Leaps and Bounds

Watching the skating at the Winter Olympics while improving my vocabulary. I've learned that many of the jumps are named after the person who invented them. The lutz is named after Alois Lutz, the walley after Nate Walley, the axel after Axel Paulson, and the salchow after Ulrich Salchow.

And the toe loop, of course, is named after the great British amateur, Sir Basil Toe-Loop.

All About the Rocks

I've been enjoying the Winter Olympics quite a bit. Where else can you hear people intone sentences like, "Right now, you're looking at the future of curling!"

Despite, or perhaps because of its absurdity, I've gradually become fascinated by the sport. It's cool, it's got strategy, and for a sport that's all about control, it still features players heaving great big chunks of granite at targets very, very far away.

It's sort of like lawn bowling on ice. And I happen to be pretty good at lawn sports.

I grew up in Duluth, which had its Curling Club that dated back to the 1890s. I don't think I ever actually saw the sport played in Minnesota, however. (The Duluth Curling Club is where the 2010 US Olympic team trained, not that it seems to have helped them much.)

I think I could totally be an asset, here. I mean, I could bring my own broom and everything.

And when all is said and done, what other Olympic sport could I actually play well? (I just don't see myself taking up speed skating right now.)

But I live in New Mexico, where arcane Scottish winter sports seem to be thin on the ground. I think there's only one skating rink left in Albuquerque, which is a good many miles away. And a quick google search shows no curling leagues available.

I guess I'll have to postpone my dream of heaving big rocks on ice. And in the meantime, I'll just work on that broomstick kata.

Better Than The Olympics

I was never one of those fancy-dancy martial artists. I never did "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee." I was more "punch like a piledriver, kick like an ox." Instead of dancing around, I'd just make some subtle adjustments and then--- hey, it's steamrolling time, baby!

Every so often I'd have to spar with one of those welterweights who danced around and never came close just cuz, y'know, I outweighed him by eighty pounds or something.

So that's one reason why I find this video so satisfying.