Friday, April 10, 2009

Rhetorical Pop Quiz

While watching some WWE 24/7 this week, I formulated this question:

Which of these 1980s icons consumed the most, uh, "marching powder"?

A) Roddy Piper
B) Hulk Hogan
C) Pat O'Brien

It's tough to watch a Piper interview from the mid-1980s without thinking that something besides Scottish guile is providing inspiration. Hogan's promos are a little less manic, but not exactly restrained.

As for Pat O' Brien, well, I have never seen him on WWE 24/7, but he hung around the NBA in the eighties, and we know what happened to him more recently. Come to think of it, he would have been an outstanding addition to the WWF announce team back then. Sure, Leaping Lanny Poffo was around to do the poetry, but Gene Okerlund could have used some help with the locker room interviews.

Better yet, imagine Pat sitting in the stands at Madison Square Garden during a big event, talking up the celebrities. Or picture him doing "thought pieces" during the show, with maybe a reflective essay closing the broadcast.

This goes directly into my "Should Have Been" file.

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