"I Coulda Been a Contender ..."

... as immortalised by Brando in that classic movie On The Waterfront. But that is off tangent to my post and I just thought of putting it in for the sake of irrelevancy. Lol!

Ok anyways, I'm not into boxing but for this reality show The Contender I make an exception. I've been following the episodes rather faithfully and I'm a sucker for cheesy melodrama, really. When I first saw that Stallone has a hand in this, I thought, uh, wtf, right. His only credibility boxing link was the Rocky movies, so I thought this perpetual dopey-faced poseur man had no business whatsoever to be involved in real fights. Anyway I digress.

This show consists of a cast of virtual unknowns in need of that big break and each time I see Peter Manfredo's little girl and his wife encourage, motivate, offer solace and comfort before and after his fights, win or lose - it never fails to give me a warm wonderful feeling you know. It's like it doesn't matter if the opponent has beaten the crap out of you at least you have these angels. Yes... too bad Peter didn't win the million dollar, but he's already a winner. Cliche... but it's true. Actually all the contenders came into the show with family and friends storyline tagged to their quests, but somehow Peter's story stuck in me more than the rest. I don't know, it could be the result of clever editing, or it could be just that his story is more humane and engaging for me on a personal level.