So it’s that time again to de-clutter ye ol desktop and the accumulated pixel dust ends up here. So feel free to check it out…and judge me as you wish.
Everyone stay safe out here and on to February!!!
Peace. <<01-31-2021>> — Freak #33
Category: wrestling
Picture Jumble – August 2020
It’s that time again, yes it is! I have a weird collection of pix on my desktop that I need to purge…but before I do, I present them for you to judge me, er them:
Have a great week. Peace.
<<<08-18-2020>>>
No Offense
Happy Hump Day – the last one for March 2018! Time, relatively speaking, seems to have flown by in the first three months of this year. It is already the end of March and the baseball regular season is set to begin tomorrow (Thursday, March 29th); so that is something to be excited and enthused about for the short-term. But twirling in this everyday grind of adulting, things are so much lather, rinse and repeat. Obviously for the hygiene-conscious people this has a literal translation but also in the cosmic sense of full-time adult life of having to work to support family and a life style – it applies there too. Continue reading “No Offense”
WWE, maybe it’s real for me!
Good afternoooooon! Hello! Howdy and most of that associated snazzy jazz.
Today is February the 27th (Tuesday). Collectively, we are a couple days removed from WWE’s latest pay-per-view event (The Elimination Chamber). I call it a pay-per-view event but in reality unless you bought a ticket to be there, you were probably just watching it via WWE’s streaming service or from a link on-line somewhere for free. There might be a few places where the actual pay-per-view could be purchased but there are not many of those left in the WWE Universe. Continue reading “WWE, maybe it’s real for me!”
James Laurinaitis – 33, 55, 53 hike!
Hello and Happy Thursday!
As some of you know I do a podcast with a softball buddy of mine (Jeremy) called Sports Stalkers (https://sportsstalkers.podbean.com/). In the course of doing this sports-flavored podcast, we try to secure interviews with sports figures. Some of our interviewees are in baseball, football, basketball, hockey, softball and other genres. We also are trying to get sports entertainment personalities (wrestling). So in this vein, I have been trying to get the attention of James Laurinaitis on Twitter. James previously played professional football in town (St Louis) with the Rams. In reaching out to these different athletes and personalities, I try to be prepared and do a little research. Come to find out on Mr. Laurinaitis, (yes I know his dad is Road Warrior Animal from WWE wrestling fame) he played his college football at Ohio State University. No big deal right? Well in the pros he wore number 55 and number 53 but in college, he wore #33! That has been my softball number for a very long time. Additionally, today’s date is November 30, 2017…and James’ birthday is coming up soon. Like in three days soon! Ah research!
So from my blog and the Sports Stalkers podcast: Happy Early 31st Birthday James! And below are some pix from the Google search engine. Enjoy!
Peace.
<<11-30-2017>>
11-22
Good morning.
If you see 11-22 above, you may be doing some quick math. If you came up with -11 as the answer I will give partial credit. Really I was going for the short date of 11-22-2017 or November 22, 2017. But much in today’s society is boiled down to the minimal so it may be digested with speed and then we are on to the next inane thing. (After re-reading this my mind almost read the sentence beginning as butt munch). Continue reading “11-22”
Welcome to the Jumble!
 
Good afternoon! Hope your Friday is treating you well. In light of all the unrest being generated by the social media viral idiocy, a co-worker suggested I take aim at some of the nonsense being propagated (i.e. racist cereal promotions that are obviously not racist but the people interpreting them as so might be, etc.) but I say nay. Don’t get me wrong, I have an opinion on all the craziness running amok but who has the kind of energy needed to run down each and every ninny turning over metaphorical rocks to find mythical monsters that don’t really reside there? Hmmm?
 Instead, I thought I would go in a little more whimsical direction and post some of the GIF’s and memes I circulated today to friends and social media outlets. Hope you enjoy them and it provides a delightful distraction to all the visible cracks in the framework of society!
  
P.S. I want to go see JIGSAW the movie! Who wants to go with?
 Peace.
<<10-27-2017>>
On-line shopping
Sometimes when I get a little bored and have a few extra dollars to spend, I peruse on-line shopping websites such as Amazon, Ebay and to a lesser extent Facebook and Craigslist. The latter two I have had mostly negative experiences; either from trying to my sell my items or trying to purchase items that turned out to be damaged or not accurately portrayed in their descriptions or their pictures. 
But the other two shopping choices (Amazon and Ebay), I have had mostly positive experiences. In my opinion, I think this is because these two websites offer some sort of buyer protection that the former two really do not (except social media vigilante justice enforcement (jokingly kidding)). An aspect of Ebay and Amazon that can addict the buyer a bit is ‘suggested’ items based on the items you searched or bought. Looking at a PS4? How about these PS4 games? Or how about a classic Nintendo 64 system? Or a Super Mario inflatable costume for Halloween? Or a Freddy Krueger talking Frisbee? The purchasing possibilities are endless! 
Recently I purchased a replica 1984 WWF Hulk Hogan title belt (not the real deal but still nifty!), the first seasons of Game of Thrones (DVD not Blu-ray) and a couple Linkin Park CD’s. This buying activity occurred while I was looking for…actually I don’t remember what I was looking for. But it doesn’t matter because every once in a while you just need to mindlessly blow off some financial steam with a completely un-necessary purchase to support our free commerce system. 
Hopefully everyone is enjoying their Monday and avoiding drama and controversy. If you are interested in controversy and shenanigans, please Google search my podcast using the search terms: ‘podbean’ and ‘the freak show’. As usual you can find me on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr. 
Have a Monday that compares to the greatest Mondays of all-time!! #GOATMonday
 Peace.
OMRB – Heath Slater – WWE
For those of you who do not follow wrestling or abhor its existence, I apologize in advance. For all others, come right in and get a ringside seat. For several weeks now I have been trying to get the attention of WWE Superstar Heath Slater or Heath Wallace Miller as his momma named him. Emails through the WWE website, tweets on Twitter and periodic Facebook stalkings have to date gone for naught. For those who are familiar with the WWE product or wrestling in general, you may be asking why would I go after a guy once nicknamed “Wendy” by John Cena? (He was nicknamed that because of the similarity in hair color to the cartoon face associated with Wendy’s Hamburgers restaurant chain.) Why not target Hulk Hogan, John Cena or The Rock?
OK let’s calm down here for a moment. For one I was being practical and two I was going for more of a working man angle. The practical part first: Mr. Heath Slater has been with WWE, including his developmental time, since 2006. After paying his dues in DSW (Deep South Wrestling), he moved onto FCW (Florida Championship Wrestling). His hard work paid off with FCW Tag Team Title and FCW Heavyweight Title reigns in 2008 and 2009 respectively. And in 2010 he got his chance on the ‘big’ stage with seven other NXT rookies. Over the next seven years he would become a vital member of both RAW and SmackDown! shows because top level talent needs opposing talent to make TV worthy matches. Heath has proved over the years he has a great knowledge of wrestling moves and can deliver quality wrestling matches with a variety of opposing styles. On his resume he owns four tag team title reigns: three WWE Tag Team Championships (J-Gabe) and one SmackDown! Tag Team Championship (Rhyno). He was instrumental in the success of multiple factions such as The Nexus, The Corre and 3MB.
Some of you are holding up a hand at this point and saying time out. What does this have to do with my ‘practical’ approach? Well let me tell you. Read the last paragraph again and appreciate the path this man has taken, this family man. He is probably out on the road for 250-300 dates per year and away from his family. But he is doing what he loves and entertaining millions of fans yet still making a living. You can see him on your TV either via cable or on Hulu replays of the weekly wrestling shows (either Raw or SmackDown! depending on where they shift him) or occasionally on Total Divas (WWE reality show). He is the host of WWE Game Night and also of WWE’s YouTube channel…not to mention he is in video games (WWE ’12, WWE ’13, WWE 2K14, WWE 2K16 and WWE 2K17) plus appearing in a movie (The Marine 5). Yes Heath has probably not been on the Tonight Show as many times as The Rock or John Cena or The Miz but his journey and his perseverance is fascinating and admirable. Heath has been a great company man, much like the Undertaker, but obviously in a much different role.
Alright for those of you who have patiently waited for me to explain the practicality claim in targeting Heath Slater for an interview for our Sports Stalkers podcast (on the Podbean app), here it is: Heath Slater is dynamic and a well-known commodity. He has been a heel and also a face. He is not some Johnny Come Lately but someone who has been through the whole training and maintaining processes throughout the organization. He’s been a grunt but also gotten some glory. He has been on the grandest stage for their industry, namely Wrestlemania (he’s 0-3) and has worked with some of their biggest stars (Edge, John Cena, Big Show, The Miz, CM Punk and Triple H). If you look around the company, WWE does not keep talent that cannot work with other talent. It is of the utmost importance that a Superstar be able to be charismatic but also be able to carry a match and not injure the other talent. Heath has a pretty good track record on these counts. So from that perspective, trying to get an interview with Heath is pretty savvy on my part.
Now the working man angle. No not Kurt Angle (You Suck!) but the working man angle. Conservatively speaking and counting his time in the ‘minors’ I would say Heath has probably lost a few thousand matches to go with his hundreds of wins. Scraping by and biding his time until the call to “The Show” in wrestling terms, Heath lived a hard life and had to balance supporting a family with the rigors of his dream. Sometimes wrestling minds like to mesh real life issues with storylines for wrestlers and the results can be awkward and weird. I’m sure Heath isn’t on the top ten list of highest paid wrestlers but based on his tenure and willingness to do what is asked of him, I would think he is doing alright from a financial perspective. Does he have stresses and everyday life issues like most of his fans? I’m pretty sure he does. As a ginger kid who was bullied growing up, he escaped reality by watching wrestling (WM3 on VHS) in the back of a video shop. Now as a 33 year old man (he turns 34 on July 15th!) trying to combine the best aspects of Sting, Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair into his own interpretations in the ring, Heath is a fan favorite regardless of whether he is being the good guy or the bad guy.
I don’t know if Heath will be on set for a movie or at home or sitting at his hotel in preparation for a live event if and when he reads this but mirroring Heath’s drive, you’ve just got to take your shot and if the ball comes to you, pick it up and run with it for as long as you can.
For all my wrestling crazed fans, please help me in coaxing (or coercing) Heath to agree to a short 20-30 minute interview for our Sports Stalkers podcast by reaching out to him on Twitter (@HeathSlaterOMRB) and asking him, pretty please to agree to come on the show.
Have a great Thursday.
Peace.
P.S. Heath, if (when) you read this, just know that I agree with you about Shawn Vs Undertaker I at Wrestlemania is probably the greatest match in the history of Wrestlemania. #UndertakerForever #WWEUniverse
~~ Blog-A-Sphere ~~ 