Owen, Five Years Later

Owen Hart 

The following was originally written and posted on [slash]wrestling on May 23, 2000.

It still puzzles me how I recognized him right away.

When I started watching wrestling again in 1998, it was WCW that I watched more often than not, mostly because of the name recognition of the wrestlers I had watched while I was a kid. I started turning over to the WWF early last year because I was curious: Who were these guys? The federation I grew up watching was now full of people who, for the most part, I'd never really heard of before. Oh, sure, there were the big names - Austin, Undertaker, DX - but the majority of the WWF's talent was completely new to me.

But I knew Owen Hart almost as soon as I saw him.

I don't quite remember what night it was, but most likely he was teaming with Jeff Jarrett at the time. I think my brain made a connection to some nebulous piece of news I'd read about or heard about, and somehow I recognized the guy in the black singlet tights with the yellow trim and his initials on them as Owen. Or maybe I just figured that "OH" couldn't stand for anything else.

I noticed how cool he looked in the ring; how skilled he looked compared to some of the other performers I'd seen that night. I also noticed that although he and Jarrett were supposed to be a heel team, I found myself liking Owen's character more for some strange reason. And I don't mean in the sense that I thought he played a better role than Jarrett did; I mean that I liked Owen Hart as if he was a babyface.

When Owen, as the Blue Blazer, appeared on the SmackDown! pilot last April and did his interview, I was laughing out loud. I'd done some research and found out about Owen's previous Blue Blazer past, and I was pleasantly surprised at the versatility he had in playing the two different character. Owen's plainclothes persona came off to me as stoic. But the Blazer gimmick was so entertainingly cheesy I couldn't contain myself. It was the first time in a long time I'd seen a wrestler change gimmicks, and Owen moved back and forth between them so well, it was as if the Blue Blazer was a completely different person.

Getting the News

A little bit of background first: I work at The Trentonian, a tabloid-style daily newspaper in Trenton, NJ, USA, as a sports copy editor. Every Sunday for over two years now, we've run a pro wrestling column by "The Trenton Strangler," which was an idea that originated approximately six sports editors ago. So when the events of May 23, 1999 unfolded, we had a little more interest in it than most legitimate mainstream news outlets. (Granted, those familiar with The Trentonian would say that it hasn't been a legitimate mainstream news outlet for years, but you didn't hear that from me.)

I was working that night when the story came across the Associated Press newswire. "Professional wrestler involved in accident during event." A few minutes later, we got a call from the Strangler giving us the tragic details, including the news that the pay-per-view had continued.

This was all too much for me to handle at once, and I basically shut down for a few minutes to try and make sense of all the jumbled thoughts running through my head. He's... he's dead? He's dead. Owen Hart is dead.

Owen Hart is dead.

It was the first I'd ever heard of a wrestler dying in the ring at a live show. Up until that moment, I never truly understood the risks these men and women took every time they laced up their boots.

Owen Hart is dead and they continued with the show. They kept going? Why did they keep going? Did they not know that he was dead? Would it have made a difference?

Would I have stopped the show?

That last question was tumbling through my mind throughout the whole drive home after work. I don't know why I kept asking myself that... maybe part of me saw it as a parallel to the tough, potentially life-changing decisions that we all have to make at some point in our lives. But this... this was way over my head. Why was I even thinking about it?

Would I have stopped the show?

I never did come up with an answer to that question. Not that night, not the next night, and not now, a year later. And I don't think I ever will. It is an absolute worst-case scenario that no one ever expects to have to face, and on top of that, you have to make that call, make it decisively, and then be prepared to justify it afterwards. Whether it was the right decision or not will be debated for all time, but I, for one, did not envy Vince McMahon that night for having to make it.

Knowing myself, I don't think I could have made that decision.

The Stars Come Out

The first thing I did when I got home from work the next night was to watch my tape of the tribute show.

This was a revelation all its own.

It was the first time I had ever seen, if only for a few moments, the men and women behind the characters they played. I found myself chuckling as Andrew Martin told the story of a practical joke Owen had played on him. I smiled when Bob Howard related the story of how Owen put him over in a match in Bob's hometown of Mobile, Alabama. I felt the same honor Adam Copeland did as he talked about being a part of Owen's last match, having had the opportunity, if only for a short time, to see Owen in action.

I admired the courage of the men and women who toughed it out during those interview sessions; those who tried not to let their grief get the best of them. But I admired even more the ones who didn't; the ones who simply let the tears flow. I'll probably never forget seeing Jean-Paul Levesque break down and struggle to speak when his time came. He seemed light-years away from the person who, as Hunter Hearst Helmsley, I saw smash a cast on The Rock's arm with a sledgehammer on TV not two weeks earlier.

Just as touching were the tributes given by the in-character wrestlers. While the words and actions of the Road Dogg, The Godfather, The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin were delivered in their own signature styles, I never doubted the sincerity of the men behind the gimmicks. What was said - and in some cases, what wasn't said - by Brian James, Charles Wright, Dwayne Johnson, and Steve Williams spoke volumes about their fallen comrade.

And more and more, as I watched the tape, one thought kept crossing my mind:

Why did it have to be Owen?

One Year Later

When Owen Hart died, the ten-year-old mark that was still dominating my thought process as a wrestling fan died along with him. Real life caught up to him at last, and he was replaced by a young man of 24 who was a little world-weary and a lot more cynical, but also a little "smarter," a little wiser, and a lot more appreciative of what these people do in the ring four or five nights a week.

And really, that's what's gotten me thinking about Owen recently: the return of honest-to-goodness wrestling to the WWF - the company he loved, the company he stayed with when it wasn't exactly fashionable for a Hart to be associated with the WWF. Frankly, I'm missing him a little bit more these days, and not just because of what day this is.

What wrestling fan wouldn't want to watch an Owen-Jericho match? Or an Owen-Guerrero match? Or see the Blue Blazer team up with Kurt Angle to spread their message of sugary goodness and strict morality? If Owen was here today, he'd probably be a bigger part of the WWF than ever, and would probably be over solely on his ring work.

Let me leave you with one final thought:

It's commonly accepted that the Blue Blazer was scheduled to defeat the Godfather for the Intercontinental Championship at that pay-per-view. Two weeks later on Raw, Jarrett beat the Godfather for that very same title.

If the accident had never happened, would Jeff Jarrett now be a three-time WCW World Champion?

I Have GOT To Get Out Of This Business (Part II)

Journalists Worried Financial Pressures Are Hurting News Quality

By WILL LESTER, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - Journalists are growing more concerned that bottom-line financial pressures are "seriously hurting" the quality of news coverage, according to a survey taken at a time when news organizations face increased competition for readers and viewers.

A majority of national and local journalists say they think financial pressures are hurting coverage, said the survey released Sunday by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

"Journalists are in a glummer mood than we've found them in the past," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center. "That view is much more prevalent where cutbacks have happened."

The number of national journalists who think bottom-line financial pressures are hurting coverage was 66 percent this year, compared with about 40 percent in a Pew survey from 1995.

Just under six in 10 local journalists were more worried about financial pressures hurting quality, compared with one-third in 1995.

More than half of the executives at national news organizations said increased business pressures are "just changing the way news organizations do things."

Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, said a news media study earlier this year found many news organizations have cut staff.

"We found that most sectors of the news media, other than online and ethnic media, are losing audience because there is so much more competition," Rosenstiel said.

About half of those whom Pew surveyed from newspapers and magazines said they have seen reductions in the size of their newsroom staff in the past three years.

Despite these concerns about cut, about seven in 10 news professionals say the management in their news operation is excellent or good.

National journalists were more likely than a decade ago to say there are too many factual errors in coverage, while local reporters were less inclined to say that was a problem.

A majority of journalists of all backgrounds and different type of operations said they do not think plagiarism is more widespread now, despite widely publicized cases in the past year.

The survey found a reduction in the number of journalists who think news reporters are too cynical and many now think they are too timid.

More than half of national journalists say the press has not been critical enough of President Bush (news - web sites). Local journalists were about evenly split between thinking the press is not critical enough or is fair in its treatment of the president.

Nearly eight in 10 in both the national and local news media say that not enough attention is paid to complex issues, similar to Pew's findings on this question in 1995 and 1999.

A majority of news professionals say the emergence of the Internet has made journalism better, especially because it has improved research methods.

The survey was taken from March 10 through April 20 of 547 national and local journalists, both print and broadcast. The sample was chosen from national directories of staffers, editors and executives at newspapers, magazines, wire services, national networks and local television stations from the 100 largest markets.
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On the Net:
Pew Research Center: http://www.people-press.org
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Someday, maybe even someday soon, I'm going to uncork a full-scale rant about this.

EDIT: Apologies for the millions (AND MILLIONS) of reposts. I kept getting "Connection closed by remote server" errors and eventually gave up.

Illinois-Chicago Diary (End of Season 1)

NCT Tournament

No. 1 East: Temple
No. 1 Midwest: Illinois
No. 1 South: Tennessee
No. 1 West: Florida

(5) Missouri beat (12) Butler 86-68 in the West Region. Form held through the first two rounds except for 13th-seeded VMI knocking off Georgetown in the first round in the Midwest. Kentucky killified Pepperdine, 102-35, in a second-round game. Then things got weird. Maryland beat the holy hell out of Temple in the East semifinals, while Arizona upset Florida in the West final. They went to the Final Four with top seeds Illinois and Tennessee.

Seton Hall beat Iowa 79-78 to win the ACT.

NCT Final Four:
Tennessee 82, Maryland 79
Illinois 70, Arizona 59

NCT Championship:
Tennessee 80, Illinois 59 (Tournament MVP: Tennessee SG Matt Jamison)

Offseason

First, we say goodbye to three invaluable seniors:
SF Danny Jones (11.3 ppg, 5 rpg) — will not graduate (1.86 GPA); the epitome of senior leadership
C Damon Williams (8.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg) — very dependable; classic “did the little things” guy
G/F Mark Correa (8.8 ppg, 3.6 apg) — will not graduate (1.82 GPA); did yeoman’s work at three positions because of all the injuries

Competition for Jones’s small forward spot is wide open. Fields and JUCO transfer Jared Street look like the favorites, but Wagner did some good things when pressed into service in midseason, and recruit Sean Keyes could sneak in as well. Larry Greer, Williams’s backup last year, will likely take over at center. The staff’s biggest priority this offseason is getting guys straightened out academically. The two major injuries we had (Miller and Scott) were freak injuries and couldn’t be helped. Losing two players for key stretches because of grades is something that CAN be helped.

Gabriel Ichaki was drafted in the second round by San Antonio with the 55th overall pick. He is compared to Malik Rose. In the “Hey! I Remember You!” category, Georgia point guard Donny Keady went 28th to the Lakers.

Mills got job offers from Detroit, Miami of Ohio, Kent State, Central Michigan, Toledo, Wichita State, Eastern Illinois, Ball State, SW Missouri State, and Northern Iowa. He rejected them all. “I’m here for at least five years,” he says. “A lot of them were offering me a ‘fresh start.’ I just got HERE.”

When offseason training came around, we wanted to do some specific things. We increased Greer’s conditioning so he’d be able to handle the extra minutes from moving into a starting role. We greatly increased Fields’s conditioning because we don’t know if he’s going to win the starting SF job or not. We wanted to make White smarter and hopefully not get into foul trouble so much, as well as drop a little weight. Muhammad’s inside game needs work (as he will likely have to start at either PF or C the year after this), though he has a fine outside shot (44.4% on 3’s last year) for a 6’10” Muslim.

Mills retained all of his assistant coaches, mostly because there wasn’t anybody better out there.

A Few Corrections

According to the new ads for the McDonald's Adult Happy Meal, it's actually a step monitor, not an actual stepper. Which makes sense, as I don't know how you'd fit an aerobic step into a McDonald's bag. Still, though.

And my headlight problem has been a pre-existing condition ever since I bought the car - new - six years ago. It's the first time I've been failed for it. Dad was appalled. So I'm going home Wednesday to have him look at it and see what can be done.

A Day Out

All of this would have happened yesterday but I had to work overtime last night.

Car inspection time! The inspection station's half an hour away from my house. Then you have to practically drive through a maze to get there. I absentmindedly took my keys with me when I got out of the car.

And I failed the inspection.

You wanna know why?

There is water in my left turn signal.

I know. I don't get it either. I don't know how water gets in there. I also don't know how to get it out. The worst thing is they slap that "REJECTED" sticker on your windshield and I gotta drive around with that until I get it fixed.

Then I go to CVS and Brooke Burke's on the cover of the new FHM looking at me like "Do I make you horny, baby?" and I'm all "Is the Pope Catholic?" So you're damn right I picked that up.

Across the parking lot to McDonald's. They're going to be phasing out the Super Size, you know. And I guess this is part of their plan to try to appear more "health-conscious", and I assume it's only at Selected Participating Locations, but this one had an ad for an Adult Happy Meal... with an aerobic step counter.

People, I couldn't make this up if I tried.

Last stop: The car wash. It would've been my first stop but the place was full and I didn't want to wait. It's one of those self-service deals with the change machines and the hoses. And when you're done, the timer thanks you in five languages.

Sublimely Successful

Yep. Blogger's relaunch gave me the excuse I needed to finally get around to changing the layout of the ol' blog.

The new comments have replaced the old ones, and I'm not sure if the old ones will work. Though I guess it's not a catastrophic loss.

What do you think?

Something You More Than Likely Weren't Aware Of

P.T. Barnum never actually said it.

Not-So-Pleasantville

WTFMF.

My reporter friend Maddie broke this story on Monday. Since then, it's snowballed into a national story. And it's literally everywhere. It was in the first segment of PTI yesterday (Tony wanted the coach fired, I think, while Mike wanted the kid's father to "go caveman" on his ass), and it got about 90 seconds on Tough Crowd.

It's bad enough that this moron coach went out and did this in the first place. But what's even worse, I think, is that he called the kid's house to make sure he showed up at the awards banquet.

Think about that. Essentially, he set him up.

Completely destroying the trust a child should have for an authority figure in the process, to say nothing of the obvious humiliation the kid feels/felt. This jackhole was a coach? And teaching Special Ed students? I don't care if the kid was a "crybaby" or not, if you're a coach - ESPECIALLY if you're a coach - You. Do. Not. Do. This. Anyone who's this insensitive to kids doesn't need to be teaching anyone. Fire his ass.

And don't think I'm not also aware of the sociological issues of black youths and the need for positive father figures and male role models that this brings up. I'm simply not qualified to discuss them with any authority. But I will say thank God this kid's father had the good sense to be outraged and say, "That's some bullshit" and spoken up about this and gotten it publicized. I wouldn't have blamed him if he'd kicked the coach's ass. I'm not sure I could have stopped myself from kicking the coach's ass if I was in his position, and I'm the least violent person I know. My dad would've kicked the coach's ass. Assuming he got to him before my mom did.