I know what you think about people like me. I've heard it before. People like me are stupid. People like me are naive. What am I that deserves so much scorn and ridicule? I am a wrestling fan. Apparently, we haven't figured out that it's all "fake" yet, or otherwise we wouldn't watch it.

        Why do we watch it? We're attracted to the storylines. Wrestling fans can live vicariously through "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's struggles against his evil boss, Mr. McMahon, or through Goldberg's phenomenal success, riding the crest of a 150 match winning streak. We're attracted the the athletic prowess and high flying of cruiserweight wrestlers such as TAKA Michinoku or Mexican luchadors like Juventud Guererra or Rey Mysterio, Jr. We gasp in awe as Mick Foley (a.k.a. "Mankind") is thrown off the top of a twenty foot high steel cage and through an announcer's table.

        Fake? Hardly. Even though wrestling fans will readily admit that wrestling is staged, and outcomes are predetermined, people do get hurt. Some then leap to the opposite argument, claiming that wrestling is too violent. Is it really more violent than football, hockey or Hendricks Hall boxing?

        Wrestling fans have grown somewhat inured to the scorn heaped upon them, but have grown use to suffering in silence as they watch their programs. Recently though, PLNU Senior Brendan Kennedy was watching WCW Thunder, a Thursday night wrestling show on TBS, in the Nicholson commons Rec Room, and had the program shut off by the Rec Room attendant.

        "He was very smug," remarked Kennedy.

        Kennedy was told that he could talk to Jon Nelson, Director of Outdoor Leadership and Recreation, about the incident. However, Nelson would not be in his office until the next day, long after the program was over. So, Kennedy simply left and felt bitter that he was not allowed to watch what he chose to watch.

        When I first heard about this incident, the part of my brain responsible for sarcasm (read: all of it) kicked in and I thought, "Boy, we're lucky to have these people who I can decide for us what we can and can't watch. Obviously, we're all either too stupid, immature and/or sinful to come to these decisions." As most wrestling is on cable (USA, TNT and TBS), a ban on wrestling in the Rec Room would have meant a ban on wrestling on campus, unless one has a friend in Flex Housing.

        Later, I decided to take a page out of the books of my colleagues more towards the front of this paper and try my hand at a little investigative journalism. Calls to the various dorms seem to support the contention that very little outside of "R" rated movies were banned there.

        A brief chat with Kamee Eggers, Assistant Coordinator of the Rec Room revealed that other programming that the Rec Room tried to control included "trashy talk shows, and if MTV becomes too provocative." It is up to whichever Rec Room Facilitator on duty at the time to determine appropriateness.

        The Recreation Room has a posted policy near its two television sets stating that the subject matter of programs must be appropriate for "all potential audiences". It concludes that "[t]his policy was formulated out of respect for all potential audiences and not to take away from viewer's rights."

        I also spoke with Jon Nelson about the issues of censorship of the Rec Room television.

        "We're all about respect. We don't want to be policemen," he said.

        Nelson suggested that a viable alternative to outright banning could and should be that the television merely be switched to another channel during an offending scene, and then switched back when the content is more acceptable.

        This seems to be an acceptable compromise if it is implemented fairly. I've mentally squirmed a little bit when Val Venis, the wrestling porn star (don't ask) comes on the screen. Certainly these aren't people you'd want for role models, but then again, neither were Jack and Rose in Titanic who did a lot of things that would get us one of those involuntary two day vacations. But a lot of people enjoyed that movie. Wrestling fans enjoy wrestling, an would just like to feel that our rights are respected enough that we can do so.