Lou Pickney's Online Commentary
Eddie Guerrero
Wednesday
November 16, 2005
Last night I watched WWE Monday Night Raw, which I had recorded the night before. It was very sad; it took place on Sunday night, just hours after the passing of 38-year-old Eddie Guerrero. It was set to be a joint RAW/Smackdown taping, with the WWE crew heading to Europe this week (thus RAW wasn't live this week), but due to Eddie passing away early Sunday morning, the taping was turned into a giant tribute show to him. And rightfully so. From all indications, he was one of the good ones, one of the people in the oft cut-throat wrestling business who had a good spirit and who was loved by all.
Heart failure has been determined as the reason that Guerrero lost his life. That's not normal for someone who was in peak athletic condition, but years of pill use and painkillers, plus the pressures to have a "WWE level" physique, no doubt had an impact on his heart failure. You look at the number of pro wrestlers who have gone through the WWF (now WWE) who have lost their lives before the age of 50, and it's amazing. Horribly tragic, but amazing. I've lamented on this before, but it doesn't make it strike any less real when it happens again.
Keith Olbermann had a great segment on his MSNBC Countdown show last night where he pointed out the ridiculousness of the horrid Parents Television Council. Quoting directly from the transcript of last night's show: "The stats are in, for July of this year, the FCC received 23,547 complaints about indecency on television. Bozell's Parents Television Council says in July the number of complaints it filed with the FCC was 23,542. That's right, FCC complaints from the PTC: 23,542, FCC complaints from everybody else in the country: five!" The sad thing is that most people aren't able to comprehend that, and then politicians will use that 23,547 number as a talking (or shouting) point about how Americans "want decency on TV and in radio." Nevermind the freedom of choice with the remote control. It sickens me. So kudos to Olbermann for continuing to see through the PTC's charade.
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