Help Wanted

So the lightweight division is crackling along, with new blood constantly shaking things up. And the middleweights are engaging in epic rivalries as the resident champion fights to retain his title.

So from a boxing perspective, we're not doing too bad for a promotion that doesn't have a heavyweight division.

Yes, you read that right.

Mind you, we have a heavyweight champion in the form of the ever-formidable Hot Rockin, and Averlast owner Karine Koba is a strong contender for the gold. Both, in fact, can be found at the Friday events every week. So what's the problem, you ask? If they're there, why can't they fight?

Because they have to run the events. Hot can't defend his title because there's nobody else to judge the matches or act as announcer. Karine has had to assume the duties of card girl (who also, at Averlast, pulls double duty as the time keeper), thus keeping her from contention. In addition, this paralysis at the top discourages middleweights from advancing to the top weight class, introducing an unhealthy inertia in the ranks.

Put simply: Averlast needs people, not just in the ring, but outside of it, keeping things running. Having two of our top people in support positions will keep things running, but it's still two people doing the work of four (did I mention security?), and the event itself will invariably suffer until they're back in the ring.

If you like Averlast, but don't consider yourself ready to climb the contention ladder, you might want to consider heading over to the gym side of the building and finding the poster for recruiting employees (note: the word was NOT "volunteers"; you get paid for your troubles). Click on it, and you'll get a few notecards detailing available positions and other important items.

RELATED ASIDE: This morning, after I had already determined that this was going to be the subject of my next long post, I sat in while Karine trained a promising new prospective card girl. I was there to download some pictures that had been taken the night before from my inventory, and when I was done, I suggested to Karine that we have a match with rounds to help Taylor (Menness, very nice person and a sharp one, to boot) become accustomed to how matches work on tourney night. My reasons were threefold: (1) If I learned anything from my brief acting career (don't bother IMDBing me, ya won't find nothin' even if I used my real name here), it's that rehearsal before opening night... helps. (2) I wanted to do some sparring before heading off to work (selfish, yes, but these things will creep into one's reasoning processes). (3) Karine is always a fun opponent, and I had missed her presence in the ring of late.

Anyway, Karine thought it was a good idea, and we boxed four rounds. At the beginning of the match, Karine told me: "Go easy on me today. I'm pretty tired."

Five seconds later I was flying out of the ring on Air Koba. When will I learn?

You guys really don't know what you're missing, not seeing her in action in the ring.