What a difference a day (or two) makes

I got the phone call from the office around 6:30 p.m. Monday evening.

"Sean, they just found Chris Benoit and his family dead," my assistant sports editor told me as I prepared to cover a Hudson Valley Renegades baseball game from the press box of Fishkill's Dutchess Stadium. "Do you think you can blog about it? I know you met him a couple years ago."

Wow! Dead? I thought. He was the nicest guy when I met him.

"Sure," I replied. "No problem."

I then went on to talk about what a great guy Benoit was backstage at that World Wrestling Entertainment show in Poughkeepsie four years ago. Because he really was.

Like it or not, professional wrestling has become pop culture — grapplers like John Cena and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin have starred in Federation-produced motion pictures — and its popularity is undeniable, particularly among the 18-to-34 demographic advertisers salivate over. This was major news, as the reports on the likes of CNN, Fox News and "Good Morning America," among others, bore out.

As such, I tried to pen a fitting tribute.

At the same time I wrote Monday night, WWE chairman Vince McMahon broke character and storyline on the WWE's flagship TV broadcast, "Monday Night Raw," telling fans worldwide of Benoit's passing, speaking from an empty arena in Corpus Christi, Texas.

This was before we knew of the tragic circumstances surrounding the deaths of Benoit, his wife and young son. A murder-suicide? How could it be? How could the guy who was so cordial and friendly to me — not to mention countless fans across the globe — do such a thing?

Whatever the reason, whatever the circumstances, investigators say he's done it and three lives have been snuffed out.

Should the WWE have all but eliminated mention of Benoit on its TV programming? Probably. Can we learn from the tragedy in Atlanta? Hopefully.

If authorities' theories are accurate — and it's almost certain they are — Benoit performed a horrific act, taking three lives.

Still fans, like those seen above visiting a memorial at Benoit's Atlanta-area home, are left to wonder Which Chris Benoit did we know?

Four years after that brief encounter in Poughkeepsie, I'm left asking the same question.

(For more on the Benoit story, click on Phil Strum's "Under The Ring" blog.)