In a moment of notable candor — in the aftermath of his son’s notorious no-contest plea for reckless driving — Terry Bollea (aka Hulk Hogan) let it be known that teenager Nick was nicer than the way he portrayed himself on the reality TV show, “Hogan Knows Best.” In fact, Bollea revealed — in contrast to what he had said previously — much of what passed for the inane dynamics of “reality” were, in actuality, scripted.
Well, maybe some script writers — or spin doctors — should be on retainer.
Left to their own devices – dumb and dumber words and actions – the Bolleas are their own worst enemy when freelancing off stage. Most recently on a series of taped telephone conversations.
Everyone knows that jailhouse calls are recorded; it’s one of the indignities of not being free. And the Bollea family calls were, indeed, recorded – by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. And most everyone realizes that such communication qualifies as a public record. And, given what qualifies as “news” these days, that they probably qualify as fodder for a juicy, public-records request.
And, of course, those tapes have aired – like ripe socks. From Nick complaining about his small, windowless cell to carping about being alone. “It’s so much worse than you could ever imagine,” he lamented. “This is like a state prison.”
Oh.
But it got worse than the whiney trivialization of a tragedy. The 17-year-old crassly asked his father to look into a reality TV gig centered on him and his slammer experience, one where he could “make the most money.”
In a subsequent conversation, Linda Bollea, Nick’s mother, bad-mouthed the mother of John Graziano, the passenger who was critically injured in that crash last August and remains in a semi-conscious state. “She’s not sad,” asserted Linda Bollea. “She’s just acting angry like she just wants the money.”
Just when we thought this story might be on hiatus – or couldn’t get worse – we get conversational scorched earth.Not that a happy ending looms for anyone, but a real sense of remorse and reflection would have been welcome, humanizing and downright appropriate. But apparently it would have required serious script help. Instead, we got whiney and crass when we should have gotten this:
Dad: “How you doing?”
Nick: “I don’t like it, but it’s not meant to be liked. As punishment, I deserve a lot worse”.
Dad: “You’re right. If he were conscious, you think John wouldn’t trade places?”
Nick: “I know. In a heart beat. That’s all I think about. Life is so unfair. Here I am – and I’ll be out in 8 months. And there he is and