Professional wrestling has been around for a very long time. It has gone from being a sport that was witnessed at carnival events and transformed into the sports entertainment spectacle that you see today. Former wrestlers were viewed as superheroes and people that could save the day in an action flick. Since then, wrestlers use their real name more often than not and we’ve lost some of that childhood innocence that wrestling used to have. Wrestling is more like a soap opera where the wrestlers play the role that they’re told to play and use real life drama to try and get the fans attention. This new reality has made it hard for the wrestling fan to accept certain characters based on preconceived notions of the individual or based on the fact that the wrestling fan has been conditioned to watch wrestling in a certain way that they no longer understand how to form a logical thought and cheer or boo for what they prefer to see inside the ring. This makes it hard for the creative team to come up with new ideas or to push new wrestlers because the fan simply isn’t buying into what’s being given to them anymore. Therefore, we offer up a few examples of story lines that have been overused or simply won’t work anymore in the modern world.

– There was once a time when a wrestler being fired meant something in this industry. In the territory days, a wrestler firing could have signaled a legitimate disagreement between the promoter and the wrestler and meant that the wrestler was being blackballed from a certain region. During the Monday Night Wars, a wrestling firing meant that an individual might be jumping ship to another promotion and this was their swan song by the booking team. A wrestling firing today usually means that the individual is being fired to take time off from an injury, personal reasons (rehab) or needs time off to go and shoot a movie. When wrestlers get fired and then show up on television after only 2 weeks then you lose all credibility with your fan base.There is no competition for a company such as WWE and the wrestling fan knows that if the wrestler gets fired then there is nowhere else to go. Where is the wrestler going to end up? The Indy Scene? Mexico? Japan? This story line has been done to death and simply isn’t believable anymore.
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There are many sports out there that are very physical and the chances of getting hurt or potentially killed in one of them increases every time that you participate in one of them. Some sports such as hockey are easy examples but there are some death traps out there that might not be so easy to spot upon first glance. Let’s take a look at some sports hazards that are lurking every corner whenever you decide to participate in them.

-There have been an estimated 376 injuries from 1948-2004 and 25 reported deaths since 1976 from alligators attacks. Statistics have proven that 10% of these injuries have occurred as a result of golfers trying to retrieve their golf balls in alligator-infested waters. Many golf courses in Florida and Louisiana are home to the American Alligator. Most golf courses are forced to hammer down signs that instruct golfers to be aware of Alligators that are present in the area but other than the signs there is not much that is keeping you from coming face-to-face with an alligator. As more and more golf courses are being built on alligator territory and less is being done to kill the reptiles due to animal conservation requirements; we urge people to never go into the water in these areas and to simply grab a new ball and continue playing with it and avoid the water at all costs.

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Have you ever been watching a sporting event and were simply disgusted with your favorite team’s lack of fashion sense? Better yet, have you actually considered going into fashion just so that you could learn how to create better uniforms to replace the old ones? It doesn’t matter whether your favorite sports team is good on or off the field of play when it comes to fashion sense. Marketing departments have tried desperately over the years to come up with new uniforms that will either appeal to a new market or simply to stir up some controversy. Here are some of our choices for some of the worst sporting uniforms on the face of this planet.

Vancouver Canucks – 1978 – 1985

These jerseys were supposed to be used to scare the opposing team but instead scared anybody who paid to see this team play with these awful jerseys. It seemed like Halloween was everyday of the week for the Canucks and unfortunately it was. This jersey has become the standard in how not to design a jersey and how to think more carefully when deciding to mix colors together without thinking. The truly sad part is that the Vancouver Canucks still haven’t decided on a true jersey for this franchise ever since these jerseys existed but every year that the marketing team comes up with a new jersey that gets blasted by the media and the fans at least they can say, “Well, at least it wasn’t as bad as these jerseys!”

Denver Nuggets Road Jersey 1976 – 1998

The Denver Nuggets thought it would be a good idea to have a jersey that stood out from the rest of the teams in the NBA. Not only did this jersey help to identify the team on the court; it also helped to usher in a whole new lifestyle and community to NBA events. The rainbow colored jersey has now become a symbol for the gay & lesbian community. The team has since changed their jersey but the jersey still lives on and can be seen at many gay & lesbian parades still to this day.

Chicago White Sox Home Jersey – 1976

Man, what is it with the 1970s and bad jerseys? I sense a theme here. It’s pretty hard to mess up a baseball jersey. It’s a simple layout. Hat – buttoned shirt – pants. If you keep this combination you shouldn’t have many problems. Well, in 1976, the Chicago White Sox decided to ditch the pants and go with shorts instead. Not only was the team the laughing stock of the league but they also ended up being one of the worst White Sox teams to ever take the field. The shorts incident only lasted one game of a double header and the very next game they decided to put back the old pants and forget the incident ever took place. (more…)

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While watching the finals of Euro 2004, I gazed and saw a naked man run from one end of the field and leap into one of the group’s nets. About a minute later, security came in and escorted the man off of the field to a chorus of cheers and boos from the crowd. This isn’t the first time I have seen a streaker run across the field during a sporting event or live event but as far as I know streaking is synonymous with live television and sporting events. Generally it applies to people who run nude through public places and is even more important because a) it’s illegal and b) it’s designed to invoke both shock and laughter in others. You can say that streaking was present in the tales of Adam and Eve, Lady Godiva or in the story ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’ but its origin began in the United States when University students began to get bored of typical pranks and started to streak as a new way to have fun.

The trend soon went worldwide and soon gained exposure at sporting events when the opportunity to gain exposure from streaking was too good not to resist. The trend of streaking reached its peak in 1974 and even gained a top 10 single by Ray Stevens entitled ‘The Streak’. Streaking is often considered fun and harmless but it often changes with the times and lately it has been considered a horrible offense which can be fined and possibly see jail time. Sports has also changed its mind over the matter as sporting officials consider streaking inappropriate and feel that it ruins the athlete’s concentration, especially during an event that has high stakes for the athletes in question. Streaking is usually an idea also brought about by excessive drinking or some sort of bet taking place, as the incentive of money or a prize makes people more eager to streak.

Famous Streakers: (Courtesy of http://www.streakerama.com/)

*Robert Opel streaked past David Niven, and a worldwide television audience, at the 1974 Academy Awards. Opel was later shot dead during a robbery at his Los Angeles sex shop.

*At an international rugby game in England in April 1974, having “had a few”, Michael O’Brien, an Australian accountant, stripped off during the half-time interval and streaked in front 53,000 fans, including Princess Alexandra. When caught by the police, an embarrassed constable used his hat to cover O’Brien’s naughty bits, ensuring they were both immortalized in a well-known photo.

*The Doncaster Handicap of 13 April 1974 at Randwick racecourse had a thrilling finish as Allana Kereopa and David Cook streaked across the finishing line ahead of the horses. Watched by 52,000 punters, Allana tried to escape via the member’s enclosure, whereby the gatekeeper said, “You can’t come in here, you haven’t got a badge on!” Her excuse to the magistrate was “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” thereafter known as “The Streaker’s Defense”.

*The first person to streak at an Olympic games was Michael Leduc at Montreal in 1976.

*Erica Roe, described by leering tabloids as “busty”, was possibly the first to receive job offers following a streak at Twickenham in England during a Test match. Having lost her normal job for taking a sickie that day, she was asked to model suits for $500 a day.

*A naked man ran through Hawaii’s parliament in 1974 calling himself “The streaker of the house.”

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Many sports teams like to employ mascots to help garner more attention for their team and to help boost morale at key points during a match. Some popular mascots include the current Montreal Canadians mascot Youpi as well as the Gorilla from the Phoenix Suns organization. Unfortunately, not all mascots can have a cool name or neat costume as we shall see in a few seconds. Some organizations just have no clue what to call their mascots or have no idea how to market them with our listing of our top 10 worst sports mascots.

-Normally when you stray from tradition and decide to create a mascot that is supposed to be some type of creature living inside the Olympic Torch; you know you’re in trouble. Izzy proved to be very unpopular as the Olympic mascot and can now go and crawl back to his hiding spot underneath the torch for good.

-If you haven’t guessed it already, Stuff the Magic Dragon is supposed to be a takeoff of Puff the Magic Dragon. You would think that with a name like the Orlando Magic that they could get a magician as a mascot or at least have David Copperfield stop by every once and a while for a performance. Instead, they deliver to the public a dragon that looks like he took one too many puffs of whatever his relative dragon was smoking and became retarded. (more…)

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