The Animal
Friday, May 23rd, 2014
For as far back as I can remember, I’d always wanted to meet the Animal. If ever there was proof that wrestling was fake … choreographed … just one big scam, it was the existence of George “The Animal” Steele. My Dad and I used to crack up at his antics on Georgia Championship Wrestling in the mid 1980’s and the followed some of his incredible storylines when he moved to the WWF in the late 80’s. Through his career, he only managed to sputter a few noises, grunts, and later, single words to the likes of a very distraught Mean Gene Okerlund. Read the rest of this entry »
“Living Legend” is a phrase you don’t want to throw around too willy-nilly…especially when it comes to wrestlers. But I think that we can safely classify Bruno Sammartino as one without too much hesitation. Ironically, I can’t say that I’ve actually never seen him wrestle. But when I was in my glory days of being a wrestling fan back in the early to mid-1980’s, I saw his face time and time again within the pages of the stacks of wrestling magazines (including back issues) that I purchased. Even though he had just retired from full-time wrestling in 1981, I already considered him a wrestler from the ‘old days’ long before my time. 
If you grew up in the 1980’s like I did, chances are you’ll remember the phenomenon that was Eddie and the Cruisers. It made little difference if you had ever seen it or not; surely you’ll remember the constant commercials for it, the continuous showing of it on HBO, and if you truly were a fan you might know that it had a sequel called Eddie and Cruisers II: Eddie Lives! that was made before the decade came to a close. I’ll be quite honest: I never watched either of them. 
Virginia Madsen had a largely unsung career for the first two decades of her film and television career, but interspersed with some largely forgettable films were a few interesting career boosters: David Lynch’s Dune for one, and starring role in the horror film Candyman to name another. There were also some fun television parts in such shows as American Dreams (as Rebecca), Moonlighting (3 episodes as Annie), and Frasier (4 episodes as Cassandra). 
The title is mostly meant for comedic effect. I never really got lost and I was only alone for about three hours. But the key point is that I had become comfortable enough with Manhattan and the subway system to strike out on my own and hit a few sites on the morning of Thursday, May 30, 2013, our last full day in New York City. Bob had opted out of hitting the streets for more of my brisk walking, so after I spent a rather slow and leisurely morning in the hotel room, I headed out a little before 11am for a few hours on my own.