Well word has gotten to me through the grapevine that Ian’s father passed away earlier this morning/late last night. I missed a few calls from some of the guys but I got the voicemail when I returned from the gym. I have a ton of great stories about Pops. I won’t go into them all on here because mere words wouldn’t do them justice. You had to know Pops to appreciate him. Pondo got him on the Springer show a few years ago and Pops made the Talk Soup Clip of the Week with his appearance. Think of the Grumpy Old Men movies and then replace “schmuck” and “putz” with “you motherfcking whore you” and you have a general idea of what Pops was like. I’ll always remember getting woke up at the hotel in Wisconsin by Pops screaming and going downstairs and seeing him about to hit Brian Knobs over the head with his shoe. I wish I could have been there the night he fell out of the ring truck and into the ditch of water at our old apartment. I’ll always remember Ian shoving him into the pool on the same trip that the fight with Knobs occurred when Pops didn’t have any change of clothes for a 3 day trip. RIP Pops. You will be missed.

Now for the mark out moment of the day that really pales in comparison now. I left the gym and went to the grocery store to buy a shaker gimmick to make my protein shakes in. I was walking through the store and kept getting followed by this guy and his girlfriend. I didn’t recognize them and began worrying that an enemy from my past was about to make a move towards trying to attack me. I stopped by the magazine rack and picked up the PWI Year End Awards issue and started looking at it. The guy walked up to and said “excuse me but would you be Jim Fannin from IWA wrestling?” I said that I was and he says “I’ve been on the phone with my friend for the last five minutes trying to tell him that it was you in Jewel but he wouldn’t believe me. What are you doing in Morris when IWA is based in Indiana?” I told him that I was born and raised and back living in Morris and that was how we got the show at Morris High School. I told him about the Midlothian shows and told him that we were trying to find a place near Joliet to run so to keep attention to the paper and for flyers. That is only like the 5 time in 7 years that someone has come up to me in public and talked to me because I was in wrestling. It was definitely the first time here in Morris. It made my day until I got home and heard about Pops.

Good Day.

[old postcard image. photo author/copyright unknown.]