You are a VIP at Modest’s Joint!
Michael Modest
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Email Mike at michael.modest@gmail.com
Website: www.mikemodest.com
It’s 4:00 AM. You’re out way too late. The lipstick on your collar; undershirt, belt buckle, white boxers, and LiL’ Elvis, make going home an impossibility. The perfume wafting from your chest solidifies that thought. You have to get safe! Step Lively!
If you stand still on these streets the animals will pounce and if you’re lucky you will lose your wallet, a few teeth, and your pride.
Hurrying down the street, you ask yourself, how did I get here? What did I do wrong? But, you know exactly what you did and why you did it.
The street glistens under your feet; wet with dew from the nights air. A stray cat crosses your path, you pause momentarily allowing it to pass. The stray scurries along. Mirrored on the streets are the reflections of neon signs reading: XXX, nude girls, and Liquor for Sale. You look up and see a flickering lighted sign that says Modest’s Joint. The Joint is closed but through the front window you spy a bald dude sitting at the bar. He is alone, sipping coffee. You tap on the
window. The bald dude looks up from the bar and smiles as if you are a long lost friend. He gets up from his seat, unlocks the door and lets you into the Joint.
Glad you could stop by. You are a V.I.P. at Modests Joint! And! As long as I have The Joint YOU have a place to be! Come on in, take off your coat, and make yourself at home. Let me get ya some coffee………… There you go, boiling hot just the way Grandpa Rocko used to drink it. Where do you want to sit? You can sit at the bar or at a table. You can sit on the floor or on a chair. Sit where you like. This is your place.
So…. anyways, I’m watching Dana White’s program the Ultimate Fighter which features the Awesome Kimbo Slice, Rampage Jackson, and Sugar Rashad Evans, and a great cast of very entertaining and legitimate bad ass dudes. As I watch the program, I see so many aspects of good pro wrestling booking. The storylines are guided and massaged but not scripted. The wrestlers are the talent. The storylines are wisely guided, manipulated, massaged but in the end you have a believable and interesting story.
For example, two fighters, who grew up together, trained together, and are really best friends, are chosen to fight each other. One of the dudes doesn’t want to fight his best friend but his buddy seems willing to throw down. This creates some real emotional involvement for the audience. The audience can relate because they have probably been in competitive positions against friends at one time or another; maybe for a girl, a promotion at work, or just a friendly game of golf.
You also have the dynamic of Sugar Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson throughout the show. Rampage and Rashad are opposing team coaches with contrasting personalities. Rampage Jackson is a brash, egotistical coach who seems to care more about himself than the team he coaches. As he watches one of his fighters compete he complains about their performance. Often yelling at them to “Get up!” but gives no real direction to his fighters other than “Get up!” OR the occasional “Hit Em!”
Rashad Evans may have ego but also has genuine care and interest in how the team fares in the competition. Rashad Evans cares about the team as a whole and as inviduals. Rashad is a proactive coach who encourages his fighters with positive attitude, detailed training, and guidance.
Another example of the effective story lines on the Ultimate Fighter; One wrestler, on Rashad’s team, went and spilled his team’s plans to Rampage Jackson’s team. It was an accident from his perspective but the rest of Rashad’s team is ribbing him for his stupidity. Really entertaining programming and content! Then at the end of the show a good fight. Lots of commercials but it delivers what it promises.
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— Michael Modest
Email Mike at michael.modest@gmail.com
Website: www.mikemodest.com