Mick Foley at Harper College

Awhile back, Lady Combustion came home and told me that Mick Foley was going to be speaking at Harper College, where she happens to take classes at part time. She suggested we go and see it. I had almost forgotten about it until earlier this week when she reminded me, and found out that the show was at 7pm, which meant I could leave work a little early and be able to attend. So that was the plan.

I packed up my two books he wrote and my camera and hit the road 1 hour and 15 mins before the show. The trip from work to the school is probably 30 miles, so even in normal rush hour traffic I should have had plenty of time to make it, and maybe even grab a snack. Such was not the case however because a couple of fuckwits decided to get into an accident on the Kennedy, thus turning what would have been a somewhat shitty traffic jam into a parking lot. It took me an hour to go 10 miles! I wasn’t going to make it in time! Lady Combustion called me and said she’d get the tickets and go inside and see the show, and when I get there to call her cell phone (which she had on vibrate so as not to disturb the show) and then she’d step out and get me. Once I got past the shit on the road, I drove like 85 the rest of the way there. When I arrived, I was 10 or 15 mins late and extremely pissed off, for not only was the traffic hell but once I got off the highway I missed every single light on Algonquin road on the way to the school. It was as if evil forces were trying to keep me from spending the evening with my lady and seeing one of my all time favorite wrestlers speak.

When I sat down Mick was in the middle of telling a story about ECW and how one fan tried to sue them when he was burned by fire at the show. There was a court case, which the company rightfully won. He went on to tell stories about the PTC going after the WWE and how he called them up and called them on their shit, resulting in them settling out of court and paying the WWE a hefty sum. He would occasionally interject some political humor in his stories, and didn’t pass up any opportunities to poke fun at Rush Limbaugh either. But mostly the stories revolved around wrestling and writing books. Mick is a very good story teller, and to hear him tell the stories is like being at a table with yr friend and listening to a story he/she would tell you.

At one point he fielded questions from the crowd. The thing that amazed us was that even when Mick had some guy who asked what would come off as a kind of stupid or lame question, he would answer it and make an interesting story about it. One question that I thought was particularly good was someone asked what finish move he least liked taking. He said it was the Tombstone because of its margin for error, and how it could result in serious spinal damage, but said the Undertaker was a total pro and always did that move with precision.

Mick also mentioned how much he liked working with Randy Orton, and explained how he wanted to give the guy the rub because it was veterans who came before him in this business who did the same for him. It really was Orton’s match with Foley that really elevated Orton to the next level, and gave him a lot more credibility with the fans. The two of them put together a compelling match, and Orton took the opportunity handed to him in that match and really busted his ass and made the most of it. Foley also brought up Flair when someone asked him who the most overrated champion was. He said Flair was a lot of things, not all of them good, but an overrated champion he was NOT.

After he was done speaking and answering questions (which he went WAY over the scheduled time to the delight of everyone I’m sure, especially me), he sat down at the table and signed stuff for people. There was a one item per person limit since there was a big crowd there. I had him sign one of my books and Lady Combustion had him sign the other. It was a really fun time and Lady C and I really enjoyed it, and it was well worth the hell I went thru to get there.