It's a very real danger, this.

For those of you unfamiliar with my "work," (and I put the word in quotes because God knows if this were my REAL job I'd probably be suicidal, but nonetheless this IS what I'm known for online - that, and REALLY LONG parentheticals in the middle of my sentences - hey, like this one!) I am basically a television recapper. In other words, I relate the happenings of televised events for people who may have missed the shows - and to those who HAVE seen the shows, I try to add some other stuff.

Other stuff.

You know, little fiddly bits like how I liked a certain dropkick, smartass asides interrupting interview transcriptions, general cursing of lame commentators trying to put over lame storylines - or even worse, ignoring the storyline completely - to talk about something else absolutely nobody gives a damn about.

Anyway, all this other stuff is apparently passable enough for me to earn some...well, "prestige" seems like too strong a word. Certainly not "fame." "Renown?" "Notoriety?" "Infamy?" "The approval of my peers?" Ha! Whatever it is, it's SOMETHING - enough for people to come to me, puff me up just enough to get me to produce original content for THEIR site.

Here's the thing.

This column - it's ALL other stuff. It has to be.

I have said before, and I'll say again now, that I'm really much better as a writer when it's in the context of a show report - not only because I've done it on and off for over seven years, but because the show report follows a fairly straightforward framework which practically writes itself - given that you keep your eyes open and do at least a decent halfass job of putting what was on the TV screen on your COMPUTER screen. As a result, it's a lot easier for me to write show reports without having to do any actual WORK - it's all a matter of reaction.

But... sitting here at 3am, with the only ambient light in the room a soft glow coming from my Powerbook as it sits on my lap... there's nothing to react to.

So what's left?

Yup... other stuff.

Quite frankly, I don't know if I have the ability to look upon a blank slate and use the written word to make you think, react or even just hold your interest until the end of the page.

But stick with me - we'll find out.

What do I mean?

Well, two things really.

The first thing is that by moving Thunder to Wednesday, the fine folks over at WCW (do you say *the* WCW?) are forcing all the combination wrestling fan/Trekkies (you may say "Trekkers," but I find it...well, ostentatious) to choose between watching UPN and TBS - at least, those on the east coast. [If you're saying "How many wrestling fans are also Trekkies?" to me, you don't apparently realise that ALL of them ALSO spend a great deal of time on the Internet, which for the purposes of this column works for me.]

The second thing is that there are now SIX nights a week that the Big 3 present professional wrestling somewhere on the dial - and in a few places, even Tuesday isn't spared, be it a syndie from the Big 3 or a TV show from a local indy.

In each case, what ACTUALLY is happening here is that wrestling fandom as a whole is being pushed towards the saturation point - if not completely past it. Given the choices - whether it's a simple as choosing between "Voyager" and "Thunder" on Wednesday, or as complex as deciding which nights are going to be spent watching American graps on the tube and which nights aren't, the ultimate choice may simply be to give up and turn the set off.

As this happens more and more - as more people miss more shows - the effect is that more people will be interested in finding good show recaps to stay on top of what happened without having to invest the time in watching the show.

And really, that's my point - I APPLAUD this move because it will ultimately bring more people to read my Monday night reports!

(At least, until everyone gets so sick of things, they just call the whole thing off...but why spoil a short-term positive with a long-term negative?)

And that's a little other stuff.

I'll probably be back.

Oh, one more thing - Java blows.

CRZ