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Passion Enforced:
"Passion of a
Mark"
by:
Jose R. Colon a.k.a. Gojira |
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Hello fellow Marks, (Yes I do not care what you
think, you all are marks, so am I) and I want to
share some stories from time to time, some funny,
some sad, about this wonderful sport that I call,
Pro Wrestling. (I’m sorry, “Sports Entertainment”
does not work for me, just like TNA’s 6 sided ring,
but I digress).
Let me tell you a story of a woman who embodied the
PASSION of a mark.
One cold evening, back in 1971, she was sitting in
the nose bleed seats of The World’s Famous Arena:
Madison Square Gardens watching her favorite of the
time, Bruno Sammartino,
and jumping up and down while he was beating down a
nasty, evil Russian by the name of Ivan Koloff.
Then it happened, The Evil dropped a knee off the
top turnbuckle and pinned the great champion of
good, the entire place was silent as the horror
slowly crept into everyone’s
mind, The Champion was champion no more.
A small child was
with her and this child, not clearly understanding,
looked up and to his dismay saw that his mother had
shed a tear and he asked “Mommy, what’s wrong?” and
she whispered two words that he still
remembers thirty seven years
later. “He lost….”
And that is what echoed through the silent
arena…………”He lost…”
This woman came to this country not speaking a lick
of English, learned to read and write the language
through sci-fi novels, got herself and her kids off
of public assistance and became a assistant teacher
for the City of new York.
But
no matter
what she did, every time it was on television, she
watched Pro Wrestling.
She would yell at the
television, cursing the ref who did not see the evil
that the Heels were doing to the Faces, she would
jump up and down when her boys won.
Then she co ntracted
breast cancer and it was now her turn to be in the
ring against the Evil, and for a time
she won, so the child who she took with her to
the Garden, grew up to be a man and landed tickets
to see the showdown between The Big Bossman
vs. Hulk Hogan and in
a steel cage no less, in the same arena, and just
coming out of the hospital, stitches
still in her, begged him to have a chance to go, for
she had become a full fledged Hulkamaniac, how could
her son say no?
So he took her to see her hero and to his total
dismay, she was jumping up and down like a little
kid, booing her villains and cheering her good guys,
until The Hulk came out, and she totally lost her
mind, her son also totally lost HIS mind because he
swore that she was ready to bust out of her stitches
and would have to be rushed to the hospital to be
sewn back up again.
Needless to say, Hulk Hogan was victorious, the
woman was happy and her son was totally spent and
swore that day, in that arena that he would never
take that woman out again to another match for the
fright she put him through mad him lose a few years
of his life.
As time wore on, the cancer returned and eventually
she died, but in those days of pain and suffering,
every Monday night for at least two hours, she
forgot her pain, thanks to her PASSION for Pro
Wrestling.
Just before she died she had the pleasure of a get
well note from Mankind and Mr. Socko, (Thank you
Mick.) and yes her son broke his vow and took her to
a few more matches.
That is passion, the passion of being a mark is all
about, you see in my mind I am not ashamed of being
a mark, as you can see my mother wasn’t and I dare
say, being a mark extended her life, heck it sure
made her forget at times that she was going to die.
I thank all the boys who showed her a good time.
Thank you Mom for introducing me to Pro Wrestling.
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