[Icons 03] Hulk Hogan.

Browsing through my blog, it would appear that I am quite a serious person. Well, I really am.

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But though I am rather serious, I am far from being square, a bore or a prude. I have a very affable sense of humor. I watch comedy shows and comedy movies. I appreciate art but I also adore popular culture. I laugh at David Letterman's top ten list.

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Perhaps nothing else demonstrates my lighter side than my appreciation for Hulk Hogan. Yep, I am a Hulk Hogan fan. Yep, I am a Hulkster.

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I must have been nine or ten years old when I began idolizing Hulk Hogan. It was the late eighties and it was at that time that WWF's popularity was on a steep ascend. The sport was also shown on local TV, albeit on a delayed basis. If it was already Wrestlemania 8 in the United States, it was still Wrestlemania 6 on our part of the globe.

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The show was aired very late on Wednesday nights, after the second evening news. As it was about 11:00 p.m., I was already done with my school assignments. As it was also already late, I had to fight off sleep just to be able to keep myself awake until the show starts. I usually slept at ten o'clock at that age.

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But all thoughts of sleep is easily forgotten once the show starts. The ring action was enough to keep me up and pumped in the next thirty minutes. I would watch with excitement the bouts of Randy "The Macho Man" Savage, Ted Dibiase, Andre the Giant and all the other superstars. Like all kids and the audience, I bought the idea that it was a real sport and a real competition. I am excited by the fights. I cheer for the winners and sometimes commiserate with the losers.

I cheered mostly for the good guys. I had a roster of my own favorite wrestlers that whenever they are in the ring, they could always count on my support. My favorites were Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Bret "The Hitman" Heart, Randy Savage and Jake "The Snake" Roberts. But even then Ravishing Rick Rude inspired lust in my young mind.

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Summer Slam and Royal Rumble were my favorite events. In Summer Slam, all the best wrestlers fight for the championships like the WWF belt, the Intercontinental championship, and tag team championship. Sometimes, I was made to choose between my guys, like when Hulk Hogan fought against Randy Savage. I parted ways with the latter. In Royal Rumble, thirty wrestlers are brought to the ring at intervals of a few minutes. Whoever gets to stand last on the ring when all the others have been thrown out or eliminated is declared the winner.

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Hulk Hogan is the most distinguished wrestler I have ever seen. He is unique. He is easily likable. He pumps up the audience from the very moment that they hear his music and now that he was about to march in. And when Hogan pumps his oiled muscle, dances for the crowd and tears up his yellow spandex jersey, the crowd is all his.

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Wrestling may not have been a real sport but Hulk Hogan taught his young audience about true sportsmanship. He taught us how to fight like a gentleman. To resist cheating even if it was the only thing that could hand us victory. That the size of our opponents does not signal the outcome (Hogan was able to carry and body slam Andre the Giant). To be gracious in defeat and magnanimous in victory. He taught us that walking away is sometimes the only way to fight.

.Sure, I could have learned these lessons from other people in other sports. But Hulk Hogan had his way of teaching these to the young kids. And see, I can still remember the lessons.

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