For my next to last pick I'm going to go with my heart, and it will probably be the least favorite member of my team, (at least as far as some may view it). Toward the end of his career and after, this guy took a lot of heat, and became a warrior and spokesperson against the new directions his sport was taking ... he didn't like the flashy garb, the Hollywood theatrics, and the steroid use, (along with other drugs still embraced by many in the business today), and he wasn't afraid to say so, though it cost him in more ways than one in the long run. He was raised hiding from German soldiers in the Italian Alps, by a mother who was shot more than once sneaking into occupied territory to get food to feed to her eight children, and he almost died from rheumatic fever before finally moving to Pittsburgh, where his father had lived for years before.
He earned a place on the U.S. Olympic team before he could yet speak much English, and brought that amateur realism and competitive spirit to his ultimate success as a professional. He was a purist and a ground breaker, and made no apologies for taking a stand against what he saw as a cheapening of the sport he loved. So, in that honest and no-apologies spirit that we have built this team on from the start, for it's
ninth pick in the
2012 CB Ultimate Draft, the newly-named
Portland Paradigm, (Team Bahku), selects an incredibly talented and one-of-a-kind guy, who made integrity and character the cornerstone of his career, and backed it up with a talent and physicality rarely seen today, our pick in the
Professional Wrestler category, (and a man I had the pleasure and honor of having dinner with), the one-and-only ...
...
Bruno Sammartino.
Take that, Vince ... for real.
