It was July 2003, and I was sitting on a plane at SFO waiting to depart to Cabo to meet up with a couple of guys and do some big game fishing with Baja Raiders. Most of the plane had been boarded and the window seat next to me was still empty. I knew it was a full flight. Could I be so lucky? Most everyone was seated.
Just then, a Hulk Hogan of a man appeared in the front of the fuselage, bandana and all, an action figure come to life.... I kept my head down and tried to will away the fact that he might be coming straight toward me. Then a deep Steve Austinesque voice said " excuse me". The sight of us clearly amused the flight attendant and some of the passengers. In order to fit we spent the whole flight with his arm around the top of my seat and his head tilted to avoid hitting the overhead. Forget about the arm rest.
Turned out he was an actual professional wrestler, now retired. It was probably one of the most interesting conversations I've ever had. Super nice guy. He never reached the big league, had a $140,000 steriod habit at one time but now he gets hormone shots from his GP for muscle defintion. Enjoyable experience.
Anyway, what reminded me of this is that I watched the movie The Wrestler this weekend. Briliant movie, brilliant acting. It's about an aging wrestler has been ,that goes to extremes to get back in the game but age beats him back down. It's about men coping with aging and having to adjust. It's what all of us middle aged dudes struggle with to one degree or another. So I won't give away the story if you haven't seen it. I was fine with the ending by the way. Rourke was brilliant. A must see.
