Yeah, it’s one of those that start with the words… so it’s been a while. Sorry about that. Life, work and school have been INSANE these past couple months. I completely missed the championships this year, which really got me mad. I had recorded it on my TiVo, but when I got home to see it, something had happened and it “glitched.” Because I’m sure some little kid somewhere is reading this, I won’t use the language I used when I found that out.
I just wanted to drop a line and share some wrestling stories from when i was in High School. I wrestled for a East Union High School in a small town called Manteca in Northern California. I wasn’t the best by a long shot – looking better I never took better than fourth place at a tournament. Anyways, we had gone to a two day tournament at Modesto Junior College. This tournament was one of the biggest ones before league tournament came up in February and there where teams from all over California as well as Nevada, Oregon and even one or two teams from Hawaii if I remember right. This was my junior year, so that would put me at 145 lbs at about 5′ 11.” Pretty tall, which means long legs. I wish I knew how to use them back then; I didn’t start using them till my Senior year when I was 6′ and at 152 lbs. Anyways, most people in that weight class are really short and stocky.
In the tournament, I made it past the first bout. I forget what round I was in, but it was in the second bout. (B they way, these where single elimination bouts.) I was on my belly trying to get hand control and get up when the kid I was wrestling grabbed my arm and put my right arm in a chicken wing. My shoulders don’t have the strongest set of muscels on them, so it put a lot of stress on my right arm. And of course I am trying as hard as I know how to get up and free myself with my even weaker left arm. Well, the guy saw that I probably wasn’t going to be able to free myself with my left arm and put my other arm up in the chicken wing, too. Double chicken wing equals double the pressure. And that’s when I kissed my hopes at escaping – and winning the match – down the toilet. And the kid knew it.
As anyone who knows a chicken wing, it can be turned into a pinning combo by walking around the head. Well, this is exactly what this kid did. Also, if you know the chicken wing, you know that walking around the head can possibly put a lot of pressure on the shoulders, especially if you only have both arms. Well, as this kid walked around my head with my arms pinned behind my back almost helplessly, my shoulders pop out. Notice that is plural – both of them went out. The right one was followed by the left after about a half second. I swear it was so loud everyone in the stands heard it. The ref stopped the match and a friend of mine who was an EMT came out onto the mat. Keep in mind I of course didn’t know which way was up because of the pain and the position I was in when the shoulders popped up and I sure as crap did not want to move, but I was laying on my back with my arms under me. My friend gently got my arms out from under me and popped them both in. I’m still not sure which hurt more.
That was probably about 5 years ago now. I still can’t shoot a shotgun or my shoulder pops out. Needless to say, I was disqualified from the match and from the tournament. I wasn’t able to go the next year because of a bout with pneumonia and the year after that, I had graduated. I still haven’t been able to redeem myself from that…
