I walk the line

So, there's been a whole lot of stuff going on lately that's very good blog fodder. Most of it, though, is stuff I don't really care about. Some of it is stuff I care about, but makes me too mad to talk about too much. And a couple of them are things I'd rather not have known about at all.

I guess it's a defense mechanism ... rather than talking about some of these things, I just ignore them and hope they go away. The story where I have most hoped this would happen is the Chris Benoit story. Yes, I am a wrestling fan. And yes, I was really shocked by the event. But what really pissed me off was the WWE's treatment of the event.

They ran a memorial episode on their Monday night program -- not realizing at the time they were memorializing a murderer. But, you know, it was almost forgivable given their history of quickly memorializing wrestlers. But I WANTED Benoit to be a victim. I wanted it to be a tragedy for him and his family. It was upsetting that it has turned out the way it has.

But I haven't talked about the story because I want to forget. My opinion is shared by many who have been far more vocal about the situation. What has got me really upset is the WWE's position since it became evident that Benoit's story was a double-murder/suicide. They are going to kill wrestling entertainment.

The WWE has recognized their drug problems in the past. But they aren't being so forthcoming this time around. They have pretty much written off the entire incident and that is a mistake. By closing themselves off and attempting to resume normal business, they are opening themselves up to further speculation. The kind of inspection that doesn't go away with time. It festers and becomes something cancerous.

There is a suspension of disbelief that you must affect to be able to enjoy wrestling. The shows are about the silly good vs. bad, not about wrestling. But now every time I see John Cena, Bobby Lashley, Chris Masters and the like, I can't suspend my disbelief. I can only think, "Man, are they ever juicing."

See, that's the thing about suspending disbelief -- sometimes you must embrace reality. Sometimes you have to step out of the fantasy and accept that your made up world is getting a bit dangerous. I think this happens to a lot of people who are in the fantasy/entertainment business.

It's a tenuous balance to be sure. To both give us and them enough reality to keep things "real" but keep the fantasy and aloofness up enough to keep the interest piqued.

It's time for the WWE to accept the real for a while. Otherwise they aren't going to be around much longer.