Vermont's Starting Center Ben Crenca: On Professional Wrestling

This is the first in a series of blog posts by and interviews with Vermont starting center Ben Crenca. Crenca, a 6'10 junior, is averaging 9 points and 6 rebounds per game. UnrankedAE welcomes topics of discussion for Ben (though clearly, he's able to come up with them himself); please feel free to comment or tweet us @UnrankedAE or unrankedae@gmail.com

America East fans, welcome. I hope this season I can entertain you with my many musings on multiple subjects that you inquire about or something I feel adamant to tell you. This post is an example of the latter.

So the season has finally started. We are all very excited and I am sure everyone already has their predictions of how every team’s season will end up after only a weeks. So what’s the point of having another post about whose hot and whose not? How about I take it in another direction. . Keep all you readers on your toes. No AE fans, I am not about to rant about the NBA. Today I will blog about my one true love, Professional Wrestling.

Yes I said it, Pro Wrestling.

Ever since I was a little (age not size wise) kid, I dreamt about working in the squared circle. It all started when one day I was at school and one of my friends brought in his foot and a half rall Hulk Hogan action figure that talked. I was in shock, partly because the toy was cool, but also because I was the only kid still playing with Beanie Babies. That day it was decided to put Inky the Octopus and Fetch the Dog away and start following this new fad called Pro Wrestling. I was about 7 at the time and this was when Pro Wrestling was at it’s high point. World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling battled for pseudo-fighting supremacy. These two corporations ran by Vince McMahon and Ted Turner respectively consumed the next few years of my life. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights were spent watching. In those days my biggest stressor of the week was if I should watch Monday Night Raw or Monday Night Nitro (Football is made for Sundays might I mind you). WCW had the likes of Sting, Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Bill Goldberg while the WWF had the Undertaker, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, and Mick Foley (Stony Brook Fans should know who Mick Foley is). I could not get enough of the charisma, the athleticism, and the pageantry that encompassed professional wrestling. Many days were spent out on my trampoline trying to copy some of those moves on my body pillow (safe to say I will never be a high flyer, if you could have guessed).

The highlight of my life came back in August of 2001 when The WWF was being invaded by the WCW and the only savior was the Texas Rattlesnake Stone Cold Steve Austin. When I heard the glass break and saw his strut down the ramp to save the WWF, it was nothing short of life changing. He ended that night victimizing about 10 people with his patented Stone Cold Stunner, a move that ends souls and strikes fear in the hearts of millions. It was from there on that I knew Pro Wrestling was my calling.

Then I got a little more realistic.

I became a basketball player. Pro Wrestling ain’t exactly paying for college. As I love to play basketball, Pro Wrestling is still my favorite "sport" (Yes it is considered sports entertainment so please don’t be cynical) to watch. Nowadays the WWE is all-alone at the top of sports entertainment. Vince McMahon is the grand master of the industry and no one will ever be close to his stature. He has been an extremely successful businessman and has done it without any kind of strikes or holdouts. So now here comes the main point of my post, what other sports can do to become extremely interesting. These are just some ideas I’m going to throw out there that you can take in or just throw it right back. Your call but I am sure there will be at least one you will enjoy. And for the record I do not condone violence, just organized, safe sports entertainment

Baseball:

Why do players have to drop the bat when they get a hit? I think that after they put the ball in play they should be able to carry the bat around the bases with them. The Icon Sting made a living with his trademark black bat. Think of it as an insurance policy. I wouldn’t want to get in the way of David Ortiz sprinting towards me with a 32 ounce wooden oak bat. A lot more high scoring games and 40 foot ground ball homeruns.

Basketball:

Since the NBA owners and players cant seem to realize they are not in grade school anymore, fans are beginning to lose faith. Here’s a way we can get the casual fan back on track: Revamped player interviews. Interviews have gotten to be a tad bit boring, very robotic, generic, and scripted. I’m thinking we take notes from the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, Two of the greatest on the mic of all time, and cut some serious promos. This can involve pumping up our own ego or playfully, all in good fun, go back and forth talking smack with opposing teams. Fans would love it and attendance would go way up! Shaq is probably the quintessential wrester trapped in a basketball players body when it comes to this. They could all have their own catchphrases that if we are lucky, will trend on twitter. That’s when you know you made it.

Football:

(See XFL, it was never given a fair chance)

Hockey:

Hockey may be the closet thing to pro wrestling. They do allow fighting yet when they fight it looks like its just two Rock Em Sock Em Robots battling it out. Here's an idea: instead of the punching, how about first man to make the other one tap or submit with the use of a submission move is the winner and then they stop the fight? Hockey is a historically Canadian Sport and many very technical, submission specialist wrestlers hailed from the Great White North. They could take their pick from Chris Jericho’s Walls of Jericho, Bret Hart’s Sharpshooter, or Chris Benoit’s Crippler Crossface. And to all Canadians, Pro Wrestling is in your blood. Accept it.

So those are a few ideas I have that may entice better attendance at sporting events and more interest. Or I could be horribly wrong and be ripped apart by conservative sports viewers that cannot accept change. Guess you cant make everyone happy. As always keep coming back for more. Same AE time, Same AE channel.