First, don't know if you're a big fan of Bruce Springsteen, but my friends and I run www.legendsofspringsteen.com and would love a plug to get us some more traffic. Thanks!
Secondly, I was at No Way Out on Sunday, and even though it wasn't really a good ppv for the most part I still had fun with friends and watching it live. Having grown up in the NYC area I've been to a few ppvs before, and countless raws, smackdowns, house shows etc. Basically if it took place at MSG or the Meadowlands from 1994-2005 there's a fairly good chance I was there. But this Sunday, on the bus ride home, I saw something I never saw before that really bothered me. Grown men, who were almost certainly drunk, yelling and cursing at kids who were John Cena fans. Has the Cena-bashing gone too far? I'm not a huge Cena fan, and I'd love to see something to freshen up his character. But I can't imagine even the smarkiest fans thinking this is acceptable. Personally, if that happened to me as a kid I know my parents would have never taken me to a live event again. And I'm sure some of these kids parents feel that way. This could be a huge problem for the WWE, if they're trying to market towards kids but parents don't think it's a safe environment for kids. Has anyone else heard of such actions, or was this hopefully a one time thing? Thought it might get some conversation going on the blog.
Thanks for all the hours of entertainment reading your material.
Best,
OB
As for Cena-bashing, I think that was a one-time thing. Most wrestling fans are aware that it's entertainment, and while you can boo Cena as much as you want in the context of the show, you leave that inside the arena. Hell, I've endured years of obnoxious Hardy Boy fans without ever feeling the need to attack someone over their choice of t-shirt. Stay classy, San Diego.
First off you are missing some great stuff from Springsteen that he's put out since Human Touch/Lucky Town. Second, the behavior of those fans is less about Cena and more about idiots with alcohol and sporting events (and sports entertainment) in general. In recent years we hear more and more about fans being beat up for cheering the wrong team. You have the Giants fan beaten by Dodger fans. I can attest to the fact that Raider fans have been verbally and violently abusive to fans of other teams in Oakland. To me, Cena is by far secondary. It's simply the person/team of that day that drunken idiots weren't cheering for.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's not a Cena thing, that's a drunken idiot thing.
ReplyDeleteIt happens.
Agreed, Springsteen has had a career renaissance since then. "The Rising", "The Ghost of Tom Joad", and, if you're looking for something a little more "for the sake of the song", The Seeger Sessions, are all worth a look. His latest is kind of oddly produced, but some great songs on there too.
ReplyDeleteI remember cheering for Money Inc. (the Natural Disasters were soooo booooorrring) at a house show as a 7 year old and being told to shut up several times...but I think I felt more included than intimidated. The culture of wrestling fandom changed, too in the Attitude Era, when the WWE started pushing the whole " you have a right to cheer/boo whoever you want!" messaging as a way to accelerate character development without taking the consequences into account, to the point where you wonder whether crowd reaction is even a factor in the booking any more, weird as that sounds.
Wow, drunken idiots from California making the rest of us look bad, go figure.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, and people try to say that Philly fans (in any medium) are assholes? At least we don't fucking riot and destroy our city when our teams win championships.
I don't know if I can describe how much I used to hate John Cena. He just filled me with rage and I would be angry and disgusted everytime he was booed out of the building but won and celebrated like he was the homecoming King anyway. He's not funny, he's lame, he dresses like a kid, and if he was killing wrestling for me...so I can understand people getting so passionately caught up in how much they hate him to lose control like that. It's not like he just gets booed here and there from time to time - there's a lot of people who really hate the guy.
ReplyDeleteAs for me, I liken it to the end of a relationship. It sucked. It bothered me this guy was ruining it for me. I was angry and tried to fight it....but eventually I just accepted it for what it is and stopped caring.
The 90's wasn't the best period for Springsteen, I can totally see how someone wouldn't be much of a fan after those albums. But his career has had a resurgence since The Rising and he's really put out some great albums. I really appreciate the plug though Scott, thanks!
ReplyDeleteAs for the anti-Cena feeling, I get it, I really do. And if it was drunk idiots yelling at each other, have at it. What bothered me was they were yelling at kids. I'm glad it seemed to be a one night thing, I hadn't been to an event in years and really didn't want to see this be the norm.
I was born in Spain and have gone back many times over the years to visit family. Luckily, we're still way behind in idiocy regarding sports, alcohol and violence. Try sitting in the wrong fan section wearing the opposing colors of a team at a soccer game. I've seen some guys get showered with beer and pelted with coins for that alone and security rarely steps in. It's a disgrace.
ReplyDeleteSo, yeah, you're right, chalk it up to drunken idiots.
At least we don't fucking riot and destroy our city when our teams win championships.
ReplyDeleteThat's because it rarely happens, championships that is. Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Springsteen is a topic near and dear to my heart. I honestly think all of his post Lucky Town/Human Touch stuff has been good. And honestly those albums weren't bad. If anyone but Springsteen put them out, they would have been well-received. But ditching the E Street band and putting out arguably his worst albums (Greetings, his first album was also hit and miss) got him a lot of bad press. Tom Joad, while way different than his other stuff at that time (even Nebraska, which would have been closest in spirit) was very good. It was nominated for a Grammy for best folk album although I don't remember if it won. Tracks is full of great stuff, whether just the one CD "hits" version or the entire boxed set. Loved The Rising. Devils and Dust is ok, not one of my favorites. The Seeger Session stuff, both in studio and live is great fun. Good way to get kids into Springsteen because they know many of the songs. Magic was amazing and up with his best work. Working on a Dream was solid stuff with some real gems. I really like the new album. It's very topical and being the political person I am, I think that colors my opinion, but it really is good stuff. Oh, and The Promise, which is a release of unreleased tracks during the period he couldn't record in 75-77 due to lawsuit issues is also pretty damned decent.
ReplyDeleteSpringsteen has been on a roll since The Rising. Ive attended a bunch of his shows and it still amazes me how much energy that guy has in his 60s. If you have never been to a Springsteen show or are just a mild fan, I strongly recommend going to see this guy live, it's as good as it gets.
ReplyDeleteThat hurt, man. That hurt me bad. :-)
ReplyDeleteI went to Night of Champions last year in Buffalo and we had a young boy and his grandparents in front of us. My friend and I were having a great time ensuring the kid had the best time possible. He wore his cena gear and was firmly behind all the faces. We pointed out to him anytime a face did something illegal, called him Lil Jimmy all night, and would make excuses to him when the heels lost. We weren't at all being dicks though, we were getting him into the show, and ensured that his grandparents were ok with us having fun with him. The kid seemed like he was having the time of his life and will hopefully remember his first wrestling show for the rest of his life. We, as fans, need to remember back to our youth, before we got smart, and how we too bought into the product just like the kids did. Hearing about grown men swearing at kids pisses me off beyond belief.
ReplyDeleteOh, Scott, you're missing out. The Rising, Magic, and Working on a Dream are very, very good. He found himself again with those 2000s E-Street Band albums.
ReplyDelete