A One-Two Punch

Every one of us has those iconic people in our lives. Maybe they're athletes, maybe they're actors, maybe musicians or writers or even programmers. Regardless of who they are, what makes them special to each of us is both unique and the same for everyone. We connected with them. We saw them as a stable point in our life and felt something when we knew they were there. But, as time marches on, our iconic heroes and legends inevitably take their final bow and leave this world. In the last weeks, two men I've enjoyed for my entire life passed away and left an unexpectedly deep ache in my heart. Let's briefly celebrate the life and impact of the Immortal Hulk Hogan and the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne.

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It seemed like any other day, until I opened Facebook. Surly it was just another clickbait article. I'd seen them before...but... the articles kept coming. The legend, the creator of the heavy metal genre, the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne had passed away at the age of 76. It's hard to fully explain how much impact this man had on music over his lifetime. He created the heavy metal genre in the 60s while singing with Black Sabbath, he went solo and had the most successful career comeback in history, he's had countless awards for both bands (including being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice), then, he invented reality TV with his show, The Osbournes, with his wife and children. Love it or hate it, the show went viral when going viral didn't exist yet. Then, just to add one more defining moment to his belt, he founded Ozzfest, the largest and most successful rock music festival in history. His voice was a unique talent that is an instant signature to every song he touched. Nobody has or will ever be able to duplicate his iconic sound.

Now, I would like to say I've been an Ozzy fan since my early days, but truthfully, I didn't know who he was until I was in middle school. I'd heard Iron Man and Paranoid, sure, and I thought Crazy Train was a cool song, but I didn't know the man behind the music. I didn't even realize that the same man did all three of those songs. But, I do remember the first time an Ozzy Osborne song really took hold in my life. My family had been on a trip to see relatives in southern Oklahoma. Driving down a winding road to get to our campsite at the lake, a song came on the radio. My father pulled the car over and turned the radio up. We got lost in the experience of this song that none of us had ever heard before. It was amazing! The singer had such a crisp and mesmerizing voice, the guitar had speaker-melting power...all mixing together into a wall of sound that was better felt than heard. As the song ended, my father asked me to write down some of the lyrics we remembered so we could look up the song when we got home... That song was Ozzy Osbourne's No More Tears. That song kicked off an obsession with Ozzy's music that has stayed with me the rest of my life. From the early Black Sabbath albums to the latest Ozzy Osbourne albums, I was made into a super-fan on a backroad leading to a lake in the woods and I've never looked back. So, let's raise our hands and put up the sign of Rock and Roll one more time for Ozzy Osbourne, the man who changed music forever and created the soundtrack to the lives of generations of rockers!

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Hulkamania was in full swing in my early childhood. Though I was encouraged to not watch wrestling, somehow Hulk Hogan still found his way into my world. Be it in the movie, Rocky III, as Thunderlips, the Ultimate Male fighting Rocky Balboa for charity, or Mr. Nanny and the Suburban Commando. The Hulkster was everywhere back then...then came his shift from WWF to WCW and the NWO movement that spawned a sea of black tshirts that will forever be burned into my memories. Yes, I grew up in the heyday of the new generation era or wrestling and the birth of the attitude era. I knew what it was to "Snap into a Slim Jim", what Austin 3:16 said, that "It doesn't matter what your name is!", and most of all that "Hulkamania will live forever, Brother!" Without ever watching the show, I knew what the lights going out and the church bell ringing meant that the Undertaker was coming and that the sound of breaking glass meant the Texas Rattlesnake was going to put someone in their place. But before we couldn't see John Cena, before we were electrified by The Rock, before our hearts were broken by Shawn Michaels, and even before we screamed WOO at Natureboy Ric Flair, there was the original immortal...Hulk Hogan.

Hearing of Hogan's passing at the age of 71 was something I didn't expect at all, but even more surprising was the sting it left on my heart. Hulk Hogan had already become a legend when I was born and had maintained his iconic status for my entire life. Even through the controversies, somehow Hogan's decades of being a hero to millions of people helped him survive. He took his lashes and kept on performing and working to put butts in seats and smiles on faces. He was larger than life in every way possible. And, per his WWE memorial, he is the reason sports entertainment is the powerhouse it is today. Without Hulk Hogan and his contemporaries, Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, and Ric Flair, the WWF might not have survived to become the WWE and to continue to expand like it has. UFC might not have been founded and combat sports entertainment might not exist today. So, for everyone that grew up with Hulkamania, everyone that saw Hollywood Hulk start the New World Order, or anyone that has ever enjoyed an episode of RAW, Smackdown, or a UFC event...Let's all crack a smile, and give a little flex for Hulk Hogan, the man that defined a generation and kept us entertained for decades.

We have to love our heroes while we have them, but never forget that they're people just like us underneath all that fame. Every time I lose a hero or a celebrity I looked up to, it reminds me to live my own life in an extraordinary way so that somebody might be able to look up to me in the same way. Will I ever be a Hulk Hogan or an Ozzy Osbourne...no...but maybe I can be something special anyway. Just something to think about from one Nostalgia Nerd to his online family. God bless you all and GAME ON!!