To all the guest bloggers who’ve been instrumental in keeping this site alive. You’ve all come a really long way (in my decidedly not humble opinion), and I’m proud to have you representing a site that carries my name.
— Or, at least I would be, were my name, you know, protein wisdom. Still, you get the idea.
Thanks also to Dan for sending me the complete novels of Flann O’Brien. This collection looks to be right up my alley — and I’m hoping I can add Mr O’Brien to the list of Irish authors I’ve gone crazy for, but that not many other people are familiar with. Another whom I recommend heartily is JP Donleavy. And of course, Joyce Cary. And then there’s the couple of young ladies I met in Galway who wrote some wonderful stuff in creme de menthe on my chest and then ate it off with some seafood chowder and brown bread — but they’re in a different category entirely.
So forget I mentioned that.
If you’re wondering where I’ve been and what I’ve been doing, well, first off, I’ve been helping a friend of mine who’s been the victim of the kind of internet smear attack once visited upon me. His business has been hurt by it, and, frankly, he’s become despondent.
Now, I’m not sure that spending a lot of time with me is helping him much, but fuck it: it’s the thought that counts.
And along those same lines, I’ve been throwing myself into the early stages of my study of catch wrestling (the real catch wrestling, not the Japanese-inspired pro wrestling version). Now, I realize many of you here have no interest in this stuff — and would much rather me speak to oatmeal or apples or Kleagle hoods every day. But that’ll soon be coming, I promise. First, though, I need to help my friend. And I sincerely thank you all for sticking around while I have to do what I have to do.
Incidentally, if any of you are interested in seeing what it is I’m studying, I’ve set up a youtube channel here. Because the smear artists will soon be out in force (I met one last night on the net, in fact, who responded to a disagreement with me by giving one of the videos a shit rating, just because he could), I ask that if any of you watch the videos and like what you see, that you post a comment, or even a piece of constructive criticism, as well as a rating. The guy I’m working with is, without a doubt, the toughest sonofabitch I’ve ever met in my life. But at 44, he’s not the kind of guy who goes trolling through forums to protect his name.
Having been through what he’s going through myself, I’ve naturally taken an interest in what he’s had to endure. And as his friend, I’ve become extraordinarily protective.
Which is unbelievably ironic, given that this guy could break my neck or tear my shoulder and arm clean off my body in 15 seconds, as I learned when I visited him in Chicago and spent time at his gym. And I’m not a weak guy by any stretch.
But beyond all that drama, catch wrestling is, as I’ve noted here before, a moribund art — and even those who do claim to be practicing it are, for the most part, practicing a watered-down version of the art, the stuff that eventually became pro wrestling in its early days, where matches were worked.
There’s a fascinating history to all this — and I won’t go into that here (I might, however, try to write something up about it one day) — but for now, I’ll just say that the path I’m taking follows in the footsteps of early Lou Thesz, George Tragos, Ad Sandel, Strangler Lewis, Farmer Burns, Stanley Radwan, and grapplers of that ilk.
So if you have the time or the interest, check out the video clips. And if you like what you see, sign up for a youtube subsubscription to the channel, so you’ll know when new clips are uploaded.
Thanks again to everyone who continues to visit the site. And just think: when all this is done, you’ll be privy to a host of new protein wisdom series, including “My brief conversations with the badly dented steel Thai cup that saved my balls”.
Which, who can’t wait for that!
oh well.
i just miss u.
Thanks for the update, Jeff. I’ll be waiting for YouTube clips to come up.
I’m guessing the Catch Wrestling guys have some striking disciplines that they use, as well?
I’m still doing Taekwondo; still a novice, but I only have a couple of nights a week that I can go. It’s different enough from my old schools that they’re telling novice-level people that the basic forms aren’t actually combat-useful, but are more for conditioning, balance and muscle-memory.
I can’t wait Jeff. And best wishes in this work you need to do for now. Just, can’t you let the ‘dillo sub for you once in a while? He’s pretty good at cheering folks up as I recall…
Helping a firend whose business was hurt by an internet smear?
Yeah, I can identify with that.
;-)
Good to see you!
Thanks for the video. I need to practice controlling my opponent’s hips. Even though Hillary’s handlers remain silent to my every caged grapple match proposal, the bitch is still out there, which is enough to keep my motivation high.
The Third Policeman is fucking great; I’m surprised you didn’t know it, since it is, indeed, up your alley (and so are the others, but that’s my favorite).
If At War and Further Cuttings… aren’t in that collection (they’re not novels), get those too. Hard to find lately, but worth the hunt.
Dan’s a nice guy.
Best to your e-tormented pal. Everyone else — stay nobody. It’s all bastards out there.
The Dan and the Karl and the Darleen a lot are making this like the best month this blog has had in at least a year according to the stat thinger. It’s like they’ve planted the C4 and the Jeff just has to come back and press the button and a lot of people will take notice. That will be very exciting I think.
(I met one last night on the net, in fact, who responded to a disagreement with me by giving one of the videos a shit rating, just because he could)
There’s petty…and then there’s petty.
Thanks for letting me play with your toy! It’s awesome!
If there’s anything any of us can do for your buddy, let us know.
Slart. Catch has a standup component — mostly western boxing and thai kicks, with the on-your-feet defenses of a wrestler. It’s a complete system.
One of my favorite moves is in a short clip on the double wrist lock: what Tony does is, from the knees, snaps the guy’s head down so that he posts his arms to brace himself. Knowing where an opponent will end up — with his arm braced — allows him to instantly slap on that wrist lock and end the fight. It takes 5 seconds, tops, and he can break the guy’s elbow and tear his rotator cuff.
This really is a discipline dedicated to knowing body mechanics, and knowing exactly how what you do with something so small as a knuckle to the floating rib will turn a guy, so you can be waiting there for him.
It isn’t all about submissions, though. Today, everybody’s after the quick fix. If you have a very strong wrestling base — and an advanced working knowledge of body mechanics — the submissions will follow. In a wristlock CD Tony does (I listened to it on the plane back from Chicago), he talks about beginning to recognize, just as you’re walking around every day, how people’s arms move, and at what points they are in the perfect frame for applying a hook. If you’ve ever seen “Psych,” imagine the conceit where Shawn will be looking at something and the evidence he picks up, obscure to every one else, is highlighted for the viewer as an approximation of what he’s supposedly seeing.
That’s how I’ve begun to look at arms.
Too bad catch doesn’t have, like, a breast hold, come to think of it. My wife wouldn’t be able to say a word. BECAUSE OF THE TRAINING!
Jeff – the updates on the catch wrestling stuff is most appreciated by myself.
I didn’t know Cecchine was based out of Chicago. I should watch for seminars.
Are you in Chicago, Percy?
I can put you in touch with him. He has a private gym that’s not advertised out by O’Hare. And it’s awesome. Seriously. I could live there if I had too.
I think you have just discovered the niche where you can make your mark on catch wresting.
I have to go see the youtube, because I can just not believe you do this stuff.
Ladies have their own holds, and they aren’t very fair. I’m prepared to rip parts off in a pinch.
And oatmeal in a dented thai cup – now that would be some conversating.
I cannot even imagine trying that stuff. I am still getting my asssssssssssss kicked in Krav class, just for kicks and giggles. Fighting back only makes it worse right now. Surely it will get better. Right now, I am just glad that the light at the end of the tunnel is getting closer. Dance, ‘dillo, dance!
Dan, Karl, Darleen, TSI, CraigC, and everyone else – Y’all are the shiznit.
So that’s where you’ve been . . . .
While Jeff takes on experts in catch-wrestling, all we get is nishi beating herself up in search-fu.
Flann Obrien ROCKS… in an acid trippy kind of way. Hopefully your newly gifted collection includes both of my favorites: At Swim-Two-Birds and The Poor Mouth (A Sad Story of a Hard Life)
Is China running for Olympics?
Check here!!! :)
Jeff, I just want you to know that I really have an appreciation for this kind of detail. If it matters, anyway. I was just talking with a bunch of people yesterday, and I mentioned that I enjoy watching MMA fights, and one old guy kind of guffawed and said something to the effect that it was just guys beating the everloving crap out of each other.
So wrong, it’d have taken an hour or more to set right, and used up a lot of folks’ patience. Some of MMA is just guys whaling away at each other, but there’s some of that setting up for the next move stuff that I like, a lot. Boxing, which the fellow in question did enjoy, has a great deal of both in it, but is limited. And of course the more you find out about any sport or discipline, the more you discover that there’s lots more to it than you imagined.
I’ve never understood people who can think while they fight. For me, blind rage has always been the key to a short, ultra-violent conflag. Of course, if the gal has had any training it’s usually me doing all the bleeding and begging.
Sarah, now that you mention it — I don’t believe Jeff’s doing this stuff either. I think he needs to post a vid of HIMSELF doing it. Without his shirt.
So the preacher is all excited and pounding his podium, “America’s tap outs are coming home to roost! Wahoo McDaniel has never known what it’s like to be called a Nigger! Goddamn catch-wrestling! Goddamn catch-wrestling!!!” And sure, I’m thinking my mixed martial arts master isn’t right to stir such venom toward grapplers when jujitsu is just as bad in the omni-victimized theoretical world of the past-fu historic. But my MMA master baptized my kids, presided over my wedding, led me to Bruce Lee, even talked my wife into unlocking the front door after she threw me to the curb. Six hours banging on my goddamn door wearing a bathrobe and tigger house slippers while every 911 dial-happy whitey in the neighborhood was staring out their window at me. Goddamn right I bit my tongue. I’ll disown his t’ai chi but I won’t disown the man. I could no more disown him than my own grandmother who grew scared every time she walked in front of a kick-boxer after dark. Get between my master and me and I’ll show you typical grappling fans the mat, by God!
Jeff
I was one of those that looked at your martial arts posts with less interest than your others, I boxed when I was younger but I’m pretty much a hand cannon type a guy now.
But those videos are bad ass.
Glad to see you post again, also glad you’re having fun. You’re right the henchmen are doing great.
thor: ROTFLMAO!!!! (Especially the tigger slippers, heh!)
Jeff: Glad to hear you are alive. I look forward to your return.
Re: The “badly dented steel Thai cup”
Catching bullets with your crotch again, Jeff? Tsk tsk – you should leave stunts like that to the professionals on “Reno 911″…
Hey. Doan mentionit. Sokay.
Guy gettin hit in the nuts is one of the basics of comedy. Aristotle wrote about it.
Jeff, great to hear from you. Nice. Adding the physical to your obvious intellectual. Excellent job. I hope there’s still room for single malt in your life. Maybe a post about drinking a 16 year old Lagavulin while conversing with your dented steel cup? Oh and the team is doing pretty well in your absence (pretty damn well), but we, at least I bought the tickets to see the master…Hurry back! I’m selfish.
Flann O’Brien. Damn. It’s been years. I remember reading “The Best of Miles” when I was a kid. Got a kick out of his “Keats and Chapman” stories (look for the vile pun ending with “Wir fahren gegen N-Gland”).
“The Poor Mouth” is hysterical, especially if you took Irish in secondary school and got to read “Peig” (the autobiography of Peg Sayers, a woman who lived a hard life on the Blasket Islands, off the Kerry coast).
Finally, there’s “The Third Policeman”, which is as horrific as it is funny.
I found “At Swim-Two-Birds” a little hard to finish, but the start – student life in Dublin, with interruptions from Finn McCool – is brilliant.
You lucky sod.
You are welcome Jeff. I saw an Aikido practitioner get his arm broken because he couidn’t move into the opponent’s throw fast enough.
Catch is primarily wrestling. I found one boxing square off in the videos, and no kicks. These guys are incredibly strong.
There is no one system! I studied Kenpo. Wing Chun Kung Fu is excellent. The mixture of hard and “soft” styles Korean Kuk Sul Won is amazing and includes grappling, though not to the extent of Small Circle Jujitsu, Escrima has some excellent infighting techniques.
Remember most of these martial arts are tailored to tournament fighting and have a variety of rules to prevent a gladiatorial bloodbath and a manslaughter charge. I knew a 2’nd degree belt in Kuk Sul Won who broke his opponent’s jaw in the first clash and was disqualified from the win.
Tae Kwon Do has become highly stylised and is mostly a tournament style, and great exercise. Krav is the quickest down and dirty way to learn fighting.
I think Jeff needs to post a video of himself cockslapping some MMA gorilla.
By the way, here’s the video I mentioned upthread that I really like. From the knees, the quick snap down, followed by attacking the arm you know your opponent will post.
Now. When Cecchine ends up on his back with the double wrist lock, imagine what would happen were he then to quickly and aggressively torque his upper body to the left, keeping the guy’s elbow on his chest so that it follows him to the floor.
That’s a hook. What he shows is a submission.
The difference being that a submission leaves the arm attached.
That wrestling “channel” is actually really gay. If you want to roll around and such more power to you, but really dude bag the catch wrestling project. Strangle that shit in its crib. Other than that I’m looking forward to seeing you and the family when I’m in town next.
Good to see you posting. Dan, Karl, Darleen & anyone I missed have been doing a fine job subbing for you, in my opinion.
And I have been reading, with interest, your occasional posts on catch wrestling. I have a strong wrestling background and it got my attention right away. Saw some of the videos and they are awesome. Post on that stuff anytime, please.
And for an added bonus, I get to check out some authors I had never heard of. Bonus!
I miss it. Now I try to tech-read all my fight scenes–written when I was taking jujitsu–and I’m, like “was I just makin’ all that shit up?” It’s like forgetting a language you’ve learned.
I want back in, but my best contacts here in L.A. are T’ai Chi. (And, no–I don’t think I’m good enough to start Brazilian jujitsu, tempting as that might be.)
FWIW, I think MMA are the way to go.
But, Jeff. Detachment is part of the martial arts. Once a week: a bit of meditation, a nonsensical snippet of dialogue with an inanimate object . . . you should yin your yang more often.
Furthermore, you should be emailing some of your readers pictures of you-know-who (young person, lives with you, has some of your genetic material in him). Send some to Dar, and tell her she can forward ’em to me.
And all my best to the wife. You’d be surprised, BTW, at some of the lame excuses heard around my house for copping a feel. (“But, Honey–I’m saving you money on MAMMOGRAMS!” Pathetic.)
Looking forward to seeing you too, Froggy. Maybe catch a Rockies game. Then after, you can buy me a couple beers so that I don’t get angry and snap your elbow like a little SEAL flipper ;-)
LMA —
Got some new ones of the youngin’ but they are on the wife’s computer. I think I might have one here. I’ll send that to you and you can send it along to Darleen.
But burn it after that.
Not to worry, boss. I’ll ooo and ahh and generally melt over the pic
then it disappears forever from the harddrive
I gotta say I’m very impressed with all the martial arts/wresting/catching stuff. All I have is a little boxing my dad taught me, some street self-defense from cops I work with and a really mean swing with a 9 iron.
Nothing wrong with a 9 iron, Darleen. If I was holding one, that’d be my first line of attack.
Froggy. I think this might be more your speed. You’d probably like some of the fishhooking too.
Being on second-rate dialup in a third world country, I only have time to visit one blog. This is it. And I look forward to your return, Jeff.
I’m too old to learn new tricks (I worked door at an Irish bar waaay back, and I know a few quasi-dirty moves from rubgy). If it comes to hand to hand – I’ll leave that to you, Jeff. I’ll stick to my M-4, M-9 or M-240B. And ballistic armor.
Good to see you back.