RetRo My Take On 9.20.06: To Be The Man…
Posted by Larry Csonka on 09.20.2006
…You gotta beat the man.
Since so many have asked my opinion on the book over the last few weeks, bargain bin hunters I suppose, I figured I would run this here.
Originally posted July 18th 2004 at TWTF.com
That has been the long time line spoken by Ric Flair for over 25 years. "To be the man" is the title of his Autobiography, a chronicle of possibly the greatest wrestler of all-time. We've all heard the stories, drinking all night, wrestling 45-60 minutes the next day, then more drinking and women. He was the "limousine ridin, jet flyin, kiss stealin, wheelin dealin son of a gun!" For fans and even haters of "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, this is something that people have been awaiting.
This should be, for some of us, a time of remembering the day of our youth when we became a fan. For the younger fans, this and the Ric Flair DVD set should be something to own, so you can understand what a classic match can be without chairs and 20 high spots with 3 or 4 flips apiece. For all of us though, this was our time to get to know the man, the legend on a more personal level as he talked of his childhood, his parents and friends. You see, for a lot of people it wasn't a gimmick, we thought Ric Flair was the man in the world of wrestling and wanted to hear it from his mouth.
It started well, with people proclaiming it a must read. They said it was without a doubt in the top of the Wrestling books, right there with "Have a nice Day" by Foley and "Hooker" by Thez. Some said it was even better. Who was I to argue, I figured Ric Flair would look at this book like a match with Ricky Steamboat, and bust his ass to make it a classic.
But the world isn't busy praising this book; they have decided to focus on very small parts of it. It has become a battlefield. Bret Hart isn't happy, and launched a near 4,000-word tirade at Flair. Fans are now drawn to a side, and now defending one or the others honor. It has overshadowed everything going on in the world of wrestling. Dusty Rhodes and Buddy Landel have come out defending Flair. Everyone has an opinion and wants to be heard. So do I.
I don't care! It is childish and petty. It is HIS opinion, and that is how the reader will view it. A life long Bret Hart fan will not read this and say, "Wow, I was delusional, Ric is right." They will just think it is Ric's opinion and keep loving Bret. That is their right, their opinion.
You see, I am not taking sides because this is all ridiculous. Flair says, "Bret was a very strong technical wrestler, and could step it up for the big matches." That is a compliment, to me anyways. "But I never saw dollar signs on him." Well, hard to argue, Bret didn't draw well as a champion. This is basically all he says, he does call him repetitive but name me 1 wrestler who isn't, Flair included. He mentions Owen, as says "IN HIS OPINION" Bret used it to fuel is columns in the Calgary Sun to take shots at Vince. Well, Bret did take a ton of shots at Vince, both physically and in the written word. He could have left it out, but it is his book his opinion.
Bret should be glad he isn't Shane Douglas or Scott Steiner. He says no one ever cared about them, they never drew and the moment they retire that they will be forgotten. He attacked Jim Crockett Jr, the best man at his wedding, for changing and not keeping Flair in the grapevine. He praises Dusty Rhodes as someone he emulated, and then goes on to question his booking and ideals of grandeur that could have ruined Mid-Atlantic, and basically did. He destroys Jim Herd, Hulk Hogan and Eric Bishoff. How do you really disagree, Flair felt, and it is hard to argue, that they tried to ruin and embarrass him. But what I think most people have neglected is the one person he is the hardest on.
Himself.
Through out the entire book, there are short quotes from people is Ric's life, commenting on wrestling, life on the road and everything else. But there are also comments from 2 his kids, David and Megan. They talk about being angry with their father, and jealous of his life with his new wife Beth. Flair admits that for almost his entire career, he was consumed with living the life of "Ric Flair" the wrestler. Not with being "Rick Fliehr" the father and husband. He takes total responsibility for the failure of his first marriage, and says he wonders how Beth, his current wife, could love him and stay with him today.
Forget about Foley, Dusty, Bishoff, Herd, Hogan, Douglas or Steiner. The real villain painted by Ric Flair is Ric Flair himself. To me, this book was a search for his soul. Ric found that.
To be the man, sometimes you have to realize that you haven't been much of a man. While he regrets nothing is his professional career, Ric has realized that he regrets a lot of what he DIDN'T do with his family. THAT is honesty, and that is harsher than any words he has for anyone else in this book.
To be the man, you gotta beat the man. After reading this, I think Rick Fleihr has decided to battle Ric Flair, and that is a good thing.
