Halloween, Earthquakes, and Penn-Pulver

Halloween might be today, but the real scare was last night’s earthquake. It was the biggest quake to hit us since the ‘89 disaster, which you had to experience to truly appreciate. On October 17, 1989, my family and I were in the kitchen, and the shaking started. The four of us immediately headed for the doorway, and the ground shook like you wouldn’t believe. The water in the pool came gushing out, our chimney was heavily damaged, and dishes broke everywhere. I was in the 8th grade, but remember it vividly.

That fear, which everyone out here remembers, makes us scared anytime a small earthquake hits. Last night’s wasn’t small; the shaking was more of a rolling, swaying movement that never seemed to end. I again rushed to the doorway and called my wife over to join me. She got really scared and I had to calm her down. Deep down, I was hoping it would be the big one, because at least it would be overwith, and at least I would’ve been home with my wife. There is a fault called the Hayward fault, which is very close to us, and scientists say is ready to pop. When it does, the Bay Area will be in shambles. Big quakes hit roughly every 140 years, and it has been 139 years since the Hayward fault reared its ugly head. So it’s coming soon, and it can happen at any time. I just hope I’m not in the middle of a bench press or squat when it hits.

My wife loves Halloween, but all those bratty kids ringing the doorbell all night is not my idea of fun. We’ll turn off the lights and pretend to not be home, but that never seems to stop them. The idea of watching Ultimate Fighter appeals to me much more than bratty, whiny, snot-nosed kids shoving their greedy hands in my house reaching for sugar and empty calories, while their parents stand in the background like overprotective geeks. I’m sorry, as a kid, Halloween sucked if my parents came along. It’s so not cool. But these days, with people as crazy as they are, parents don’t trust their kids alone, so they get all overprotective. Not sure about you, but from where I sit, parents these days are spoiling their kids rotten. My parents spoil my nieces and nephews, and it’s sickening. We’re raising one spoiled generation, let me tell you, and we’re going to regret that big-time in 10-15 years.

Chris Jericho didn’t make his WWE return last night after all. People are all pissed about that, but really, who cares?? Jericho will come back and the novelty will be over in a week. Chris Jericho was cool in 1999. In 2007, he’s a preppy, short-haired, normal-looking GQ cover boy. The Ayatollah of rock n rolla is long gone, sorry to say. You guys will see it soon enough. The truth is that Jericho left because he got fed up with WWE politics (read that “HHH”) and was hoping to make it big as an actor and/or musician, and neither happened. So now he has to come back, which is pretty embarrassing for him because it’s an admission of failure. Jericho lost my respect when he did a total PR job on the Larry King show regarding steroids and the Benoit death. At that point he became a WWE shill, and it’s going to be a shock for him if he comes back to WWE and no one will care after the first couple weeks. It’s too bad because Jericho and his rock n roll persona used to be the coolest thing around. Man does it suck when people grow up and mature. It’s like when I see guys now that I went to high school with, and they look like different people. Bald, fat, gross, and they dress like slobs. There must be a rule that when men grow up and become pansies and start families, they officially give up on life. Jericho isn’t bald or fat, but his days of being the rebellious rocker in shiny leather pants are over. And that’s a damn shame.

This morning I saw the original BJ Penn vs. Jens Pulver fight from 2002. It went the full 5 rounds and was very hard fought and competitive. It appeared the crowd was a little bored in spots, which wouldn’t happen today because the crowds are more educated and familiar with the fighters’ personalities. Pulver is quite a human being, and you just have to admire the guy. He’s an example of a guy fighting for and working for everything he has, whereas Penn is the guy who is so incredibly naturally gifted, but not as hard working, and gets by on natural talent alone.

Truth be told, Penn should’ve won the fight. He had Pulver at the end of the 2nd round, and Pulver tapped, but the round ended when he tapped, and he got lucky the fight continued. Pulver ended up winning by decision. It was kind of similar to Hughes-Penn II (one of my favorite fights ever), where Penn would’ve likely won had the bell not saved Hughes. Anyway, Kevin Iole recently did a nice article on Pulver for Yahoo Sports, talking about the incredibly difficult childhood Jens had. At the end of the Penn fight, Pulver broke down when talking about how he’s used to getting hit because his father used to hit him all the time. I thought Pulver did a great job as coach on TUF 5, and I look forward to his return to the fight world on 12/12 with WEC.

I saw the video version of the Randy Couture press conference last night. All I can say is I hope they resolve the matter soon. Couture belongs in UFC.