Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan were the leaders of their respective wrestling organizations in the ‘80s. However, both peddled their wares in very different ways.
Ric Flair’s job was to be the NWA’s top bad guy and make the local heroes look like a million bucks. He’d accomplish this by putting on breathtaking, five-star, hour-long, time-limit draws. The fans would go home thinking their guy was *this-close* to winning the title. They’d be sure to come back next month when a no-time-limit match was booked. A month later they’d watch their hero dominate only to see Flair get himself disqualified to win. This would lead to a no-disqualification match the next month. And on and on until a new local star would get a shot.
I was discussing the Busch Stadium squirrel (some call him Stan the Squirrel, however I prefer the nickname “Buschy”) with a Phillies fan on Thursday. He let it be known that the Phillies’ experience with Buschy had left him hating the adorable woodland creatures. I laughed and told him he’d better hope the Cards don’t defeat the Brewers in the NLCS or there’s bound to be all manner of Squirrel Series talk.
So here we are; the St. Louis Cardinals are squaring off against the Philadelphia Phillies in a five-game series to determine who will advance to the NLCS. The timing might be odd, but I’ve decided to reveal a dirty little secret…
In 1987 you weren’t going to find a bigger Mark McGwire fan outside of Oakland, California than me. Mark played first base, I played first base. My sister was dating the brother of Iowa’s second-string quarterback. Mark McGwire’s brother Dan was Iowa’s first-string quarterback. In my eleven-year-old mind we were practically related.
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