Tim's Gauntlet: Day 5

I'm not gonna lie, today's challenge of trying to find a Favorite 'other' sport card in your collection, has proven to be the most difficult one so far, at least for me, hence the no post yesterday.

When it comes to sports cards, I don't collect much outside of the big three. The only other sport that I collect cards from, and have any sort of collection from, is boxing, old boxing to be more specific. That particular collection isn't very large, and none of what I own would qualify as a favorite from that sport, so a different direction was needed -- but after some thought was put forth, I think I've come up with something, and all I had to do was go back to my childhood to find it...

I've mentioned it here and there before, and am not wanting to go more in-depth about it today, but from early childhood to my late teens, professional wrestling was an absolute obsession of mine. Thinking back on it, I don't recall any interest ever being as strong as that one was, but once my interest started to wane, it really waned! I went from magnificent obsession (props to anyone who's seen that film BTW) to absolutely zero interest in just a matter of weeks. During the ensuing twenty years I have had bouts of nostalgia to want to go back and watch some of the stuff that I grew up on, as well as some earlier stuff, but that nostalgia never sticks around for very long, so my interest in it as a whole has never fully returned, and I highly doubt that it ever will.

By the late 90's, I had a gignormous collection of wrestling paraphernalia (videos, magazines, toys, programs, etc.), most of which was sold for a very handsome profit back in the mid-2000's, but I did hang on to a few things (why, I don't know?), including a few partially completed card sets, with one of those being the 1985 Topps WWF set. I may not care much for the "sport" anymore, but I still like this set, and find myself looking through it from time to time, and one of the cards that always make me smile, as it's done since childhood, is card #31, "An Appetite For Mayhem".

Due to his real-life battle with crohn's disease, George 'The Animal' Steele had pretty much retired from in-ring activities by the time I remember first seeing him, but he was still around, and active enough with his outside the ring antics, for me to become a big fan of him, and his character. And of course years later, when I started amassing tapes, I would be able to go back and see plenty of his in-ring work as well, which honestly wasn't all that great, but his characters shenanigans were, and because of that, my fandom did not diminish.

Between the "eaten" turnbuckle, the green tongue sticking out, and just the overall 'Animal' look, this card has everything that a young (and old) me could've possibly asked for in a trading card.

And seeing as how it's one of my favorite films, I'd be remiss if I didn't at least mention George's portrayal of Tor Johnson in Ed Wood. I highly doubt that any other living person could've been cast in that role, and is therefor in my mind, one of the best bits of casting ever.

I feel like I should note too before I go, that I don't consider professional wrestling to be a sport per se, I mean I would refer the wrestlers as athletes, but obviously aren't participating in an actual competition, i.e. a sport. However, it was on Tim's list of other sports, so in order to come up with something for today, I decided to go with it... please send any and all complaints his way :)

Looking ahead to the next challenge, I could go with any of a couple dozen cards for that one, but after mentioning Ed Wood, I think I'm gonna go the easy route, and pull out a card of someone else who appeared in the film?


Thanks for taking a moment to look at my page.