Friday, March 12, 2004
Let's get ready to ruuumble.
Nothing spices up a slow news day (Madrid, what's a Madrid?) than another steroid/wrestling death article courtesy of that respected purveyor of candy-colored news, the USA Today. The fact that Wrestlemania 20 is on Sunday is surely a coincidence.
Portland gets a nice shout out in the form of former Portland grappler, Raven, and our very own Rowdy Roddy Piper.
"I experienced what we in the profession call the silent scream" of pain, drugs and loneliness, says wrestling legend "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, 49, who has been in the business more than 30 years. "You're in your hotel room. You're banged up, numb and alone. You don't want to go downstairs to the bar or restaurant. The walls are breathing. You don't want to talk. Panic sets in and you start weeping. It's something all of us go through."
Scott "Raven" Levy, 39, says he used steroids and more than 200 pain pills daily before he kicked the habit a few years ago. "It's part of the job," Levy says. "If you want to be a wrestler, you have to be a big guy, and you have to perform in pain. If you choose to do neither, pick another profession." - USA Today
If you ask me, the USA Today missed the boat. They apparently missed an article on Ed "Brutus Beefcake" Leslie from the Boston Herald.
Beefcake - these days Edward Leslie, 46, of Winchester - voluntarily checked into a treatment program Monday, according to a source, after cocaine he admitted was his created an anthrax scare at the MBTA's Downtown Crossing subway station. - Boston Herald
For my money, the Boston Herald article is headlocks and tails above the USA Today. I say that not just as a wrestling fan, but as a fan of really dumb guys. Quoth the Raven, nevermore.
Labels: Portland, Wrestling
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