Posts Tagged ‘blogging’

Pray for the #Heel

Posted: January 17, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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potatoshooterlogoby @anarchyroll
1/16/2014

I really hope Dolph Ziggler doesn’t end up as a never was, he deserves better. More importantly, he earned better.

I know I know, he got the world title twice and both mid card belts for like six months at a time. But in twenty years will he be remembered? If he has to retire due to concussions, he’ll only be remembered as a what if story. There are worse things than retiring young, with money in the bank, and a university education in your back pocket. Look at Chris Nowinski, his life is far more meaningful now than if he got a series of secondary, transitional title runs during the heyday of the roster split.

But Dolph Ziggler could have been money, he should have been money, he should be doing what Orton is doing now. Sure he had his slip ups. The black dye job head shave immediately comes to mind. As does every match he had with CM Punk during Punk’s WWE Title run. And of course being passively blamed for Jerry Lawler’s infamous on air heart attack (by Jerry Lawler himself on Austin’s podcast). But Ziggles survived his stretches of nothing to do, mid card pushes that went nowhere, and congruence tests management threw at him and won the world title in front of one of the hottest crowds in wrestling history at the RAW after Mania last year. Just thinking and writing about him cashing in that briefcase is giving me goose bumps. You could see it on his face what was about to happen, and when it did happen, you could feel the emotion through the television set. Which is how it’s supposed to be for the top guys with the big gold belts.

If Ziggler is done, he’ll always have that night in New Jersey. He earned the belt, for real, before it had to be taken from him, for real. In a fake sport that’s saying a lot. And Ziggler has a lot of talent. Move set, charisma, mic skills, looks, and cardio all in abundance. He got over as a heel and as a face with the internet fans and the common fans. His t shirts were so brightly colored that they are easy to see in the crowd in the HD era, and there were a lot of Ziggler shirts in the crowds from 2012-2013.

I don’t just hope he comes back, I hope he comes back and management trusts him enough to give him the Undisputed Title. Sure he’d look good with the white IC Title but he is bigger than that belt, better than that belt, and has earned the real thing. Ziggler is a talent you build the roster around like Bret Hart back in the day because he can work with anyone. But if he comes back as a mid card gatekeeper, it will be just as sad as him having to retire, because both mean the same thing. That his time at the top that he earned, was taken from him by external forces outside of his ability to control or influence. That would be sad for the fans and bad for business, no doubt.

#Habits & #Willpower

Posted: January 14, 2014 in Stimulus Space Response
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ssrlogo2by @anarchyroll
1/13/2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which came first habits or willpower? I suppose since everything we think, believe, and do is a habit…I’m going with habits for now.

I recently listened to the audiobooks for both titles pictured above and recommend them as passionately as I can possibly recommend a physical object to another human being. These are two books based not on rah rah, psych up, self help,  new age methods that some people (not me) would classify as BS or useless. Both of these books are based completely upon scientific, peer reviewed research spanning decades. The results are fascinating, almost as much as it is empowering.

The material covered answered a lot of questions I had about myself and about the human experience. Namely why we do what we do. Both books provided clarity and in the case of The Power of Habit specific answers. Have you heard the phrase, “everything we do is a muscle”? Substitute muscle for habit and you have the basis for the book. I will have much more to write about both of these books and their practical applications in my own life in the future because both have given me practical help right away and have sewn the seeds for long term change.

The two things I found most fascinating and immediately help are the “everything is a habit” paradigm and the scientific fact that willpower is limited and directly tied to glucose levels in the bloodstream.

Both these books provided great deals of hope for me that I can change, I can always change for the better AND for the worse. It really cemented why discipline and consistency is so important in life. It made me realize how unexceptional I am for the better. That I have unique talents, but without consistent dedication to cultivating the uniqueness on a habitual basis, then I am just another faceless, talentless, unexceptional grunt of a human being on an over populated planet. The books helped tie together a lot of the unscientific self help material I have been reading for the past few years. A cherry on top in a way. Both helped put my maturation into manhood and adulthood on fast forward, after years of being stuck in either reverse or slow motion, and for that I am happy and grateful to the authors, and recommend both titles to you.

Namaste.

My #RoyalRumble 2014 Prediction

Posted: January 13, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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potatoshooterlogoby @anarchyroll
1/13/2014

The Royal Rumble is right around the corner, the fourth biggest show of the year is definitely the company’s most unique.  The show is a representation of Vince McMahon’s ability to take an existing concept and improve it. The battle royal existed for decades, the Royal Rumble is the battle royal perfected. Single entrant style, with the winner getting the top spot, at the biggest show of the year as the prize.  The only way to make it any better was to have a ladder match battle royal which is what Money in the Bank is, with an even better prize to the winner.

Royal Rumble 2014 is on paper shaping up to be one of the best cards in the history of the event. 2002 presently takes the cake in my opinion with honorable mentions to 2001 and 1992.  The Undisputed Title will be on the line, Brock Lesnar will be having a singles match with someone he has chemistry and history with, and the Rumble match itself will see the advertised return of Batista with Sheamus and RVD likely returning as well though both are presently unconfirmed.

I believe Orton will retain the Undisputed Title and Lesnar will go over on Big Show.  The real question is who will win the Rumble, as it is every year.  Though as someone who can be considered a WWE “hater” I want to give props for how much effort they have put into beefing up the Rumble undercard the past half decade.

Daniel Bryan will win the Royal Rumble. I believe the Rumble will come down to him and Bray Wyatt and Bryan will return to face and eliminate Wyatt punching his ticket to the main event of Mania. Bryan and Wyatt can have a two month TV feud to hold him over until the Undisputed Champion going into Mania is determined at the Elimination Chamber PPV in February.

Daniel Bryan is the most popular wrestler in WWE. Cena makes the money, Bryan makes the crowd pop louder and longer than Cena EVER has.  They may not buy his merch as much, he may not pop ratings, but people are coming to the arenas to shout “YES! Y ES! YES!” and watch Bryan combine the technical proficiency of Chris Benoit with the sports entertainment acting of Hulk Hogan.

I think WWE knows what they have with Bryan. I think they have been building him while the internet thinks they have been burying him. I believe he has been filling time until he has his full face run as Undisputed Champion from Mania to Summerslam like many before him. His feuds with The Authority and Wyatt Family have been his ways of proving his overall well roundedness. Proving he is a good soldier, a company man, a team player, willing to play the game, and evolve rather than just stick to his indie shtick (cough, cough Chris Hero cough cough).

Bryan as champion makes storyline sense and financial sense. I believe Bryan will fight John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania with HEAVY storyline tie in of the Bella Twins who both are dating in real life. Total Divas season two premieres around WrestleMania. Bryan and Cena are the two biggest and hottest faces of the last decade. They had a MOTY candidate the second biggest show of the  year in 2013 and are yet to rematch.

Batista, Lesnar, Sheamus, Undertaker, CM Punk, Orton, Triple H will all take care of themselves with feature gimmick matches.  Cena vs. Bryan II for the Undisputed Title in the main event of the 30th Anniversary of WrestleMania is my pick, and I’m sticking to it until Vince McMahon changes his mind ten times between the night before the Rumble and the night after the Chamber…again.

WSOF vs Bellator #MMA PPV? Yes, please.

Posted: January 13, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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sportsrollby @anarchyroll
1/12/2014

The distance between the #1 and #’s 2 & 3 are vast in the world of professional mixed martial arts.  When the distance between the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the closest things resembling competitors; the World Series of Fighting and Bellator MMA is as great as it is, desperate times call for desperate measures. One doesn’t need a look at their financial books, one need only look at the crowd size of their televised events to know that even if neither company is at immediate risk to going out of business, they are both desperate to bring new and existing mma fans into their respective folds. Which brings us to the event, if one can call it that from this past week.

World Series of Fighting challenged Bellator MMA to a cross promotional pay per view event.

Why? The same reason Sirius and XM are now the same satellite radio company. The same reason Pro Wrestling USA was formed in the 1980s. The same reason kids get in free at the local rodeos and wet t shirt contests are held at bars.  Good for the sport? Sure.  Good for the fans? Yes. A desperate attempt to stay relevant and stay within the same galaxy as profitability, absolutely.

I am in favor of a WSOF vs. Bellator show, just not on PPV.  PPV has been in decay for ten years and in 2014, the corpse is starting to stink.  WWE the PPV innovator and porno the PPV dominator, are or have moved to online Netflix style stream services to compete with rampant digital piracy. The ratings for Bellator are aight, WSOF’s ratings, well not so much.  TNA Impact Wrestling, the whipping boy of the pro wrestling critic world, gets double Bellator and 10x WSOF and is considered less than second rate by the hardcore sports entertainment fan base.

Desperation is a stinky cologne.  The idea of this show reeks of it not matter how in favor of it I personally am. Bellator doesn’t need the WSOF, but it’s not vice versa. WSOF desperately needs more eyeballs on its product both in the arenas and on screens. Bellator can just as easily scoop up all the fighters WSOF has if they company were to fold due to unprofitability, which is presently what the promotion is.

I’m not a WSOF hater, as a pro wrestling fan, let me tell you competition is VITAL to combat sports, real or simulated.  Two national promotions on cable television is the minimum needed for the fans, three is even better. Both of pro wrestling’s boom periods of the 80s and 90s were directly correlated to a “Big Three” national promotion hydra (80s: NWA, AWA, WWF | 90s: WWF, WCW, ECW). So don’t get me wrong, I am rooting for WSOF to stick around for a long time and for Bellator to start averaging over 1 million viewers a week on a regular basis. A cross promotional event would pop a rating, fill an arena, and be good for the sport of mma as a whole.

But would the NFL do a cross promotional event with the Super Bowl champions versus the CFL Grey Cup winner?  And would they put it on PPV or on television where the biggest possible audience could see it. Why does the UFC put titles on their FOX cards at least once a year? Why did WWE just move all their PPVs to an a la carte digital cable service for $10 a month when they were charging $60 per event? It’s about eyeballs on screens, selling ads to those eyes, and popping a rating to gain leverage in future contract negotiations.

So if you’re gonna do it, do it right. Bellator is on Spike, owned by Viacom, which owns CBS.  Put the event on CBS in prime time, show the world that mma is more than just the UFC, not just to the hardcore fan base willing to pay $50 at home or $5 at a bar. Yes, please, thank you, you’re welcome.

Inspiration via Devastation: Part 2: Syria

Posted: October 3, 2013 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll

I first started paying attention to the civil war in Syria when the body count was 3,000. Back then it wasn’t yet a civil war, there was no Free Syrian Army to begin with, so it hadn’t yet splintered off into seven separate factions. I had heard that essentially the Syrian people were trying to do what the people of Egypt did during the Arab Spring of 2011. The difference in this case was, the president of Syria, Bashar al-Assad ordered his military to open fire and execute all of the protesting civilians. I noticed each day the body count went up by the hundreds, not by the dozens. I noticed when the body count exceeded that of 9/11/01.

I never stopped paying attention to Syria, anyone who frequents my Twitter account would certainly agree with me. The sheer numbers of dead, wounded, and refugees has never ceased to boggle my mind. What happened in Libya and Egypt definitely led to me focusing even more on Syria. I think, without judgment, those two had the opposite effect on most people. I understand completely the fatigue of the American public after over a full decade of seeing wars in the Middle East. Afghanistan and Iraq, each day a new bombing, another dozen or more dead, more money spent (or missing) abroad, more fear mongering at home. I empathize rather than demonize the public who just seem to not care about Syria, after all there is no oil there.

The American public’s desire to not care about Syria was only aided by the fact that the main stream media didn’t focus on the country’s civil war, despite the staggering body count, until after the sarin gas attack last month. If you get your news from the internet, then you can’t not know about Syria for at least a full year. Even the websites of NBC, CBS, FOX News, and CNN have had regular stories about the conflict, the television stations they are subsidiaries of however, did not. If you get your news from newspapers or magazines, you’ve known about Syria since maybe the beginning of this year. TIME magazine, the New York Times, and Chicago Tribune have all had front page stories on Syria that I have seen with my own eyes.

Now, in September of 2013 only the young and the ignorant don’t know about the situation in Syria. It is the lead story online, in print, and on television. Local news, national news, cable news are all leading with Syria. I am happy that the light is finally getting shined on this very bleak and black news story. The death and destruction match any conflict in recent memory. Syria’s civil war is not an indie band that  just got signed to a major label, I’m not proud that I was calling for US intervention before it was cool. But I am a supporter of US intervention.

I was not a supporter of Operation Desert Storm or it’s much less successful sequel. I was a supporter of  intervention in Kosovo. I was not a supporter of invading Afghanistan after 9/11 since it was not a country that attacked the United States. I was a supporter of the small scale, special operation, tactical assassination of Osama bin Laden which I believe should be the blueprint for all of the military presence of the United States in the Middle East for the last decade should have been. I was not a supporter of our involvement in Libya. I am a supporter of the intervention in Syria.

I wish I had a year and a half backlog of blogs and articles to show the consistency of my stance on this issue, but I don’t. I wish all of my writings on the topic would give me some credibility with anyone who reads this article, but I don’t. I haven’t been writing for anything other than academic purposes for the last two years. Syria is a major factor in changing that. I thought the United States military should have intervened over a year ago. We have after all, along with the United Nations, been arming the rebels. That is going half pregnant, either we support the rebels or we don’t. Since Obama has proven to be just as much a supporter of the Military Industrial Complex as his predecessors, then let’s put that machine to use when literally hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians are being slaughtered.

I long for the day we as a country are officially isolationist, with an eye on the military operations of other countries akin to what is happening in outer space. The money we need to pump into our schools, bridges, roads, and social safety net programs is being spent on a rubber stamped military industrial complex budget every year. I will be the first to say spend that money at home and not abroad. I’d love to have an embassy in every country and not a military base. Until that day comes, and by day I mean peaceful upheaval of basically everyone in power in national office, America is the World Police. If we are going to play World Police so we can control the price of oil, then we can play world police for thousands of innocent civilians being slaughtered every day.

What should be and what is, believe it or not aren’t always the same thing. I think it is the right thing to do to get the chemical weapons from being used against civilians, and we should do something to help all of the refugees. I’ll have much more to write on Syria, so I won’t write a novel’s worth of material in this one post. I am happy to be in a position where I both want to and can go on writing for a long period of time. It was a long trip to get to this point. I needed to reignite the fire within me that had dimmed to a searing hot coal. I needed flames, the situations involving Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden applied the gasoline after Syria stoked the ambers…

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