Sunday, January 31, 2010

The Zone

I'm sorry to have to say this and even sorrier that i didn't mention it when it happened but i was busy and forgot so hear it is Timmy got out of his fencing slump just in time to beet Patrick during there challenge and Tim through some strange twist of fate lost to Austin in there challenge i was expecting the opposite outcome in both bouts but it serves as a good reminder that when fencers are at nearly the same level the underdog can often win if his opponent fails to keep his or her emotions in check it is a sad truth but it is a constant that i have seen time and time again. That is why the most necessary quality for any fencer is the ability to get into and stay in the Zone. which is my term for the state of mind wherein you know without thinking what your opponent is going to do and what you must do to counteract it because in fencing things happen so quickly that you don't have time to think only react and if your mind is being slowed by emotions and irrelevant thoughts then your fencing will be seriously impaired. Think that drunk guy you see on the highway going forty and swerving from one side of the highway to the other impaired and you will have a pretty good idea of how much of a difference being in the Zone makes when fencing.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Blind Ref's Bluff

Alright i just got through fencing a meet and i want to explain an aspect of fencing that not many people (outside of actual fencers) appreciate. Fencing referees are absolutely blind and retarded!!! Let me explain what put me over the edge, today i was fencing against this huge kid, think short sumo wrestler wearing white instead of a diaper. his style of fencing involved being insanely slow and moving in a straight line until he runs into the other fencer. CAN YOU SAY CORE DE CORE EVERYONE!!!! for those of you who do not know running into your opponent is what's called a core de core it earns you a yellow card two yellows equals a red and getting a red card gives you opponent a point. this guy knocked my mask half of twice hit me in the gut with his bell dragged his blade across the side of my neck when it went under the bib and otherwise ran into me on at least 7 or 8 occasions, and when i asked him to stop hitting me in the head he replied that it wasn't his fault i was in his way!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the ref did NOT call any of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To put this in perspective for those of you who do not fence imagine a basketball game were you're favorite player is REPEATEDLY, VIOLENTLY, fouled by the other team and despite the fact that the entire audience can see what is going on the ref fails to call even one foul. if every core de core in that bout had been called than i could have won without even hitting his target area. as it was however i lost 4 to 5 and was ready to kill the ref who also couldn't tell the difference between no blade contact and parry repost which cost me another bout.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

rethinking

looking back i realized that although i wanted this to be mostly about science vs. religion and maybe occasionally science vs. ignorance ha ha =^) this is really turning mostly into a dialogue about what a crazy roller coaster fencing, as a sport, can be which come to think of it is a good thing. Not many people out there appreciate that about fencing. ha I mean i have to put up with some dumb ass freshman during metals who cracks a bunch of gay jokes about fencing, and by gay jokes i don't mean that the jokes themselves are gay, i mean that he keeps making retarded comments relating fencing to gay sex. i mean how stupid is this kid. i am seriosly thinking about dumping a bat of molten aluminum down his pants or is that not drastic enough? sorry if that sounds extreme but it really pisses me of that people are so ignorant about one of the worlds most amazing sports. what the hell is the world coming to where one of the oldest and most fast passed sports in the world is almost completely ignored?! is the fact that people don't get beaten to a pulp like in the UFC or Football or Lacrosse that makes us less interesting?! we work just as hard if not harder than any other sport believe me I know i have been on many of them swimming baseball wrestling i tried them all but this is the only sport that i have ever really loved. so take my word for it. fencing is an amazing sport and if you don't treat the fencers nicely they may tie you up and use you to practice there point control, we are very good at hitting small targets and yes guys that is both a threat and an insult.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Love Hate relationship

the Challenges for Varsity are something that i love and hate i love it because it means that that if you don't make the varsity team at the beginning you still have a chance, and because it assures that when we go up against other schools they are facing only our best, but i hate the fact that it makes me choose between my friends who do I root for and when its all over can i really in good conscience console the loser and congratulate the winner they are always both my teammates deserving equal support but in reality the entire team might be friends of mine (except Kevin) but i still get along better with some than others and i hate playing favorites. I also hate it because if you lose then they entire teams opinion of you will change and not for the better it isn't a drastic change it isn't an insulting change but it is there palpable, noticeable, in the way they all steer clear of the loser for the next few days and how they all avoid talking about the challenge in front of the loser. when everyone knows which of the two is the better fencer from the beginning then no one cares but when the team is uncertain who will win it's make or brake time, and your reputation is on the line.

Varsity Insanity

hey if you want to know what the Hell I'm talking about than read my last post which is directly below this one first then check this one out. Today Patrick challenged Timmy for varsity which is good because Timmy is in a slump it is almost a sure fire win for Patrick, it also leaves Austin out in the cold leaving several questions unanswered. Those questions being when if ever the No Play List will come out and remove the bur that is Kevin from our sides as it is he is the least liked fencer but he is also the least likely to be beaten out of his varsity spot so when he is removed from his position who will replace him, will it happen before the challenge and if it does who will be installed to the varsity squad Patrick, or Austin, and if it is Patrick will coach allow Austin to challenge Timmy? Austin cannot challenge Timmy because Patrick beat him to it and he cannot challenge me because he cannot challenge the same person 2 weeks in a row, furthermore Austin cannot hope to beat Tim or Kevin so unless the no Play list comes out this week Austin has no chance of making varsity. But if Kevin gets the boot after the challenge who will coach give the varsity spot too, Austin, or Timmy? And if coach chooses Timmy over Austin then Austin will have to wait until next week for sure but if that happens who will Austin challenge, Patrick to try and get rid of the guy who robbed him of his shot at Varsity you now law of mutual destruction that way neither of them will get there Letter if he wins? Timmy, because he represents Austin’s best shot at getting in even though it will deprive Timmy of fencing his very last high school meet and the only home meet of the year? Or me, the guy who embarrassed him upon his return from Italy by defeating him too defend my spot on the varsity team and effectively winning my letter? Man I have got to say you cannot right this kind of stuff! High school really is a soap opera, ok minus the part where everyone is sleeping with everyone else but still, how the hell dose a sports team get so dramatic!?

Guys Varsity

Let me tell you about our guys varsity (oh we need to fence 2 meets to get our letter only 4 meets this year also fencers can be challenged for there positions on the varsity team by any other fencer, those bouts go to 15 touches) here is the team Kevin Junior year, fenced the first and second meet but will be cut from the team because of his grades he is the current boys captain we are all happy to see him go. He drinks and smokes at least cigarettes and it is common belief that he does some kind of drugs he is generally referred to as an idiot, is a shitty captain and is terrible at setting a good tone with the rest of the team so I say good bye and good riddance he might be good enough for the junior Olympics but I’d just as soon be rid of him luckily I and the rest of the team soon will be. Tim, junior, likes to crack dirty jokes and is one of my best friends, I can’t place it but sometimes he crosses a moral line with his jokes and it just stops being funny for me somehow. He is either almost as good or as good as Kevin hard to say since Kevin dose better than Tim at meets but Tim often beets Kevin. Timmy, senior one of the more mature fencers on the team he is an OK fencer but I am defiantly a better fencer than he is because I beat him all the time. Anyway he is pretty cool and he is realistic after Kevin gets the boot he will probably be maid captain and he deserves it thing is though I am likely to make captain next year but ah well next year right? =^) then there is Austin Walker right now he is in Italy as a foreign exchange student he is actually a pretty good fencer not really sure which of us would be better right now since he isn’t here to fence but the thing about Austin is that he goes through these periods one week he is the best fencer in the group the next he is losing to me Timmy and Patrick, his slumps can last for weeks. Despite that he will probably replace Kevin for varsity once he gets back. Then there is myself I like to think I am a fairly well rounded fencer although I have not yet beet Tim or Kevin. Right now technically there are only four varsity fencers at any one time but the team is subject to change anyone who wants a varsity spot can challenge a varsity fencer for their spot which although it hasn’t happened yet I believe that Patrick, junior, one of my best friends, can beat Timmy out of his varsity spot no sweat because as far as I am concerned the only difference between Patrick and myself as a fencer is temperament he can at times get either angry or discouraged and it screws up his fencing where as I can almost always stay in the zone. despite this Patrick is almost guaranteed to beet Timmy. Right now we have had two meets Kevin Timmy Tim and myself have all earned or re earned our letters Austin who has returned from Italy failed to aust me from the varsity team when i beet him. Now Austin and Patrick will need to fence both of the remaining 2 meets in order to get there letters the competition is going to be fierce and I will explain it better in my next post

Monday, January 25, 2010

Fencing

Hey devoted nonexistent readers I only started this blog yesterday but I feel that it is kind of false advertising if I don't include something about fencing from the beginning so... I currently fence varsity for my high school and I am pretty good not the best but right now I stand about the third best on the team =^D anyway i thought something interesting and funny would be a good way to get they attention of anyone who fences so I'm going to tell you about my friend Patrick and his one in a million blade break =^) from last year, some other time i will tell you about the one from this year, he and my couch were foil fencing. so they both extend and lunge they clash bells, they both recover than, one Mississippi, Pat's blade falls off from right above the bell guard and hits the floor, two Mississippi, the bell guard falls off, three Mississippi, the screw and pommel fall out the end of his french grip leaving patrick holding a nothing but the french grip, four Mississippi everyone who is watching about five or six people myself includded all burst out laughing and can not stop for almost a minuete talking about it still brings out chuckles all around =^] haha.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Welcome to my blog

Hi world wide web my name is Matt I and this is my blog. Pretty obvious I know but still. anyway I made this blog to discuss my ideas on science vs. religion and about my experiences in fencing a.k.a. the greatest sport in the world. In case the science vs. religion part is what got you here I'm going to come right out and give you my stance on the subject which is that anyone who argues about which one is correct is not being very open minded. See although religion and logic do not fit together by any stretch of they imagination, religion and science fit together like a hand in a glove. All you need to do is take five seconds and a little knowledge of both to see this. If the fencing is what got your attention then there are two possibilities one you are interested in the sport but know nothing about it and two that you are a fencer and just looking up what people have to say about the worlds greatest sport. No matter which of these applies to you personally I hope you enjoy or at least respect what I have to say if not I really don't care and you can just leave. Thank you for reading.