American Gladiators

Well here's something I've recently discovered about my wife. She's a huge fan of American Gladiators; both the new and old version of the show. It has moved to the top of her TV watching list, at least until "Battlestar Galactica" returns.

She was so happy when she found classic "AG" on ESPN Classic (The Ocho). The contestants had big hair and the gladiators had more superhero looking costumes than the new version. Mike Adamley and Larry Czonka, the hosts, wore tuxedoes and some of the games were a little lame; like the bungee jump where you have to collect different colored balloons or balls.

Nancy's favorite of the new gladiators is "Wolf", who's real name is probably like Irving Schmendrick or something like that. Every time he's on, he says something like, "Your going to be dripping from my fangs!" and howls like, well, a wolf. Immediately Nancy says, "Oh that Wolf! He's so crazy!"

I told her she reminds me of my grandmother at these times. When I was a kid, my Baba (Ukrainian for "grandmother") used to watch "Studio Wrestling" the pre-cursor to and the superior entertainment to the WWE. It was hosted by "Chilly" Bill Cardille and was on every Saturday. Her favorite was Bruno Sanmartino, or as she called him, "Brummo". My sick, elderly Baba would sit in front of the TV screaming obscenities at anyone who dared challenge "Brummo" in two languages. Her cheers for "Brummo" would consist of "Bayh, bayh... dae moh!", which roughly translated is "Hit him, hit him... give it to him!" When someone got the better of Mr. Sanmartino, she would yell, "Aaaah, you son-of-a-bitch!" No need for translation there.

Baba passed away years before "AG", but I thin k she and Nancy would have liked watching it together; 'cause, you know; that Wolf, he's so crazy!