I recently had a birthday, but I hear 47 is the new 35, so I’m OK with it, even though I’m having trouble remembering 25 or even 35 for that matter.
With another year under the bridge, it’s hard to not wax a little nostalgic.
I found myself invoking the name of Larry Csonka in casual NFL conversation.
I watched professional wrestling on Monday night and recalled the Saturday mornings with my grandfather watching the old Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling shows and occasionally going to the matches on Saturday nights at Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium.
My grandfather liked to sit ringside, but not too close because he didn’t want to get spat on. Sound advice.
Then, semi-retired wrestler/commentator Jerry “The King” Lawler had a heart attack shortly after a match in Montreal. Lawler, 62, survived, but it was by all accounts, a close call.
But I wondered, what was he doing wrestling these days anyhow?
Well, it’s because of guys like me. I’m too old to take wholly to this new breed of wrestler or new version 5.0 of anything else, but I’m too young for their marketing people to write off completely.
Nostalgia sells for those of us caught in the limbo between old school and new school.
While covering Blue Ridge’s 82-20 pounding of Eastside Friday night, which for one looooong stretch moved along at slug speed, I texted erstwhile editor Jim Fair that I longed “for the wishbone.”
I texted that – see, caught between old school and new school.
It’s a pass-happy game now – not a bad game, just a different game. I nearly choked on my hot dog when Auburn lined up in a straight I-formation a couple of weeks ago.
It was a beautiful sight, like a Pontiac Fiero or a pair of Converse Chuck Taylors.
Sigh.
Things change. That’s the constant, I guess, but The King lives on and I think Blue Ridge just scored again.