As it goes on, you should be able to understand what’s happening. And, for the record, all wrestling promotions are fair game here from modern companies (like WWE) to past companies (like WCW). I hope you’re as excited as I am to get this show on the road. So, let’s do it.

Best In-Ring Technician: Chris Benoit

As a wrestling fan, I love watching technical masterpieces. No one, and I mean no one, was better at that than Chris Benoit. Yes, I know his life didn’t end very well (to say the least), but his work in the wrestling world should always be praised. I’ll also give an honorable mention to all these different categories, and that would be Bret Hart here.

Best Highflyer: Rey Mysterio

Okay, this is going to be the easiest award on here. Rey Mysterio is far and away the greatest highflyer in the history of wrestling. On top of pioneering the art of highflying, he’s been able to adapt his move set for years and years. The fact that he’s still in the business and looking as sharp as ever, honestly, is just amazing. As for an honorable mention, I’ll go with AJ Styles.

Best Talker: Ric Flair

I’m going to break this section up into two separate categories. For simply talking purposes, nobody was quite like Ric Flair. His ability to create heat simply by talking was unparalleled, to be completely honest. Just go watch one of his vintage NWA promos and you’ll begin to understand. The honorable mention, this time, goes to The Rock. He was pretty good on the stick too.

Best Promos: Mick Foley

This is the 2nd part of the aforementioned two categories. Even though Flair was the best talker of all-time, Mick Foley was the best when it came to cutting promos. Yes, for the record, there’s a difference. Part of the reason why Foley was so amazing at it was his devotion to three separate characters (though he seldom used Dude Love). I’m going to go old-school with my honorable mention and give it to the great Roddy Piper.

Best Character: Undertaker

As if anyone else was really going to win this award. Now, certainly, there have been some great characters over the years, but to give this award to anyone else besides The Undertaker would be a disgrace. For 30 years, he adapted his character when he had to and somehow managed to stay fresh the entire time. That’s not easy to do. As for the runner-up, I have to go with Sting.

Most “Over”: Stone Cold Steve Austin

This one’s a little different, and it’s basically to recognize the superstar who was the most popular (or “over” as they say in the wrestling business). In terms of popularity, you could really either go with Stone Cold or Hulk Hogan. I’m taking Austin over Hogan just slightly, though it’s very, very close. It’s just that Austin was the most popular during the most popular era in wrestling history.

Best All-Around Wrestler: Eddie Guerrero

Eddie Guerrero could simply do it all. Whether it came to getting technical or flying all over the ring, there was pretty much nothing Eddie couldn’t do. Not to mention his natural charisma and his innate ability to get the crowd either behind him or totally against him. In terms of an overall package, it’s tough to get better than Eddie. Period. Shawn Michaels gets the honorable mention and that leads to this…

Best Wrestler of All-Time: Shawn Michaels

There are so many wrestlers that you could say are the greatest ever. When it comes down to it, though, many agree that Shawn Michaels is the GOAT. What more can you say about the Heart Break Kid? Charisma, check. In-ring greatness, check. Longevity, check. Admiration from his fans and peers, check. There will never be another one like him, you can rest your bottom-dollar on that. Also, for the record, I have Undertaker getting the honorable mention here.

As it is in wrestling, the wrestlers get older and eventually have to retire. This means that throughout the course of history, many top wrestlers have never had the chance to lace up their boots with some of the other all-time greats. As fans, we all have our personal dream matches. For me, I have four that always stand out in my mind. It would’ve been amazing had these matches happened in each of the wrestler’s respective primes.

Goldberg vs Stone Cold Steve Austin

If you were a wrestling fan during the Monday Night Wars, then you probably either preferred WCW over WWF or the other way around. During the peak, there were two guys (one from each company) that stood above the rest. Those two guys were Stone Cold (with the WWF) and Goldberg (with WCW).

Now, many people complain about Goldberg being a Stone Cold rip off, as he came after Steve Austin was already established. Regardless of how you feel about it, we can all agree that seeing the two square off way back in 1998 would’ve been one of the most hyped up matches of all-time.

Chris Benoit vs AJ Styles

Yeah, I know what Chris Benoit did. Given he’s one of my all-time favorite wrestlers, I know all about it. Now’s not the time or place to get into that, as I just want to talk about this dream match. No matter your opinion on Benoit, many agree that he’s the greatest technical wrestler that ever lived.

Then, we turn to the great AJ Styles. Talk about phenomenal, that word has best described AJ Styles for the last two decades, and he’s still going on strong. The technical and stiff style of Benoit would’ve meshed with Style’s high-flying and mat-wrestling style so perfectly. I just salivate thinking of the chemistry that these two would’ve had with one another.

Shawn Michaels vs Eddie Guerrero

The one that was so close to happening. The previous two matches pretty much never came close to happening, but this one’s a different story. As all fans of Eddie Guerrero are aware, he passed away in late 2005. It’s still easily one of the hardest deaths to get over for professional wrestling fans. The WrestleMania that was going to happen the next year (which would’ve been WrestleMania 22) was reportedly possibly going to be Shawn Michaels vs Eddie Guerrero:

On a recent Something to Wrestle With, Bruce Prichard says Shawn Michaels Vs Eddie Guerrero was an idea being kicked around for WM22.

Sadly, Eddie would pass away the November before Mania' and HBK would end up facing Vince McMahon instead.

Eddie Vs Shawn would have been class.

— Alex McCarthy (@AlexM_talkSPORT) October 13, 2020

I don’t often guarantee that a match would be five stars, but that one probably would have gotten the full monte. Such a shame that we never got to see these two greats go at it.

Undertaker vs Sting

Come on, you all knew this one was coming. Easily, this is the greatest missed opportunity in the history of wrestling. Back when WCW was bought out by the WWF, Sting was one of the few that never ended up coming to the WWE (the name was changed in 2002). Finally, though, in 2014, Sting finally debuted in the WWE.

From that point on, we could’ve seen Undertaker vs Sting. Sure, by then, they were both out of their primes, but it still could have been phenomenal. Instead, the one WrestleMania that Sting wrestled at, he took on The Game, Triple H. It should’ve been the Deadman and we all know it.

To the surprise of no one, as the world continues to preach social-distancing, most NFL teams are not going to allow fans into their stadiums (with a few exceptions). As all football enthusiasts understand, though, fans play an integral part in the game. Just look over the last decade of what have been some of the toughest places to play.

From Seattle to Green Bay to Kansas City to New England, the roar of tens of thousands of fans has been making an impact on the game for decades. This season, however, that’s not going to be the case. Understandably, this can lead to many feeling a sense of carelessness for the upcoming season. That’s not me, though, and here are a few reasons why.

Crowd Noise Will Be Pumped In

Okay, so while this is clearly not going to be as authentic and genuine as real fan noise, at least the NFL is trying to alleviate the issue of no fans. In case you haven’t heard, the NFL is going to adopt an artificial crowd noise policy. It remains to be seen how effective this is going to end up being, but at least it’s something.

I personally thought it would’ve been a good idea to take the average decibel level of each team’s stadium in 2019 and pump that much crowd noise in. After all, certain teams have a better homefield advantage than others, and is that going to be able to be replicated this year?

It’s Still Football

Look, this year has been annoying and hard on a lot of people. Sometimes, it’s nice to get together with a buddy on Sunday and watch football all day long. It provides a sense of relaxation (unless you’re watching your favorite team play) and enjoyment. Let’s be honest people, it’s still football and at least it allows for a distraction from everyday life.

It’s an Important Year for Carson Wentz

Yeah, it seems like I just took something straight out of left field here. This headline makes more sense when you realize that I’m a diehard Philadelphia Eagles fan. Now you’re beginning to understand, this is a very important year for one Carson Wentz. Even though he has a Super Bowl ring, we all know it was Nick Foles who carried the team to said Super Bowl.

Wentz has had well-documented injury issues, and this year could go a long way in determining whether or not he will be the QB for the next several years. After all, the Iggs did just draft Jalen Hurts in the 2nd round of the recent NFL Draft. My eyes will be glued to the TV set to see what happens with this situation.

Well, there you have it. I’ve stated my case and it’s okay if you disagree with me. Clearly, many of you will care less over the last point, and that’s fair. But is it too much to ask for football fans to just try and accept how this year is probably going to go? As long as it doesn’t get canceled.

As for me, I’ve been golfing since I was a tyke. While I’m not a scratch golfer, I like getting out whenever I can and would consider myself to be a good golfer. So, I fully understand both sides of the coin when it comes to the game. I won’t sugarcoat it, the game of golf has its ups and downs, and it’s something that I deal with every single time I go out. But I’ve developed a deep admiration for the sport and maybe you could too. First, though, check out what I feel are the best pros and the worst cons.

Pro: Nature and Beauty

Even the people who end up hating golf, they typically still enjoy the sights and sounds. More specifically, they enjoy the sights as most golf courses offer wonderful scenery. Sure, the more money you pay, the nicer the course and layout will be, but most still offer diverse surroundings. On a sunny, 75-degree day, when you’re standing on the top of the tee box looking down at the fairway, few things are better.

Con: It Can Get Expensive

Now, this depends on how often you golf and the green fees that you’re willing to pay. You can play cheaper courses (and most of them will keep up on their greens) or you can pay top-dollar for some of the best. Most people, including me, will just opt for the more affordable courses. As that’s typically all I golf, I can say with a clear conscience that most keep their courses well-maintained even at cheaper rates. However, regardless, if you wind up golfing quite a bit, you’ll begin to realize how expensive it can get.

Pro: The Skill Involved

Make no bones about it, there is no such thing as beginner’s luck in golf. Yes, luck can come into play from time to time, but there’s too much skill involved for luck to play a huge role. This makes the game a real challenge to attempt to master (which is pretty much impossible). There’s also going to be so much to improve on that it becomes even more satisfying to get better at it.

Con: It’s a Frustrating Game

Let’s be honest, the real reason why some people hate golf is due to how hard it can be to get down. As with other activities, it’s not something that you’re going to figure out and become good at in a matter of days. It’s not easy, especially when you’re just getting started. You have to get over the beginning hurdles of learning how to strike the ball and then you can start having some fun with it.

All I have to say is give the game of golf a shot. It’s been a love of mine for many years now and it could end up being that for you too. I evened out the pros and cons, but I could’ve gone on and on with more positives. Give it a chance and who knows what could happen.

With last month’s release of Haikyu!!‘s newest season stirring up a social media storm akin to that of much bigger titles (that will go unnamed lest I be flamed into nothingness), I think now is as good a time as any to acknowledge, especially for those who haven’t caught the wave yet, what it is that makes sports anime so appealing to an audience that typically concerns itself with giant, multi-tailed fauna and humongous balls of pure, deus ex machina energy that conveniently eviscerates all bad guys and annoying notions of logical power scaling.

The sports anime genre has been around almost as long as anime itself with the first being a Japanese animation in 1931 that followed a baseball game between a team of tanuki and a team of rabbits. The animation back then obviously wasn’t as immaculate as what we’re used to today, and the players were only slightly less kawaii than best boys like Shoyo Hinata and Ippo Makunouchi, but with the constant atmosphere of competition and perseverance, especially in the face of an angry old toad eating their only baseball, the spirit of the genre was definitely there.

Since then, instead of shows following young protagonists with miraculous willpower, giant evolving mechas, or swords twice their body length, some creators have taken to writing series about protagonists with much more realistic anatomies and much shorter shorts. Over the years, shows like Slam Dunk, Eyeshield 21, and Yuri on Ice have stolen the hearts of many with their tales of hardship and perseverance throughout the athletic careers of their main characters, and if I’m being completely honest, they’re impossible not to love.

And now you’re thinking “But Tyrone, I still don’t get why I should watch some powerless schoolboys play soccer or practice judo when I could be watching demigods with physics-defying haircuts and the ability to knock out everyone in a mile radius by twitching their eye a certain way?” Well, shut up, we’re getting there.

Sure, you could watch a show about guys who get stronger by screaming sufficiently into the ether or by eating their mentor’s hair, but what do you really gain from that? Unrealistic expectations and weird fetishes. In sports anime, you’re able to see characters who are no different from yourself, people who have to learn to be clever and take full advantage of their human capabilities and limitations in order to better themselves.

In fictional worlds where the physics are the same as our own and the characters have to solve everyday problems like a lack of motivation or feelings of inadequacy that people just like you and I deal with, something much more inspiring is possible. Characters in sports anime not only show us the benefits of having an undefeatable shonen spirit, but also the inspiring effort it takes to sustain that force in the face of realistic and relatable adversity and how worthwhile it all is when you finally win that tournament or a practice game or even when you experience that underrated pleasure of perfectly executing a simple task that you’ve practiced at relentlessly.

Sports anime reminds us that our favorite, most overpowered protagonists are inspired by people no different from ourselves who were just so good at being human that some upstart storyteller couldn’t help but call it supernatural. They impart a straightforward pleasure by showing not how great it feels to fire a mega-galactic-destructo-god-buster-beam-cannon at a villain and scattering their sorry atoms into the cosmos, but how satisfying it can feel to just be human and to try your best. If you don’t think that’s wholesome and worth the watch… I’m tellin’ ya mama, because you a damn lie.