Thanksgiving, The letter A and the Minnesota Wrecking Crew!

A couple of years ago one of my FACEBOOK friends shared a daily list of Thanksgiving for November. Using letters of the alphabet as a guide they planned to post each day. Mostly on a whim I decided to the same thing.  Me being me, I decided to be silly and slightly mocking in my approach. For my first entry, the letter "A" of course,  I said that I was thankful for Arn and Ole Anderson the Minnesota Wrecking Crew......  What? you don't know who they are? Well millions of people do but since you are so behind I will assist you with a pic.

The Minnesota Wrecking Crew

Why Oh Why would you be thankful for the Anderson Brothers? It is a fair question. The honest answer is that they were my "A" entry because the menacing image of them in their matching briefs made me laugh and their last names started with "A".  Simple as that. At least it was until my wife asked me the same question. "Who in God's name are Arn and Ole Anderson?"

"You don't remember them?" I said.

"No." she rather condescending replied.

Slightly insulted I tried to explain to my wife that the Anderson Brothers were world class, championship, tag-team professional wrestlers and no less than 50% of the original, infamous "Four Horsemen" wrestling alliance that all but ruled the "black hat" side of  Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling's ring from the early 70's through the mid 80's.   

The look on my wife's face was a strange combination of bewilderment and horror similar to the first time you realize your parents weren't virgins. It was obvious that she didn't know a turnbuckle from.....well......a turnbuckle.  But, being as open minded and and tactful as only my wife can be she said.

Baron Von Raschke

"Oh, dear lord you used to watch wrestling?"

"No!" I exclaimed.  "Well, yea" I acquiesced. "But, not the crappy WWF with Hulk Hogan. That's when wrestling went HOLLYWOOD. I used to watch the cool stuff on Mid-Atlantic Championship out of Charlotte."

Surprisingly, my wife's "OMG My Parents Have Sex" face did not go away.

But then, almost out of desperation, I attempted to find deeper meaning and  explain the circumstances for my betrayal of dignity. Growing up I lived next door to my paternal grandfather. I called him Pappy. It was a short walk through the woods but being the youngest grandchild and part of busy family we didn't see much of him. We could go weeks between visits and to be honest we were just closer to my mother's parents.

Andre the Giant

Then when I was about 11 or 12 years old Pappy asked me if I would like to mow his yard. I agreed to the task at the king's ransom of $5 a cut. Pappy was getting a deal and I was making enough money to go to the movies each week and the enforcer of child labor laws were none the wiser. Another bonus to mowing on Saturday morning was I finished around Lunchtime. It was also time for Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling.

The Nature Boy Ric Flair

For one hour every Saturday I witnessed a transformation. This quiet, hard working, calm soul of a man turned into a foaming at the mouth lunatic. Sitting in his recliner, lunch on his TV tray and napkin hanging from the collar of his his shirt, Pappy became engrossed in this universe that was Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling. In this universe the world was at war and you had to pick a side. There was good and evil. There was right and wrong and Pappy took his sides and took them with gusto. In this universe Rowdy Roddy Piper, Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, Baron Von Raschke, The Iron Sheik, Arn & Ole Anderson and Ric "Nature Boy" Flair were the bad guys. Wahoo McDaniels, Ricky Steamboat, Jay Youngblood, Jimmy Snuka (before he was the Superfly), Johnny Weaver, Andre the Giant, Black Jack Mulligan and Rufus R. "Freight Train" Jones and Pappy where the Good Guys. It was a side of him I never saw anywhere else.

Jay Youngblood and Ricky Steamboat

It's a little silly I know. But for a 10 year old boy it was an awesome way to get to know my Grandfather. Thinking about it,  maybe I was more grateful for Arn and Ole Anderson than I even realized. Not them alone but the entire experience of escaping into their world with Pappy for an hour every week to watch the matches. Picking the side of this old man who I loved but didn't really know. It gave us something in common beyond our name. It gave me something to look forward to during the week. It gave us a relationship. It was easily my favorite hour of the week and the couple of hours I spent with Pappy and Wahoo McDaniels would have been payment enough. Although, I still took the $5.

As I go through this Thanksgiving exercise again I am keeping Arn and Ole Anderson as my "A". I'm not keeping them for the silly outfits (well maybe a little). I am keeping  them because of the connection with my grandfather that they and their cohorts gave me.

So check back the rest of this month. I will have an Alphabet of Thanksgiving and I encourage you to do the same. And remember it is OK to have fun with it. You never know what you might realize about yourself.