Hey all. PJ Stasko, of the drunk at the Ric Flair show Staskos, tipped me off on a eBay listing that we ALL should be bidding on. Above you will see a killer Ford F-150 pick-up truck. Why is this truck so killer? It is owned, currently by the greatest quarterback to EVER play the game. Brett Favre. Number 4. The three time MVP.
How cool is that? I knew there was a reason why I drive a Ford. If it is what Favre drives, then I guess I can too. To see the auction link CLICK HERE. It is currently at 30 grand. Can you imagine if I had been able to buy his house and then also get his truck? Check the engine in that thing. Wow. Really, if I decided to by the house and the truck, what would be next? His lawn mower? His toothbrush? His golf bag? How about his big screen TV? All of those would be awesome. Anyway, if you want to drive around in the greatest QB's truck just have a bid. As PJ said, and I quote (it wasn't slurred speech this time) "Meeting Ric Flair and buying Brett Favre's truck in the same year would be amazing." Very true Mr. Stasko, very true.
There is only 2 hours left on it as we speak so get on it... NOW GET BACK TO WORK...
Okay, so I have episode number two up and running. In this episode of the award winning Podcast that does not suck. Blair and I discuss, again, our strategy for the evening, and then, you the TundraTalk faithful, get an EXCLUSIVE listen to the Nature Boy himself on stage in Edmonton. That's right, it will almost be like the Nature Boy is talking to you.
CLICK HERE to listen to the podcast or just click the link on the right.
Go and have a listen. On the next episode I will have what has become known as the 'Drunk Ass PJ' incident, as well as the fight I started in line for the meet and greet. Stay tuned.
Why may you ask am I smoking that Cuban cigar? Well, I have always wanted to try smoking a cigar I just was too chicken to try it because I figured I would do it wrong and puke. In fact when the boys would get together in Green Bay and play a friendly game of poker in my garage, cigars were always present. As you can see in the pic to the right the Nordic Man has one blazing. I wanted to try so bad but never pulled the trigger. Well, that ended Saturday when after the Ric Flair evening, I decided to give it a go as in celebration of the big moment. Yup, it lived up to the hype. Big time.
Let's go back to the start of my trip. I got on a plane in Regina around 9am on Friday. I was supposed to get on at 8:20 but the fog in Edmonton was holding us up. Once we got in the air and close to Edmonton the fog was still there. So I ended up flying in circles around E town for about an hour. Stupid Edmonton.
So I got in around 10 when I was supposed to be there by 8:30. I called up my boy, Blashill, and we got around 48 wings at Kelseys and went to work. It was like I never moved. We got all the gossip out and about just like old times. After that we went out to Rexall to get his new camera so I could be jealous. Then we stopped by the Eskimos locker room for a visit with Dwayne Mandrusiak, of the equipment managers for the Evil Empire Mandrusiaks. Dwayne is the dude who got me the Brett Faver auto'd football. He showed us the design for the new locker room, we told some stories, drank some beer, and called each other names. He could not believe that I came all the way to Edmonton for Ric Flair. He said, and I quote, "You are a bigger loser than I thought you were." Thank you Dwayne, I appreciate that.
I had a great first day in Edmonton, well almost. After living in Regina for over a year I can honestly say that Edmonton traffic sucks balls. When I lived there I hated traffic, but just because traffic sucks. BUT when you come back and are forced to sit in it after going anywhere in Regina only takes 15 minutes it REALLY SUCKS. Of course Blair called me a pussy and soft, as well he should have.
At this point I was still working out what I was going to say and wear to the big day. It truly was a big deal. I had decided that I was going to go with my Tragically Hip concert sweater from the In Between Evolution tour. Which I Marty later said it had wicked irony and not that irony that Alanis Morisette sings about. Cool. I was for sure going to do the four fingers up for the pic with Flair. Blair came up with the idea of pointing at the camera. He noticed that in a picture, his book, and on the DVD he is pointing at the camera. Nice job Blair, way to do your homework. I wish I would have thought of that. Truly original. No one else did that pose.
As for the question, still a bit up in the air. I really liked the question that McCoy gave me. Thoughtful, interesting, and pretty original. I also was thinking about asking him about the Horsemen. What was his favorite line up. Or maybe what is his all star line up? I also was thinking I might ask him to run a promo on me. Tell me how much he was going to beat my ass. That would be awesome. Just depends on how much time we have with him.
So Blair and I had a great big breakfast at Humpty's so as to not be hungry on the big day. We also tried not to eat anything to gaseous so as not to have the Flair goofy look photo that Marty described so well. Of course Carey, Blair's wife gave us crap all morning for talking too much about it. She will pay. We headed over to the Myer Horowitz theater on the campus of the University of Alberta around 1:30 pm. The show was scheduled to start at 4 pm (doors at 3). At this point there was a meet and greet already going on in the theater for people who wanted only to meet the man. We bumped over to My Mac Dealer and picked up a few things then came back to hang out.
Now, I am going to say this as lightly as I can. Because of course, I was attending the same event as these guys. Wrestling fan is weird. There was some strange ones in attendance at this event. If you want to see the whole group of meet and greet photos CLICK HERE. I will just say, there are some 'interesting' cats. The best ones are on the last two pages of pictures. The guys in the rock show t shirts are crazy. Of course 'That Guy' was there. You know the one, the guy who wears the championship belt like he won it. I know, I have one too, I just don't wear it. There was also this guy who came up to me when he noticed that I had a VIP badge. He wasn't all there. He wanted to know if I would get his DVD signed for him. Me being the nice guy that I am, said okay. I immediately knew this was a mistake. I have been planning for weeks what I was going to say and do at this moment of glory and just before go time I let this a-hole throw me off my game. Way to go stupid. He was of course on of these guys who will not go away AND a close talker. Great, this is just getting better. Eventually I convinced him to get it himself by waiting by Ric's limo. Did I mention that we saw Ric arrive in his limo? Check the limo out... Needless to say I dodged a bullet there. I did not need this guys DVD throwing me off my game.
In what seemed like three hours later they opened the doors and we wandered into the theater to sit in our row two seats. It is almost show time and I am sooo geeked you can't even understand. I got my micro recorder ready to record the whole thing and I got a camera all ready to take some great pics. I went to London Drugs on Thursday and bought one of those new Nikon cameras that Ashton Kutcher is shilling. Oh did I mention that I am taking it back on Monday. Yup, use it for the weekend then take it back. I feel so dirty, like the dirtiest player in the game RIC FLAIR!!!
It is show time and the Nature Boy enters to the greatest theme music in all of wrestling and the crowd goes wild. You can see his entrance above along with some of his opening remarks. Blair recorded some of it on his camera. Oh, and if you want a CD of the show just drop me a line and I will burn you a copy. I will of course have a podcast of the weekend up soon.
Flair came out and spoke for a bit on several things then opened up the floor to questions for the rest of the show. Which I thought would be cool to ask a question but they made everyone wait in line along the back of the theater to ask your question. I paid for row two tickets so I did not feel like standing in the back of the theater for the show so I decided to wait and ask him in the meet and greet.
I do have a great story about the questions and answer time. PJ Stasko, of the camrose Staskos, was there. I did not see him before the show so I had no idea if he made it or not, until, I hear someone on the mic say in an extremely drunk slurring voice, "I would like to firssst give a shoutttd out to a good frrrriend of mine who is the biggessssst wrasslinnnnn' fan I know, Chris Peterssssson." I look over and it is PJ. Oh man, he is hammered. At this point there is an uncomfortable feeling settling over the theater. Flair was nice to this drunk man who then asked about "kisssssingggg girlzzzssss". Hilarious. PJ came over to our seats and gave me a cool Pilsner Beer stein that I proceeded to get autographed by Ric Flair. Sweeet. Nice job PJ. You drunk bastard.
Flair told some great stories about life on the road with the WWF and WCW and getting drunk with the boys. There was of course the times when some dude would ask flair a Chris Farley type question like, "Remember that time you beat up Dusty Rhodes? That was cool." and to Flair's credit he was respectful to everyone in the crowd.
At one point in the proceedings he was telling a story about Rowdy Roddy Piper and decided to call him up. So he then did. He put Roddy on the speaker phone and we all said hi to Roddy. Really cool the guy has the Rowdy Roddy on speed dial.
If you listen to the audio of the event you hear me laughing a lot. It was a really good time and well worth all the time I obsessed over it. But, it is not over yet. The meet and greet is right after the show and that is when the pressure really hits. I decide that Blair and I will wait an go at the end of the line so as to avoid the guy yelling because I am taking too long. Just before we go in for the meet and greet we see PJ again. He is out of his mind staggering drunk and just happy as all get out. He came over and gushed and gooned us again. Hilarious. After we left one of the people who was working the show told us that 'our friend just fell down the stairs on his way out'. Nice PJ, way to make an exit. He apparently walked it off. PJ rules.
We were instructed that we would only get 60 seconds with the Nature Boy and only can get two things signed. Whoa, that completely throws me for a loop. So Blair and I start our scheming on how to get around it. All the while I am getting nervous about the big event. Now I don't usually get nervous about things like this. After all I am the king of the Brush With Greatness photo. Actually Blashill is the king, I am just a knight. Anyway, I am getting nervous and this whole 60 seconds thing throws me off.
I decide to go ahead anyway. We get up there an Blair goes first. He had around 4 things to get signed and got them all signed. No problem. So much for the 'only two things' rule. Whew, I am next. I have been waiting to meet this guy for around 30 years and it is finally going to happen. Whew, sweating my ass off. Hope I don't smell too bad.
Here goes. I walk up to the table, plop down the belt and he grabs the poster to sign. I set down the recorder and he asks me what is that? I tell him it is a recorder so I can record this great moment for ever. He tells me he does not like those and turn it off. I apologize and then realize that he has just spent two hours talking, another three signing autographs so he is tired. I then opt out of the questions and just tell him that it is an honor to meet him and that I have been a huge fan for 30 years. He thanks me and tells me it is his honor to meet me and what is my name. I was at this point a bit in a daze so I did not answer him. He looks at me and says it again, 'what's your name man?'. Oh snap, wake up. I tell him and he signs the poster to Chris. He then signs the mug and the belt and we go for the pic. I had given my (temporarily) camera to one dude and he proceeds to take a completely crappy out of focus picture. Blairs pic was shitty also. Luckily for them, they paid a dude to take pics for all of us. That one (below) turned out great. This is exactly the situation that I was afraid of getting into. Coming all this distance and coming away with a picture that sucks. I was sooo happy that they paid a guy to take pics. I went as you can see with the four fingers up and I beleive that it does live up to the hype. I can frame this one and hang it with pride in my man cave. Plus I got that Pilsner mug plus a great story to go along with it. I am in the process of getting the belt hung on the wall also. Thank you PJ. Thank you Blair. Thank you Ric for a great evening.
I had my meet, it lived up to the hype, and we went out to celebrate with beers at BP's. Jordi Weidman, of the Stony Plain Weidmans, and Greg Donnelly of the Edmonton Donnelly's, came out also and we sat around and told stories, rousted drunks, and called each other names for a couple of hours. Great time had by all.
Thank you again TundraTalk Nation for helping me get through this with your advice. Really came up huge in my time of need. I will be putting the podcast together in the next few days so make sure you check back for that occasionally.
I can not concentrate on work right now. I know, I work in TV, there is not too much to concentrate on. Screw off. I work just as much as the next guy, it is just in TV you spend a lot of time waiting then when it is time to work, it is fast, intense, and non stop. Get 0ver yourself and your desk job.
Anyway, I am just a bit over 48 hours until I meet the Nature Boy Ric Flair. The 60 minute man, the leader of the most Elite wrestling organization EVER in the history of history, the Four Horseman. This is huge. I have sooooo much to think about. I will mention right now that I got a note on Facebook from PJ Stasko, of the slinging hooch in Alberta Staskos, that he will also be attending the show. Nice job PJ way to man up.
Okay, here is one of the things that I need to think about. This is so big, I do not want to do this wrong. This could have ramifications that could affect the space time continium let alone many other things. What the hell am I going to wear to the show? Seriously. Do I wear my Wrestlemania 19 shirt? Nah, there will be a lot of dudes there with black shirts on so I don't want to be just another jerk with a black shirt on. I know I am not going to wear my championship belt. I will NOT be that guy. I personally don't think I should ever wear it unless I won it. Kinda like the Stanley Cup. Don't drink from it until you win it.
What the hell do I wear? Do I wear my new AJ Hawk Packers jersey? Nah, that is crossing sports. It would be acceptable to wear a Pack jersey if I was going to an event that was held in Green Bay, but this is in Edmonton, so no go with the Pack jersey. Really, what the hell am I gonna wear. Maybe I need to go shopping when I get to E Town and find something appropriate.
This is a tough one, but not as tough as the next one. How do I pose in my pic with Ric? Do I give my trademark thumbs up pose, or pay homage to the Horsemen with the four fingers up? This is so tough. I really have some big decisions to make. I mean, really, in most of my brush with greatness photos I have done the thumbs up thing. It is my thing. Please do not copy it because I would hate to have to call my lawyer and sue your ass.
So do I break with such a time honored tradition to give the four fingers? It is a picture with the greatest Horseman of all times. He is the leader of the Horsemen. I bet if I give the four fingers he will also. That would be cool. But then it would be a break in tradition. Do I give the four fingers up on one hand and the thumbs up on the other. Wow, do I dare put my arm around him like I did with the Rock? Do I dare touch his 'custom made head to toe' Armani suit? This is so hard to decide.
You may be laughing right now at all this, but please do not. This is very serious. This picture will hang with honour in my man cave. Blown up big and framed really nice. You know, every thing looks better framed. That phrase is also Trade Marked so don't try to steal it. Probably hung somewhere near my autographed Brett Favre game ball. Huge deal. I am sooo stressed right now. I should be excited, which I am, but I should not be stressed.
Along the picture lines, my digital camera is getting a bit old and unreliable. I do not want to hand my camera to some jerk off to capture this momentus occassion only to come away with a blurred out crappy pic. That would be tragic. I need to find someone who will loan me their good camera for a few days so that I make this magic moment last forever. Oh yeah, I need to learn how to run said camera so I don't F that up. My head is gonna explode. Maybe Blair has a good camera? I could take my 35 mm camera. I know that will take a good picture. BUT then I have to develop the film and that means that I cannot post the picture within 10 minutes of me taking it. Decisions, decisions, decisions.
On top of those two whammys, I have to decide what to get autographed. The Belt is a no brainer. I have a replica World Heavyweight Championship Belt that I purchased during a weak moment in front of QVC back in 1999. It has Ric's name on it and I have wanted to get it auto'd for a long time. I hope there is no restrictions on what he will autograph because I want this bad. I also have a really cool WCW promo photo of Flair in his robe that would be cool, his book would be cool, the (never opened) box set action figures of the Four Horsemen would be cool, and maybe even a DVD. Choices. Choices. Choices. If I am only allowed one, it will be the belt. If they only allow what they have to get auto'd, that will suck.
THEN there is the whole thing about the question. What am I gonna do about that? As the great Chevy Chase said in the movie Vacation just before he jumped into the pool with a naked Christie Brinkley, "This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy...". I have a few narrowed down, but am still a bit torn on what to ask him. I am thinking of recording the whole show on my iPod so as to share a bit from it with you.
Oh and speaking of you. Thanks for all your great help in this question thing. Not one suggestion. Not even a smartass one from Robby like "Ask him if he likes wrestling with men in his underwear?". Nothing. In my time of need, you TundraTalk nation, give me nothing. I know you read my post because I have a site counter. I keep track of if you read it or not. After all the time wasting material I have given you over the years, you come up with nothing in the most critical time of need. Dammit!!! I need your help!!! You sit there in your ivory tower nay saying, always nay saying. ArrrrrrrrRRRRrrrRRRRrrrGHHHHhhhhhh.
Wait, sorry for blowing up like that. You did not deserve that, I am just stressed about this. I apologize. I will just sit up all night tonight and make the decisions like a big boy.
Big day is coming, can't wait..
Now GET BACK TO WORK.
Of course after my post, Marty came up strong. As usual.
Chris,
Wow - you need to stop stressing and just plan out what you need to do.. But always rememer - you need a backup plan in case something that you've been obsessing about for a month now, doesn't turn out the way you want it to.
First off - you can't do the regular thumbs up for Ric Flair.. It's got to be the four fingers, but do it sideways with the four fingers pointing at the man as an homage. Do not put your arm around him - that is bad form in this case.
The belt sounds like a good idea, but then remember - you're going to have to drag that around with you and protect it after that.. You should have a backup item to autograph and your own marker or something that will make a good solid autograph - don't expect him to have everything, you need to be self-contained.
Clothes - I don't know, I'm thinking that you need to go a little non-traditional here.. Maybe an actual button up shirt with a collar.. Oh hell, I just imagined you wearing that.. Never mind.
Now - listen up, this part is important.. Don't get all loaded the night before you go.. I know you're excited, but if you get liquored up you're going to feel like crap and you're going to forget something important. Worse than that - you will most likely do or say something extremely stupid when you meet Ric Flair - or worse yet you will pass some incredibly horrible gas just before the picture is taken and he will have some foul look on his face - and that will be your picture for all eternity. You standing there trying to smile with bloodshot eyes and half a thumbs up... and Ric Flair looking at you out of the side of his eyes and trying not to gag on your beer fart.
Hey all. PJ Stasko, of the drunk at the Ric Flair show Staskos, tipped me off on a eBay listing that we ALL should be bidding on. Above you will see a killer Ford F-150 pick-up truck. Why is this truck so killer? It is owned, currently by the greatest quarterback to EVER play the game. Brett Favre. Number 4. The three time MVP.
