Memoirs of a Squared Circle

My fifth grade school year can be described in various terms. The first being overwhelming due to the fact that I had been uprooted from the only school I had ever known and dropped into a new school in a completely different city. To be honest I had no issues with the city itself (I basically grew up in Oakland before we moved there) but the problem lied within the fact I knew no one other than my cousin at this new school. That alone can terrorize any ten year old because contrary to belief fitting in isn’t always as easy as it sounds. But I found out quickly that the feeling of being overwhelmed had a counterpart that would make this school year absolutely enjoyable. That counterpart was named “Wednesday”. Wednesdays were actually a two for one type deal, buy one at regular price and receive the second at no additional charge! The first part of that deal was minimum days! Seriously? I get to go home at one every Wednesday? No, you’re just screwing with me right? That mini vacation every Wednesday was awesome in itself, but combine that with the rest of the afternoons festivities… Well, you can’t make this kind of stuff up.

A short walk home got me and my cousin there just in time to watch the tractor pulls on
ESPN. Tractor pulls you say? What the hell do tractor pulls have to do with wrestling? Ha! If you knew anything about anything at all then you would know that tractor pulls were the predecessor to the AWA! There was nothing better than coming home to lunch prepared by our grandmother which would be followed by a huge helping of the greatest regional wrestling promotion basic cable had to offer… The American Wrestling Association! The likes of Larry Zbysko, Chief Wahoo McDaniel, Stan “The Lariet” Hansen and even the high energy antics of The Rock n Roll express! At the age of 10 my biggest worries in the world we’re was I going to have enough change to buy a soda on the way home and which two of the three members of The Midnight Express were going to defend the belts that week! I can’t imagine a childhood without pro wrestling, god what a scary well adjusted every day joe I would have turned out to be…

Jason Burum 2/7/12

P.S. Here’s a little “Rugged” Ronnie Garvin taking it to a young baby faced Scott Steiner