Like you, my family spent the now weeks-ago holidays doing, well, “holiday things.”
No matter if you morph into a modified jolly ole elf or you instead bury yourself underneath countless bed covers for the holidays, each of you have your own set of holiday things. Some of those things are kind of nice, while others equal the pain a person has from drinking broken glass.
We had the celebratory “ooohs” and “aaahs” attributed to the viewing of lights, the manic wolverine-like children ripping into the wrapping paper of Christmas presents, and what seems to be a funnel-and-hose combo that flows gallons of hot chocolate down my kids’ throats into their awaiting bellies. (We had to nix the regular-sized marshmellows on the coco and instead opt for the minis. The bigger ones kept getting caught in the piping.)
The children in my household had holiday bliss, while the adults just attempted to survive. After 10 years of this offspring winter spectacular, it could become rather old from an outsider’s viewpoint, but there is plenty of new too.
On Monday, Jan. 4, there was an old-new scenario – but with a twist. The old-new concept definitely goes well beyond family rituals.
The “old” part, in this case, was generated by the uber-gittness back in the 1990s on Monday nights for pro wrestling fans or, as I refer to them, male soap opera enthusiasts. The Ted Turner-owned World Championship Wrestling “Nitro” grappled with the Vince McMahon-owned World Wrestling Entertainment “Raw” for TV viewers on those evenings. If they had it, most of the viewers accessed their picture-in-picture screen on their televisions. Others had their trigger finger on the previous channel button on the remote.
While WCW had its share of younger wrestlers, it was the veterans who had exited the WWE for the “other” brand who made it an event. Intriguing storylines and quality in-ring performances on the WCW show had WWE shaking in its laced-up boots. WCW took a command in the ratings war – winning 84 consecutive weeks over its rival.
WWE did on-air attacks against WCW, including WWE superstars performing skits dressed up as WCW wrestlers and billion-dollar Ted. These kinds of antics proved that WCW was getting under the WWE’s skin.
Eventually, WCW would be sold to the McMahon Empire and Vince would pick and choose the wrestlers, announcers and back stage personnel phasing out the WCW label.
The McMahons have their Tuesday night ECW, Thursday night “Superstars” and Friday night “Smack Down,” but it is their Raw broadcast that puts the figure four leg lock on all the other shows – cable or otherwise. Raw has aired on Monday nights since 1993. As of Jan. 11, 2010, that is 868 episodes.
No matter how you cut it, that is impressive.
However, a new rival has emerged to challenge the WWE. And that newer company is doing it with older wrestlers – former WCW wrestlers.
As the storyline goes, Hulk Hogan has bought Total Nonstop Action wrestling from veteran wrestler Jeff Jarrett and brought back the names Scott Hall, Sean “Syxx-Pac” Waltman, Eric Bischoff and Ric Flair for the viewers. TNA traditionally has been broadcast on Thursday nights, but for one special evening just days into January it aired the same night as its counterpart on Monday night.
While TNA had its Hogan return and blast-from-the-past wrestlers reunion, WWE had its own old-school plot line. Brett “The Hit Man” Hart, after a 12-year absence from WWE, returned to the ring to guest host the show. Hart would make a mends with wrestler Shawn Michaels for an ill-fated day in November 1997 in Montreal when Hart, as per the script, thought he was to retain his championship belt in front of his fellow Canadians, but instead Michaels, in cahoots with McMahon and the ref, got the win via submission. With the trust factor gone, Hart left the company. While a truce was called between Hart and Michaels, McMahon betrayed Hart again as the owner gave the former wrestler an unexpected kick in the abdomen.
But “old” and “new” also interacts in other genres. Recently, NBA star Gilbert Arenas was suspended indefinitely by league commissioner David Stern because Arenas allegedly pulled a gun on teammate Javaris Crittenton in a Washington Wizards locker room. In published reports, Arenas even mocked the whole situation.
This is the same Arenas who reportedly said “You can’t arrest me. I’m a basketball player,” as he was being charged with disobeying police in 2006 on Miami Beach.
Now Arenas has a “new” gun charge and Stern has the opportunity to make Arenas “old” before the player can return to the NBA. In an association that had a player choke a coach and another incident where two players attacked fans in the stands at a game, weapons toting isn’t a shocker. New Jersey Nets player Devin Harris estimates that 75 percent of NBA players own guns.
The form of wrestling and hoops you can see on TV might not be the old and new you seek. Whether you like the off-the-turnbuckle and 15-tattoo minimum appeal or not, I offer up another option – high school athletics. Screven County High School wrestling and basketball don’t have the smoke and daggers (pun intended) of the pro varieties, but they certainly have the newness of a yearly change of student-athletes and the old tried-and-true history that’s worthy of watching no matter what the age of the viewer.
More than a week after the Dec. 25 holiday I was in Augusta and noticed a freshly cut Christmas tree strapped down to the roof of a vehicle. Being quick to judge, most people would figure the driver must be challenged by calendars. “Hey buddy, Christmas is over,” we could hear them say.
However, the gentleman could be a soldier who has returned from Iraq and this would be his first chance to spend any resemblance of Christmas with his children.
What is old to some of us may be new to others. Embrace the “new,” but always remember the “old” is what got you to this point.

Enoch Autry is the publisher-editor of the Sylvania Telephone.