Phil Mushnick

Phil Mushnick
Occupation	columnist,
Website	http://www.nypost.com/sports/columnists/mushnick.htm

Phil Mushnick is a sportswriter for the New York Post. His column "Equal Time" concentrates on the sports media and appears three times a week, on Sundays, Mondays and Fridays. He also provides a weekly column on the media in general on Sundays for the entertainment section of the paper. The columns—written in a highly personal, muckraking style—cover numerous subjects that attempt to expose hypocrisy in sports, criticize exploitation of sex and "attitude" in sports programming, advocate on the behalf of ticket-holders, and express ignorance and/or inaccuracies.

Mushnick is a vehement, longtime detractor of World Wrestling Federation. He has criticized the lifestyles portrayed by the company, both in their storylines and the performers' personal lives. In 1997 he implied that WWF chairman Vince McMahon's perpetration of steroid use for his performers led to wrestler Brian Pillman's early demise. McMahon responded (on an episode of WWF Monday Night Raw) that Mushnick was a "self-righteous, egotistical, miserable son of a bitch." Mushnick then criticized the industry as a "death mill," citing several wrestlers who had died before the age of 45. Although the majority of the performers (including Miss Elizabeth and Davey Boy Smith) died after retiring from the WWF, Mushnick attributed their early deaths to their lifestyle while employed by Vince McMahon. Other media outlets have likewise provided statistics showing the high number of wrestlers who have died young from car crashes, suicide, homicide, heart failure and steroid-related health problems. On the October 13, 1997 episode of Monday Night Raw, WWF writer Jim Cornette addressed Phil Mushnick's article referring to Brian Pillman's death by pointing out the crusade against wrestling, citing Mushnick's claim that rather than the WWF or WCW donating money they should stop business altogether, and the hatred he harbors towards wrestling fans and using the newspapers and magazines he writes for to attack those who watch wrestling.

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