B
Bogtrotter07
Guest
No, I will say, when I was a kid I used to wrestle, and my coach suggested I go to the Fieldhouse and watch the Soviet, and US team practice. Maybe I could learn something.
So, here I am a 15 year-old in amazement watching the best athletes in the world at my sport up close. I am absolutely in awe of the Soviet team and I say something to the guy seated to my right. A guy seated a row back, to the right says, "You think they are good, you should see a real team!" He introduced himself to me as Dan Gable, team coach, and invited me to practice every day until the event.
Well I got a chance to wrestle a whole bunch of Olympic Medalists. In particular were the Peterson brothers, Ben and John (G, S each). Now, once I was practicing with Ben. Ben was a monster, (compared to me. ) Once when we were working on the Russian Ride, I performed a great stepthrough and really looked good. If you saw a tape of that, you would have said, "WOW." Maybe even, "That was as good as a 70 yd run against the first team, in football." See?
Unfortunately, watching the next segment of the tape, you would have seen Ben come across my body, reacting like I was some kind of worthy competention and toss me like a rag doll most of the way across the mat. As I lay there in a crumpled pile, as my senses started to return, I heard him saying, "Is he dead? Did I kill him?"
Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while. It is what happens before and after that determines whether is luck, or the way things are going to be.
So, here I am a 15 year-old in amazement watching the best athletes in the world at my sport up close. I am absolutely in awe of the Soviet team and I say something to the guy seated to my right. A guy seated a row back, to the right says, "You think they are good, you should see a real team!" He introduced himself to me as Dan Gable, team coach, and invited me to practice every day until the event.
Well I got a chance to wrestle a whole bunch of Olympic Medalists. In particular were the Peterson brothers, Ben and John (G, S each). Now, once I was practicing with Ben. Ben was a monster, (compared to me. ) Once when we were working on the Russian Ride, I performed a great stepthrough and really looked good. If you saw a tape of that, you would have said, "WOW." Maybe even, "That was as good as a 70 yd run against the first team, in football." See?
Unfortunately, watching the next segment of the tape, you would have seen Ben come across my body, reacting like I was some kind of worthy competention and toss me like a rag doll most of the way across the mat. As I lay there in a crumpled pile, as my senses started to return, I heard him saying, "Is he dead? Did I kill him?"
Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while. It is what happens before and after that determines whether is luck, or the way things are going to be.
Last edited: