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Most magazines do their year in review issues a month before the year is
up so there are still a lot of things happeneing. Here are the memorable parts for me.
In January was the inauguration of George W. Bush as President of the
United States. Thus ending all the debate about chads and the whole Florida debacle.
Hopefully, people will just slow the heck down and take a moment to read the freaking ballot instead of
just punching the hole they think they want.
The Professional Wrestling industry was turned on its ear as one of the
major three federations, ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling), goes bankrupt.
And another, WCW (World Championship Wrestling), is bought out by its rival WWF (World
Wrestling Federation) thus ending any competition on the national scene of Professional Wrestling. Sure
there are the independent leagues out there, but they do not have the same prestige as the big time
has (or had). Lots of great wrestlers like Danny Doring, Roadkill, Dawn Marie (not a wrestler
but a ultra HOT valet), Chris Chetti, Nova and Sandman are all reduced to getting into the
independent scene or trying to get in with the WWF's already full roster.
In late-March and April I finally got to experience the WWF live and had
a great time meeting fans from all over the world. It was really interesting because the
WWF really goes all out for its fans in not only the in-ring work, but also with their WWF Access
Show. They offered all their fans that could get a ticket a chance to see their favorite
wrestlers and to get autographs.
Then there was the ultimate show, Wrestlemania X-7. WOW! Sixty
thousand plus fans packed into the Houston Astrodome to see what will arguably be one of the most
remembered Wrestlemanias in the history of Professional Wrestling.
Television had a lot to offer us as well. From the almost death and the
rebirth of the sitcom Friends, and the quick death of the sitcoms of former Seinfeld
actors. The rise and quick fall of the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Which I'm happy
to see go, Regis is really getting on my nerves. The coming of another British game show
(complete with non-annoying British hostess) The Weakest Link, that shows us that even normal people can
get lucky sometimes.
Reality television also took a blow in the fact that Big Brother 2 never
got ratings as good as the first. Survivor 2 was in the Outback of Australia and showed
us that CBS is will put human lives on the line for ratings, and Survivor 3 is showing us that we
could care less about this point even though they are planning a fourth. Fox's outings with
Temptation Island and Temptation Island 2 were hit and miss even though they did brew up controversy
with a couple that had a child on the show and another proposing to his girlfriend while on the
island. UPN's foray into the reality TV genre was tarnished by accusations that the show was
rigged and some scenes were re-shot in California. ABC's venture The Mole taught me not to trust the
hot chick, and their second outing, The Runner, never got off the ground.
Everything was rolling along fine until September 11th. It will be
forever remembered as the day that everything changed and not for the better. Some jackass
decides to send some morons on a suicide mission to insight terror on the United States. When it is
shown that the jackass had some part in it, and we ever find him, there will be hell to pay. I think
the aftermath that pulled us together as a country will keep us together for quite a while
longer.
Collectable card gaming takes a hit late in the year when the makers of
the Star Wars CCG, Decipher Inc., announced on their web site that Lucas has decided not to
renew the license with them. Instead they cannot put out any more new products after
December 31, 2001 and can only sell their remaining stock of SWCCG cards until April 2002. This is a bad
thing. It was a great game and was based on a great license. The fans of the game are in an uproar
over this fact, even though the game was showing signs of degradation as far back as earlier
this year.
The console gaming market gets two more high powered offerings near
the end of the year.
First was Microsoft's first foray into the home console gaming market
with their X-Box. It is the first American made system to come out since the Atari and meets with
mixed results. Good games but a steep price tag and the Microsoft name attached to it makes some of
the more savvy gamers think twice about it even though it is touted as the "New hot item that
all kids will want for Christmas." Then there is Nintendo's new console the Game Cube.
Nintendo has survived all sorts of threats from Sega, Phillips, Atari and Sony in the past and they have
made another good product. With a lower price tag than Sony or Microsoft and competitively
priced games based on characters fans already know they will have a good foothold in the
market.
Two of the more eagerly anticipated movies came out later in the year.
First was Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone. The movie had good press and with a
huge following of the pre-teens dragging their parents to see it. It made enough to do a sequel. The
second and probably more anticipated was Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring. With almost
every fanboy having read this book series at one time or another during their lives and with a huge
hype machine behind it, it has met up with relatively good success.
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