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OK, I have to admit it: I spent the night with Brooke Hogan. All right, not the entire night. Oh, and with Christy Hemme, Gail Kim, Velvet Sky, SoCal Val and Lisa Marie Varon. Plus Robbie E, Chris Daniels, Joseph Park and a bunch of other wrestling folks.
My idea of work: Posing with Brooke Hogan was painless. Well, for me it was.
They all were at a private pre-party Wednesday (March 13) for the grand opening of The Squared Circle (2418 N. Ashland, Chicago), the restaurant owned by Lisa Marie and her husband/chef Lee. The restaurant is wrestling-themed — with memoriabilia framed on the walls alongside flat-screen televisions — but not overwhelmingly so.
The establishment will show wrestling on those TVs. Included will be the TNA Impact Wrestling live event Thursday at the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates. The show is to be televised at 7 p.m. on Spike TV, so opening-night diners and/or drinkers (there is a bar area) will be able to take in the wrestling action.
Because the TNA Impact Wrestling action actually will be showing one card live and taping another, Lisa Marie and her colleagues are unlikely to make an encore trip to the restaurant Thursday before it closes at midnight.
What a lovely pair: Lisa Marie Varon and Brooke Hogan.
Meanwhile, back to Wednesday night. Also attending were some members of the media. Included were Rich Koz (aka Svengoolie of TV fame), Luis Gomez of the Chicago Tribune and Elliott Serrano of Redeye, another Tribune property.
Also present and chronicling some of the evening’s events was filmmaker Matt Goldberg, whose movie “Tarafied” has been submitted to the Cannes Film Festival. And before anyone scoffs at that notion, let the record show Goldberg had an entry in 2012 at Cannes.
Goldberg has the knack for capturing the action and activity without being intrusive. One example occurred when Brooke arrived with a gift for Lisa Marie (known in TNA circles — or rings — as Tara). Brooke brought a little bag whose distinctive color indicated it was from Tiffany. Inside was a small box. Inside the small box was a smaller trademark Tiffany bag.
Christy Hemme (left) and Velvet Sky smile for the camera.
Lisa Marie carefully opened the present that included Tiffany tissue and a white ribbon around the book. Inside the bag was a necklace (you can see it in the accompanying video that Lisa Marie was gracious enough to submit to after an evening of meeting and mingling with her friends and assorted guests).
Goldberg blended into the woodwork — well, close to it — and captured the moment. Can’t wait to see where that video footage ends up.
Toward the end of the evening’s festivities, your humble correspondent approached Christy Hemme and reminded her of having escorted her to the ring at TNA’s 2008 “Bound for Glory” event, also at the Sears Centre. She feigned remembering our previous relationship. Can’t imagine why. At the very least, one of us recalled the moment and called it one of the highlights of his life.
Well, Christy still was/is a good sport and consented to posing with Velvet Sky for a photo (there it is toward the top of today’s posting).
Meanwhile back to Brooke Hogan. She is attractive and tall (especially in 4-inch heels, or however high they were) and seemed in good spirits. She even performed waitress duties by bringing a round of drinks to the table where she and some of her female cohorts were stationed.
Brooke also was a good sport and posed for a photo with yours truly — with Lisa Marie taking the picture.
If all this sounds a bit surreal, the reason is simple: It is. Was. Always will be. Was there an hour or two of waiting for that moment to occur? Indeed. Does anyone really care? Nope. Certainly not me.
Brooke Hogan, Velvet Sky, Lisa Marie Varon, Gail Kim and Chrissy Hemme provide some beauty at The Squared Circle party.
Here is the interview that Lisa Marie Varon was gracious enough to do after a busy evening at The Squared Circle:
Speaking of wrestling, promoter PL Myers of PCW was at The Squared Circle event. PCW’s March Mayhem will be March 23 at the Don Preston Rec Center, 14500 S. Kostner Ave., Midlothian. Special guest will be WWE Hall of Famer “The King” Jerry Lawler. Doors open at 6 p.m. with bell time 7 p.m. Tickets ($15) are available by clicking here.
* Speaking of Lisa Marie Varon, she will be a guest on “Sports & Torts” on Thursday (March 14) at noon Chicago time on talkzone.com with co-hosts David Spada and Elliott Harris. Because she has to be at the Sears Centre before noon to prepare for the TNA Impact Wrestling event at night, the interview with her is taped. For those who miss the original “Sports & Torts” broadcast, it will become available on podcast later in the day.
The Big Ten Conference basketball tournament will receive fairly comprehensive game coverage from the Big Ten Network.
“With four Big Ten teams ranked in the nation’s top 10, this is a special season for Big Ten fans, and BTN will have more tournament coverage than ever before,” BTN president Mark Silverman said.
Coverage begins Thursday at 10:30 a.m. Central with a pregame show followed by the 11 a.m. contest between Illinois and Minnesota. Michigan-Penn State follows that. A postgame program follows that. Friday’s games are Ohio State vs. the winner of Purdue-Nebraska at 5:30 p.m. Central with Michigan State vs. the Iowa-Northwestern winner to follow.
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