfect was awesome.   

5. The Reconciliation of Bret and Owen Hart

 A lot of times in professional wrestling when an angle is attempted to come off with a great amount sincerity and realism, it comes off as very forced and unreal.  However in this particular case it came off very real and very genuine.  I just thought that the WWE handled this storyline exceptionally well and created great pathos in a connection with the audience watching it.

4. Owen Hart wins the Intercontinental Title

 I have to conclude Owen Hart vs Rocky Maivia for the Intercontinental Title to be probably my third all time favorite match.   I loved everything about this match, the build up to it, the actual match itself and the after match.   What I loved about this match the most was how before the match,  Bret told Owen that neither he or any one else from the Hart Foundation would interfere.   He believed in Owen and wouldn't disrespect his ability by trying to help him win.  He knew that he was good enough to win the title on his own and gave him a prep talk before he went into the match.   During the match the Bulldog kept trying to go down to the the ring to help Owen out, but Bret wouldn't let him.    Then in the end, Owen pinned Maivia and you could tell how genuinely happy Bret was for his brother.   One of my favorite moments.

3. The Return of Marty Jannetty

 If it wasn't for the picture you'd probably be asking yourself, "Which one of the 10,000 returns are you talking about?"   Well, I'm referring to the time when he came back not all to terribly long ago and reunited with Shawn Michaels as The Rockers.   When the Rockers theme played and they came out of the curtain, it was almost as if it were the early 90's again and I was a little kid watching WWE.   It's the only time in the 2000's were I can say I got truly pumped about something before it happened in WWE.

2. Sting gets revenge on the NWO

WCW did a phenomenal job with this angle.  Everything about it was done extremely well.  Excellent buildup, perfect timing, execution and payoff.  WCW when I was real little, was mainly just something to watch it WWE wasn't on.  It had some good matches and it was fun to see guys on TV that had left the WWE.   It wasn't until the did this angle where Sting took on the NWO pretty much single-handily, that I become truly hooked on WCW.   They built the NWO up to be too powerful to stop and I just absolutely loathed them and what they would do.   When Sting  first made the attack and nailed them all with the baseball bat, I stood up and shouted, "yeah, kick their asses!" and that was the first time I had gotten that excited watching anything WCW wise.   

1. Marty Jannetty wins the Intercontinental Title

Well here you have my all time favorite match,  Shawn Michaels Vs Marty Jannetty for the I.C. title when Jannetty wins it.   Watch this match and then tell me if you don't agree that it deserve every bit of the 1993 PWI match of the year that it earned.   I loved this match and loved the fact that Jannetty finally got some revenge on Shawn after being thrown through the glass window.   Although the title reign didn't last long, and his only real defense was against Doink the Clown,  it signified would could have been a great run for Jannetty.  It's just a shame that he made some other choices during that time, the Charles Austin incident and a few other factors kept him from what could have been a very shining career.   I'd like to have a time machine to see.   I think he would have at least been an I.C. title holder again, and his feud with Shawn would have been even more epic than it already was.


(Now that you know my first and my third favorite match you maybe wondering what my second favorite match of all time is. In case you are it's Owen Hart vs British Bulldog in the finals of the European Title tournament)

My least favorite moments in WWE/WCW

NOTE: My actual least favorite moments are whenever I hear about anyone dying from the professional wrestling business.   It seems to me that over the last nearly 20 years,  that if I really thought long and hard enough I could come up with 100 pro wrestlers or more than have been taken from us.   Death is most certainly something that professional wrestling fans have had to learn to deal with.   I don't know if anything has ever happened or will ever happen in the wrestling business will bother me as much as the day Owen Hart died.   With that said though,  I'm not including deaths in this list. 

Last night I sat in bed and wondered what matches and/or moments happened in the history of WWE/WCW that really bummed me and disappointed me.   What moments just hit me like a ton of bricks and took all the steam out of me as a fan?   As hard as I tried to think,  most every moment, except for one came from WWE.  I could only think of one single time WCW disappointed me as much as WWE did.    I think this is because WWE just had a magic about it at the time to where they were able to suspend disbelief so much, that you as a fan became so emotionally invested that certain events would get a genuine response out of you.

With that said, some of these moments are from my perspective as a fan, some of them are from my perspective as a worker and some of them are from my perspective as both a fan and as a worker.

Without further ado here are from least to greatest.... My Least Favorite Moments in WWE

7.  Brock Lesnar ends Undertaker's Undefeated Streak

I think a lot of people seem too look at Wrestlemania XXX from a here and now standpoint, and wonder why so many are offended by the fact that Brock Lesnar defeated the Undertaker to make him 21-1.    Well,  think of it as if you have been watching the Undertaker the entire time.   I was 5 years old the first time I saw the Undertaker.   This guy was like a killer out of a horror movie.   For the first 8 years of his career, they made him out to be invincible and indestructible.   To be quite honest I haven't followed WWE or any other television wrestling for many years now, but when I read that it was Brock Lesnar that ended the streak, it brought back a lot of memories I had watching the Undertaker growing up.    It just seems to me that they put so much time and so much effort into building him up and making his Undefeated streak mean something.   Two decades worth of ideas and efforts, all to just be faded into the grey with a loss to Brock Lesnar.  
       A lot of workers are saying, "it was brilliant! No one suspected it!"  and I'm thinking to myself,  was Undertaker's streak supposed to represent a one night stand or was it supposed to be something more special and meaningful?   To me having Brock Lesnar be the one to win that match and end the streak made 21 years worth of everything that was put into the Undertaker meaningless.    They could have made his loss much more significant, not just for Wrestlemania XXX but for the longevity and legacy of the character.   Instead they did it this way to shock a few people and have the majority of us remember how something that could have been very, very memorable was ruined with this idea instead.

6.  Crush turns on Randy Savage

I was 9 years old when this happened, but I can remember it like it was yesterday.   I was a huge Crush mark, and would often take cans of Mountain Dew after I drank them and give them the Crush "Cranium Crunch".   I remember watching this on Monday Night and being so excited when Crush shook Randy Savage's hand and the two decided to remain friends.   Then when Crush turned on Savage and nailed him with the clothesline,  literally getting up off the couch and yelling at the T.V.   I was so angry about Crush becoming a "bad guy" that I grabbed my toy action figure of Crush and my toy action figure of Randy Savage and had them wrestle.   I made the toy action figure of Randy Savage hit the toy action figure of Crush so hard with his elbow drop that his arm completely broke off.   Needless to say the armless toy version of Savage still registered a 3 count.

5. Shawn Michaels defeats British Bulldog for European Title

Many events around this time period just made me sick to my stomach, and this was most certainly one of them.   I don't really have an opinion on who Shawn Michaels is today, but I say unabashedly that during this time period he was about as horrible of a person as one could be.   Just the way that the Bulldog was humiliated and thrashed in his home country, in front of his family just isn't right.  You can get on your high horse all you want to and proclaim your "I'm a worker" status all you want by saying that, "it's a work"  but there is still a level of decency, even in a world of make believe that should be obtained.    This was a shot in the face to a guy that was only guilty of being related to someone that Shawn didn't like.  It was done in a very degrading manor.    I've only been able to sit through this match once.   It makes me sick to even think about the way the Bulldog was treated.  

4. Shawn Michaels throws Marty Jannetty through the glass window

I was around 8 years old when this happened and I can remember how riled up this got me.  I think I might have actually thrown something at the T.V. I was so hot.   Even though I had recently just been smarted up to the fact that professional wrestling was a work,  I still wanted to beat the ever loving crap out of Shawn Michaels.   I remember vowing that when I grew up, I was going to be Jannetty's new tag team partner and help him to get revenge on Shawn.   I guess as an 8 year old, you don't realize how much things will change in the 13 year time period it takes you to become an adult.   I personify this moment as probably the moment that made me go from what I'd call more than a casual fan, to a obsessed fan.   Before this moment,  I was a WWE wrestling fan, but I had other interest in life as well.   After this moment,  I was fixated on professional wrestling.   It really hooked me into the programming.

3. Ludvig Borga squashes Marty Jannetty

I have a lot of things in common with a lot of fellow workers and/or professional wrestling fans, but one of them is most certainly not who I consider to be my all time favorite wrestler.   Along with Bret Hart, it is and it always has been Marty Jannetty.  I think the man owns a record for the number of times he has returned to the WWE.   I remember how excited I was when he made another comeback and had a series of wins over the WWE regular jobbers  Damien Damento and Bastien Booger.   I really thought that big things were in store for Jannetty and that he might be given another intercontinental title run.   Instead he was paired up with Ludvig Borga and was completely squashed  in their Summerslam match.   He was made out to be such a wimp and a pushover that he never even took Borga off of his feet.   The match made Jannetty look like a girl scout against a Marine.   I knew from that moment on Jannetty would never have another shining moment in his career and he would be nothing more than a jobber from there on out.  I secretly kept hoping that a day would come when he'd make a comeback and be one of the top stars, but it never did.  

2. Hulk Hogan turns Heel

I became a pro wrestling fan at the height of Hulkamania.   While I understood that most of the professional wrestlers were just ordinary men, with extraordinarily size and strength,  to me Hulk Hogan (and for the record the Ultimate Warrior and The Undertaker) were more than just men.   I like most kids around my age that were pro wrestling fans,  idolized Hulk Hogan.  He was my hero and a guy that I looked up to.    I can remember just going numb when I watched Hogan turn heel.  I mean I took it so hard, that you would have thought someone had just died.   Judge that as  pretentious if you want to, but I was about 10 years old when this happened and how a 10 year sees the world is much different than how a 28 year old sees it.   

1. The Montreal Screwjob

I've written about this moment a couple of other times, so I don't know if I need to say a whole lot more than what I've said in prior blogs.    This moment just took all the steam out of me as a professional wrestling fan and while I still cherish and get excited about moments that happened before this,  I've never been able to feel the same magic about professional wrestling on television sense.   I guess what really happened here is that this was my first real introduction to just how political the wrestling business was and how the real "fake" part of the business wasn't what happened in the ring, but instead what happened outside of it.    I think that since the WWE was transitioning into the "Attitude Era" around this time, I would have eventually been turned off from it any way, but this was the moment when I went from being one of the world's biggest professional wrestling fans, to just being a guy that liked it and would watch it occasionally.   From 1989 to this moment, I would absolutely die if I had to miss any pro wrestling show on TV. Yet after the Montreal screwjob, it didn't matter to me whether I missed it or not.

 

 

Stonebraker's favorite Episodes of Family Matters

From its catchy theme song to its identifiable characters, "Family Matters" was a television show that many of us that experienced late 1980's through mid 1990's television thoroughly enjoyed.   While the show seemed to get campier and campier as time went on,  giving up the ambition of telling an actual meaningful story, to instead just be a 1/2 hour full of cheap laughs, it wasn't always that way. Matter of fact, "Family Matters" in its first 5 seasons was much more than just a plate full of senseless comedy and slapstick humor.  It at one time was a show that told compelling and moving stories.  Sure, it made us laugh, but the laughter was used as comic relief as the show also made us think, made us cry and made us above anything else feel.    The Show often gets a bad wrap as being campy and corny, but anyone who says that about it has to be focusing solely on seasons six and after   The first five seasons most certainly weren't.

All of my favorite episodes of "Family Matters" come from the first five seasons and while I do enjoy some episodes listed here a bit more than I do the others,  I give no chronological order to this list.     They're simply my favorite episodes of what I consider to be one of the best mainstream shows that the late 80's through the mid 90's had to offer.

"Citizen's Court"

 In this episode,  Steve has a pet bug that Carl steps on and squishes to death.  Heartbroken, Steve expects an apology, but instead Carl nonchalantly shrugs it off as if it were no big deal.   This upsets Steve and they end up going to court as the bug was worth a couple hundred dollars. Still rather apathetic to the issue, Carl believes that it was "Just a stupid bug" and that Steve's issue is about the money that he invested into the bug.  At the end of the episode Carl comes to realize that Steve's actual problem with Carl was his apathy and his inability to understand that while the bug maybe meant nothing to him, that it meant something to Carl.   I identify with this episode a lot because I've had a few "bugs" in my life to say the least.   I have had things in life that I cared a lot about that meant virtually nothing to anyone else, so they have a hard time understanding what they mean to me.   I remember once in an interview,  my idol, John Hughes saying that the main problem adults had in relating to kids was not realizing that while issues may seem irrelevant and unimportant to them, it doesn't mean that they aren't important and relevant to the kids.  

"Finding the Words"

 In this episode,  a strange man comes to visit the Winslow household who at first identifies himself as just a friendly stranger.  As the episode concludes, you find out that the man is actually Harriet and Rachel's father.   Late 80's television really began to explore the elements of broken homes and stopped treating the scenario as if most everyone came from a loving home and you were really an outcast if you didn't.   It began to explore the fact that a lot of people have something dark in their past, and just because you do, it doesn't necessarily make you bad person.  For some of us, when we are little, we have this utopian idea of a world full of love and people that care about us.  Making the transition to realize that the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows and that it can actually be a very cold and cruel place at times, isn't an easy one to make.  It helps to have illustrations along the way.   This episode for me, was one of them.

"Good Cop, Bad Cop"

 

 

 

 Racism is always a touchy and scary subject to tackle, and while "Family Matters" tackled the subject on a few different occasions throughout its run, it never did so better than it did in this episode.   What I love about this episode, is that it tackles racism from all sides.   When Eddie first tells his father that he was arrested and humiliated because he was black,  Carl dismisses it simply as Eddie being a kid who did something wrong and pulling the race card to get out of trouble.   For the show to address the fact that there are minorities that have and continue to do this was an extremely ballsy move.   From there Carl discovers that Eddie wasn't be fictitious and that he really was treated in a racist manner.    From there Carl confronts the racist cop and stands racism right in the face.   It is the best acting I've ever seen Reginald VelJohnson do.  

"Hell Toupee"

 Sometimes in life we have to take a step back and realize that there are things that are out of our control and things that we can't change.  In this episode Carl is upset that he has gone bald and really wants to have his hair back.  He goes through a multitude of different toupees, until he finally realizes that he is bald, there is nothing he can do about it and he might as well embrace it.    I think we've all had to do that a time or two in our life.  I know that I had to. 

"It's a Mad, Mad, Mad House"

 Eddie brought a dirty picture to school and when he is caught with it, he knows that his teacher will tell his parents.  Thinking quick on his feet, Eddie explains to his teacher that he has a rough home life and that he is simply acting out as a result of it.  Buying his story,  the teacher actually comes to visit the Winslow house and all Hell breaks loose in an hilarious giant misunderstanding.   Carl is going under cover trying to bust a drug distributor, so he is dressed as a gang member as he ask his wife, "Harriet, do I look good to go out and sell drugs".   The teacher, now totally convinced that Eddie's home life is even worse than he made it out to be, tries to get Eddie removed from the home.   After calming her down and explaining to her the actuality of the situation, Eddie ends up in a lot more trouble, than he initially would have been.    Although the episode tells the story in a very comedic fashion, it still gets the point across.  Lying is a lot like using a credit card when you know you don't have the money to pay for something.   You may not have to pay for it now, but you will have to pay a lot more for it later. 

"It's beginning to Look a lot Like Urkle"

 Laura is sick of Steve and just can't seem to understand why he has to be the way he is.   She wonders why he can't just be cool and thinks nothing of treating him poorly for his nerdy ways.   Through a series of events, she finds out what it's like to be him and how it isn't fun to get made fun of all the time.  Sure the episode is the old cliche story of, "Walking in someone else's shoes" but it tells the story from an interesting perspective and really makes the audience see that sometimes people are the way they are whether they want to be or not.   It was also I'll add, how the original idea for Stefan Urkel came about.

"Laura's First Date"

How can you not love this episode?  It may not have any great moral to walk away with, but what it lacks in a fable, it makes up for historical significance.  This was our first introduction to Steve Urkle and it was supposed to be our only introduction.   Audience members responded so well to the character, that television producers decided to bring him back.   They never stopped deciding to bring him back. 

"Life of the Party"

 This episode helps to illustrate why I have a bit of a bitter attitude sometimes towards alcohol.  It's not that I dislike alcohol itself, I actually like the stuff.   While I don't worship it as a God, like so many other Americans seem to weekend in and weekend out,  I do enjoy a good glass of it every now and then.   My biff is not with alcohol itself, but more so with our society's stance on alcohol.  I just sometimes get very flustered and frustrated with how forgivable alcohol is in comparison to other elements that are either equally as bad as it is or not as bad.   Someone gets caught taking steroids to make themselves more muscular and the world goes ape shit.  Someone gets caught smoking some weed and suddenly they might as well move to Colorado because they won't get a job anywhere else.   Get plastered week after week, and no one bats an eye.   Get drunk behind the wheel of a car, punishments are getting more and more fierce, but they're still a slap on the wrist compared to getting caught with a joint in your hand.    I just don't like the hypocrisy of it and I'm not afraid to say that.   In this episode Steve gets drunk off of spiked punch and nearly ends up killing himself.  Maybe a bit of an exaggeration, but something alcohol has been responsible for in the past.   It's also something that it has always been forgiven for, which is something I can't say for steroids, marijuana or any other drug.

"Making the Team"

 In this episode Steve really wants the opportunity to try out for the basketball team and because of his nerdy build and his inability to be athletic during P.E. class, no one believes he can be any good.  As a result, they make him the equipment manager, even though he insist that if they just give him a try he'll prove that he's good.  In an important game, the basketball team suffers a lot of game ending injuries until they come to the point to where they either have to forfeit or put Steve in.   They decide put Steve in and are downright astounded by how good he is.   It reminds me of many times in life when I have had to prove myself as a creative writer to other people.  I remember once while at Northwestern College I had written something about horror films in my films aesthetics class that Professor Jamie Durham was so impressed with that he shared with the whole class and with some of his colleagues, as well as his other classes that day.  The next day in Keith Fynaardt's English class,  a girl told the class about something Jamie Durham has said to her class the day before.  I said to her and the rest of the class, "He was talking about me, I'm the one that said that" and I was given a look by everyone including Fynaardt like I was lying.   It pissed me off so much that I got up and walked myself across campus looking for Professor Durham.  When I found him I told him the situation and had him walk back with me to Fynaardt's class and after Durham confirmed that it was me he had been talking about,  I gave a piece of my mind to the rest of the class about stereotypes and how despite just being a big strong muscle head who spent too much time in the weight room, I was also a brain.   I'm not exactly sure how Fynaardt felt about my little blow up.   I never got a chance to ask him. I left the college a short time after that, for much different reasons.

"Psycho Twins"

 I love professional wrestling and I love the Bushwackers.   Nothing too much to say about this episode other than it's fun and one that I'll always take the time to sit down and watch if it is on.

"Sink or Swim"

 Steve is near graduation and all he has to do to graduate is pass a swimming course in P.E.  Only problem is Steve can't swim and is terrified of doing so.  As a result Carl takes the time to show Steve how to swim and help Steve to graduate.  This episode goes to show that if you take the time to help someone and you work hard, they can really surprise you with what they are capable of.  

Other episodes I enjoyed but don't have a whole lot to say about are "The Big Reunion"  "Son"  and the one where Steve Finally stands up to Laura.



What are you favorite "Family Matters" episodes?

Remembering the Ultimate Warrior

                For years and years I’ve heard nothing but guys who will never achieve in three decades worth of work what the Ultimate Warrior was able to achieve in just a few years, go on and on about how much the Ultimate Warrior sucked and how much the Ultimate Warrior couldn’t work.   Truth of the matter is he was certainly no technician.  His arsenal of maneuvers and techniques in the ring were rather limited.   Most of his matches were a series of clotheslines, tackles and hay-maker punches  with a body slam thrown in here and there, followed up by his signature gorilla press slam and big splash.     Yet at the end of the day,  he is still recognizably one of the most popular professional wrestlers of all time and I’ll argue the only professional wrestler to match Hulk Hogan’s popularity on a head to head level.    Many will argue that “The Rock” and “Stone Cold” Steve Austin were just as popular as Hogan ever was, but they weren’t competing with Hogan at the height of his popularity.   The Ultimate Warrior was.
                My first memories of the Warrior were during his feud of Ravishing Rick Rude, in which they had a series of three PPV matches, all of which were pretty entertaining.   Rude is one of the greatest workers, who could have a great match with about anyone.   The two worked off of each other so well.  It was fun watching two guys,  who arguably both had the best builds in the professional wrestling business at the time, or ever.    Both Warrior’s intercontinental and World’s champion title reigns were short lived, but both of them very memorable.
                It’s weir d to think back to 1991, when The Ultimate Warrior had a retirement match against Randy Savage at Wrestlemania VII, especially when you consider the aftermath of the match.    Everyone has their favorite Warrior match, but that without a doubt is my favorite.    Matter of fact, it is one of my favorite matches of all time.    Rarely does a match ever live up to its build up, but that match most certainly did.   Hell,  to be quite honest, it exceeded its expectations.    If anything that should have been the main event that night, as it blew Sgt Slaughter and Hogan’s match clear out of the water.      Even though Warrior won, it’d be him who would disappear for a while from the WWE and Randy Savage who would not only be reinstated, but win the WWE title at the next Wrestlemania.    Warrior and Savage had another match at the Summerslam that year, but it paled in comparison to their legendary match at WMVII.
                It is so ironic to think that around this time period,  it was rumored that the Ultimate Warrior had died.    When he returned to the WWE, he had lost some size and had gotten a haircut.  Many didn’t think it was the same person, so rumors began to float around that the original Ultimate Warrior had been replaced.   PWI writer Craig Powers,  was among one of individuals who kept the rumor alive and going.    When it was all said and done though, although rumors occasionally still circuit to this day,  there was only one Ultimate Warrior and he had not died.
                It’s easy to know how to feel about the Ultimate Warrior from a strict entertainment perspective.    He was vastly entertaining,  fun and exciting.   Knock the guy all you want but from his arrival in the WWE in the late 80’s to his departure in the early 90’s,  he was arguably their biggest draw, with only Hulk Hogan to compare to.   If a pro wrestler’s worth is measured by how many butts he put into seats,  Warrior is most certainly one of the most worthy pro wrestlers of all time.   Matter of fact  when he made his return in 1996 at Wrestlemania XII,  people were just as excited about him then as they were 4 years prior when he left.
                How to feel about the Ultimate Warrior on other levels is sort of difficult though.   He had a rather strict business approach towards the professional wrestling business.    Some conclude that he didn’t appreciate it or love it at all, but I’d argue that he did.   He most certainly wasn’t as passionate and loyal to it as are others, but he at least realized what it did for his life and the opportunities that it gave him.    He could sometimes come off as very standoffish in interviews, but I think that was more because he saw the professional wrestling business in a way that many others don’t.    
                On a personal level,  Warrior was very opinionated and highly conservative.    He had some opinions on matters that were very unpopular with a lot of people, including myself.   However, I have to say that is one of the things I deeply admired about him.  He had no desire to please other people.  He said what he felt and couldn’t care less what anyone thought.   Some took him to be once again very standoffish, but I think he was actually just very strong in his stance.     I also think he matured a lot over the years as well.   I’ve heard that back in the 80’s and early 90’s he was sort of a genuine prick, who didn’t even have the time of day to sign an autograph for a dying child.    I’ve heard as of the late 90’s, he really changed a lot, into becoming more of the hero that he pretended to be all those years earlier.  I’ve known a total of five people who  met him, and all five of them have said he was one of the nicest and most cordial people in the wrestling business they have ever met. 
                I think in the end, Warrior died and individual who may not have been loved by everyone but someone that just told it like it was.   He would rip guys he didn’t like a new one,  yet he was also very praiseful and complimentary towards those that he admired.    I think the man had a lot of inner demons that he dealt with during his younger years and that could sometimes come out in negative ways towards others.   I want to say that I believed he concurred those demons and gradually over time became a better person.     While at one time I saw the Warrior as nothing more than a guy who got lucky and didn’t appreciate his good fortunes,  today I see the Warrior as a man who made the best of what he was given and died someone to look up to and admire.  
                I was one of the “little warriors” when I was a kid, who used to paint my face up like the Warrior back in the early 1990’s.    I’m still a bit of a Warrior even to this day.   I’ll end with a quote that he once said that to this day I still live by.
                “You must show no mercy, nor have any belief in the way others judge you, for your greatness shall silence them all”

Stonebraker's Favorite "Andy Griffith Show" Episodes

The show ended 17 years before I was even born.   Yet through the beauty of syndication and a father who introduced me to what I consider to be one of the greatest television shows ever made, I got to know "The Andy Griffith Show".    I have and I will continue to argue that good television is as educational of a tool as is anything else.  A lot of valuable lessons, and how to react to them with good morals and values were taught on "The Andy Griffith Show".   They weren't taught in condescending or judgmental ways, but instead through example.   "The Andy Griffith Show" proved that television could truly be great and today I want to share with you some of my favorite episodes.

"Feud is a Feud"

This is one of my favorite episodes because through an hilarious depiction, "Feud is a feud" tells the story of two families that have been feuding for as long as they can remember.   The only problem is, they have no idea why they are feuding.  They don't even know why they don't like each other, other than they are feuding.   The episode is an illustration of how sometimes in life we can get so wound up over the silliest of things and how we sometimes allow bridges of friendships to be burned, because we're more worried about being right than we are about being happy.   Sometimes in life you are better off to stay away from certain people and have nothing to do with them.  However, other times in life, you're better off to let bygones be bygones, shake hands and be friends.   Life's too short to be enemies with people who you'd be better off friends with.   This episode illustrates that beautifully.

"Andy Discovers American"

 As an avid lover of history, how can I not love this episode.   The boys at school think history is a real drag and they all do poorly on purpose.  This bothers their teacher Ms. Krump as she confronts Andy about it and Andy acts very nonchalant in return.   Upset, Ms. Krump gives Andy a tearful explanation of why history is important to us and why his nonchalant response is alarming.  Andy realizes that she is right and gets the boys excited about learning history. I appreciate how in turn Andy realized that in order for the boys to care about history he had to make it exciting and relate to things that they liked.   I never forgot that, and have to say that while I was student teaching, I totally stole the idea  for a lesson I taught one day.   It was the best student teaching day I had while at English Valley.  

"Aunt Bee the Warden"

 I consider this to be probably the funniest episode of the series, and I mainly appreciate it because of that.  However,  there is also a valuable lesson to be learned from this episode as well.   Otis Campbell is used to getting his own way, being waited on and having little to no discipline.  At first Aunt Bee caters to him and lets him have his own way.   After a while he begins to take it all for granted and finally Aunt Bee has had enough and she puts her foot down and begins to discipline him.   She makes him do chores, clean up nice and even makes him vow to quit drinking.    What's even cooler about this episode is that she is doing all of this to help make Otis a better person and at the end of the episode both he and the town's people go from looking at him as nothing more than a useless drunk, to someone they can be proud of.  

"Barney and the Choir"

 I think we have all had talents in life that we do not possess that we wish we did.    I can most certainly relate to this episode as I too wish I could sing, but I can't.  Like Barney, there was a time when I thought that I could, but quickly discovered through the use of a recording device, that no, I could not.    What I appreciate about this episode is just how naive Barney is to the fact that he sounds like a goat when he sings.   It helps to make you realize that if you've ever had one of those days when you couldn't see whatever it was starring you straight in the face, you aren't alone.   We all have those days.  

"Barney's First Car"

 This episode I appreciate because it proves that even though people try and claim that things were so much better back in the day than what they are now, that sleazebuckets and slimeballs existed back then, the same way they do now.    Barney is conned into buying a dud of a car by a wise swindler, and ends up getting screwed out of all of his money.    What's even funnier is at the end of the episode when they catch the con artists,  they try to sell Barney another car and he almost falls for it again.   There are swindlers amongst us everyday and we need to watch out for them, or we too will be paying money for worthless things like a car that doesn't run.

"Barney's Physical"

 Exams are coming up, and Barney is worried that he won't pass the requirements for height and weight, and therefore not be allowed to be an officer anymore.  He goes to extreme measures, including hanging himself to try and make himself taller, in order to make sure that he'll pass the exams.   Andy and other folks in the town also go out of their way to do all they can to help Barney pass the exam.  The magic of this episode is that it illustrates that if you truly want something so bad and you do all you can to achieve it, people will take notice of that.   People will help you to succeed.   While the other "requirements" are often needed, Heart is often the most important ingredient.  

Citizen's Arrest

 Even today we have quite a few examples of those in authority taking advantage of their position and abusing their authority.   In this episode Barney does just that by giving Gomer a ticket for breaking the law and then turning around and breaking the exact same law himself.  Gomer points this out to Barney and places him under citizen's arrest.   Barney learns that just because he's a police officer, it doesn't give him the right to break the law anymore than it does anyone else.  While there are a lot of really good cops out there in this world,  I know more than a handful that could stand to watch this episode.

"Bailey's Bad Boy" and "Man in a Hurry"

 I purposefully put these two episodes together because I think they both get across the same point.   Both are about two people who are in a big hurry and have their priorities a bit out of whack.    They both tell a simple story about simply taking the time to relax and appreciate the things in life that really matter like your friends and your family.   It is also an early peak at a young Bill Bixby, who is one of my favorite actors.

"Mr. McBevee"

 Opie meets a mysterious man in the woods one day while playing and the man becomes his friend.   Opie goes home to tell his father about him and Andy dismisses it as simply Opie's imagination.  Yet when Opie insist that he is telling the truth, Andy punishes him for lying.   Andy later discovers that Opie was indeed telling that truth and that this man really does exist.   It's a complicated lesson because people often due lie about things but it is wise to never assume someone is lying until you know the facts.   Accusing someone of lying when they are telling the truth is an awful offense and you learn that by watching this episode.

"Opie's Charity"

 Like "Mr. McBevee" this episode deals with the ugliness of assumption, only instead of thinking he is being lied to,  Andy just assumes that he knows why Opie isn't giving to the local charity.   Andy assumes it is because Opie is being selfish and wants to by himself a ticket to the movies or a new bicycle.   In the end Andy comes to find out that Opie wants to by a jacket for a little girl in his class that can't afford one.   Andy eats major crow realizing that while he thought his son was selfish, he actually turned out to be very selfless.    I've seen one too many incidents where people don't understand the reasoning behind why people do something and rather than ask, they make up their own assumptions, which are often as far off from the truth as you can get.    In the end Andy ask Opie, "Well, why didn't you tell me you were saving the money to buy her a jacket?"  Opie responds, "You didn't ask". 

"Opie the Birdman"

 Opie is out with his BB gun one day,when he shoots and kills a mother bird, leaving behind her babies.   Opie feels awful about what he has done and decides to take care of the birds himself.    What I learned about this episode was that in life when we mess up,  we can either continue to beat ourselves up about what we did wrong, or we can choose to make up for it, by doing something good.   Opie killed the mother bird, took responsibility for his actions and made sure that the baby birds were going to be taken care of.    We need more of that in our educational system.  Too much, "stand in the corner" and "Go to the principal" for what you did wrong and not enough, "FIX what you did wrong" 

"The Pickle Story"

 Sometimes in life you are just better off telling someone the truth, even if it'll hurt their feelings than you are trying to hide if from them.   Another extremely funny episode,  this one teaches you exactly that.

"The Education of Ernest T Bass"

 We often overlook people and what they are and what they aren't capable of based on prerequisites and false pretenses.   Few believe in Ernest T Bass's ability to get himself an education and through determination, hard work and the guidance of those who won't let him give up, he does exactly that.   We have no right to tell anyone they can't do something before they've even attempted it.  Sometimes, they'll even surprise us and do exactly that.  If someone believes they have the ability to do something,  I usually trust that that they will.   Even if they don't, they at least tried and that's more than I can say for a lot of people.


What are your favorite Andy Griffith episodes?