By Stephanie Bennett

For English Composition Assignment

Date.10/7/99

Hello, and welcome to my composition on Hockey and Wrestling. During this paper you will learn more about such things as violence in these sports, greed in hockey, and respect in wrestling. We will delve into the millions spent on hockey players and the pennies wrestlers get. Of course I will have to at some point brag about my favorite team and players, and my (current) favorite wrestler. But you aren't reading this to hear about what is going to be in it, your reading it to find out what IS in it, so with no further adu, I present for your reading enjoyment, my 10th grade English composition on my two sports loves.

Hockey and Wrestling, those two words bring instant images of bone crunching checks and painful DDT's. They may also make you think of big burly guys drinking beer and eating corn chips, in modern day sports things have changed. You have more children watching these violent programs. More people sticking there 4 and 5 year olds in front of the TV so they can watch StoneCold open a can of whoop ass or Darren McCarty punch some guys lights out for elbowing his captain. This keeps the children occupied and out of there parents hair. Afterwards though the effects are not so enjoyable. When your 6 year old tombstones his infant sister and she dies it isn't funny, or when you 7 and 10 year olds get into a fight over bumping into each other it isn't funny. Now I am not saying all kids shouldn't watch these contact sports, but at least not the children that are so young they can't distinguish between UnderTaker fake hitting TheBigShow with a bat and really hitting each other with bats.

On the topic of fake hitting and real hitting I wish to discuss the respect issues in the Pro Wrestling business today. I automatically get comments from people like "Oh......you watch that WWF garbage?" or "Don't you know that crap is all fake?" and it really makes me angry. They have no idea how much it hurts to whip your body around a ring for 15 minutes, while listening to 20,000 people screaming, trying to make it look real, and trying not to get injured. And if you do get injured, your screwed, matches are set and in less your dying you better continue till the end. They say it's a synch, it's easy, it's all fake, nothing hurts. You can't fake getting hit with a chair and denting it. Your REALLY do get hit with it, and it REALLY does hurt. Same with getting thrown threw a table, come on it's weakened but you still have to impact the ground and land on splintered wood. For example Mick Foley (ManKind) accidentally fell 20 feet through a steel cage, on top of REAL tacks, and got back up to finish the match! Now tell me it's all fake and doesn't hurt! Let me see you fall 20 feet and then say it doesn't hurt.

Why don't we continue with the subject of minor leagues and how to move up in the NHL and Pro Wrestleing worlds. Every player dreams of being on such a team as the Detroit Redwings or the Dallas Stars, just the same every wrestler dreams of entering the big 2, WWF and WCW. These tasks they set themselves are very high, and hard to achieve. Take the NHL there are around 28 teams, each team has 24 roster spots. That's around 672 roster spots in the NHL. Ok seems like plenty, but then there are thousands of minor league teams, 15 rounds of drafting and around 150 slots in each round. That's a huge number of players, and only about the first 200 will ever actually see any NHL action. Most will play on farm teams or stay in there homelands and play in minor league teams. Now onto the wrestling side of things, almost all wrestlers not in ECW, WCW, or WWF are considered to be in the 'Indies' which is to say they are in the very minors. These guys/gals have to transport themselves, live on little to no money, and have only a small chance of ever coming to one of the big two, or the hardcore ECW. If a PRO scout happens to like a wrestler they may bring them to one of the PRO DOJO's and have them train awhile to see what there maximum abilities are. Then if they prove they have the skill and stamina they will wrestle a few houseshows, then if they still seem good they may get a few dark matches. (DarkMatches are matches which are done before the camera's come on at live events.) To actually get a match on live public television is amazing, there are hundreds of great wrestlers and to be one of only around 100 who actually appears on TV is amazing.

Congratulations, if you've read this far then you finally get to see who my currant favorites are, and why! Starting off we have the always, eternally my favorite NHL team, The Detroit Redwings! They have class, they have finesse, and they have talent! If they wanted to they could win EVERY game! With superstar coach Scotty Bowman to teach them and the ever present Steve Yzerman to lead them they are the best!

You can all guess my favorite wing......come on 6'1, Russian, blond hair, blue eyes, worth over 36 million dollars. Give up? #91 Sergei Fedorov center and once voted by his peers best player in the league! Since his contract hold out not everyone has loved him, but I never gave up and still hold him close to my heart.

Can't say anything good about WCW or say a favorite there, gonna have to skip right to WWF and it's huge array of looks and talent. I have entirely to many favorites in wrestling. At the top of the list is The Road Dogg Jesse James, he has charisma and spunk, not to mention piercing blue eyes and a kind smile. Right behind him are two guys tied for second favorite, Kane AKA The Big Red Machine and the guy who would die for his fans Mick Foley AKA ManKind. A long list of third placers, TheRock, X-Pac, Bad Ass Billy Gunn, Chyna, and the pimp'daddy himself, The GodFather. A stable is a group of wrestlers who work with each other and watch each others backs, my eternal favorite is DegenerationX, the bad boys, the tricksters, AKA my kind of guys! Disagree where you will, but these guys are the best!

Heart is a big part of both these sports, which is why I save it for last. You can't be a great hockey player OR wrestler without this key ingredient. What else guides a grown man to put his body on the line every other night, get it bruised, beaten, and sometimes broken just to win a game! What else guides a grown woman to work out 4+ hours a day, buff her body up, loose her curves, and throw herself into a mans sport just because she loves to wrestle? HEART, one word yet so big it could fill a page with it's very essence. People insult hockey players, they say they are just big guys pumped up on drugs who like to hit each other around. Not so! Look at the ageless Igor Larionov, who is small of stature and thin of frame yet jumps out there to battle the likes of Eric Lindros and Peter Forsberg. Wrestler's are just burly men who yell, right? Glance at X-Pac who is just about the smallest full time pro wrestler you'll ever see, tiny enough that The Big Show has many times picked him fully up over his head and thrown him like a rag doll. Heart drove Sergei Fedorov to play with a cracked rib cage and broken finger just so he could help lead the wings to a Stanley Cup victory! Heart is what brought Owen Hart's brother in-law back to the WWF to continue his legacy. Whether you consider hockey a violent sport and wrestling not a sport at all, you must face up to the fact these guys are not mean spirited men who yell a lot, most are nice guys, with families! You really think at home The Rock tells his wife to "Know her role and shut her mouth?" Can you imagine Kirk Maltby leaving the rink every day and checking his child when it misbehaves? No, you can't because that's not who these people are. They aren't the bullies and snobs like they are published as!

To wrap up this little masterpiece I would like to make a few last points.

The world is vast, many many people live on it, and no matter what any one person says there will always be violence, always be fighting, and eliminating these things from sports will not help very much. Parents informing there children what is real and what is not will help, people not attempting moves without training will help, and learning to manage anger will help. On this earth money may always be a problem, to little for some, to much for others. Never anyone satisfied. Why does this player get 20 million and I get only 6? Why does this wrestler get 150 dollars for his match and I only 26? Life isn't fair. Sports aren't fair, but life should still be lived to it's fullest and I intend to do so. No matter what anyone says about those things in which I base my life on.