When Julius asked me to write a little artcile for the newsletter, I had no idea what to write about. After some thought, the answer became obvious. Many of you know me as Rodeo, Coach Rodeo, or as Julius likes to call me, Rodeo Brian. What you may not know is WHY I was given that nickname.
Luckily, neck cranks are legal in Man vs. Cow matches
In a previous life, I used to ride bulls, in part for fun and in part for many. I think you might find it interesting if I shared my thoughts about how the two are similar. While I am not suggesting to anyone that if you can or are willing to do Jiu Jitsu, you should run out and jump on the first bull you see, but I hope to give you alittle insight into how riding bulls has helped me in Jiu Jitsu at Crazy 88. While I think the list is long, I will just talk about a couple of the big things I think the two sports share.
I think the most obvious similarity between the two sports is that both are individual sports. They are unique in that, unlike football and other team sports, it is just you and your opponent. This is hard for some people to take; there is a certain level of anxiety that one needs to overcome in order to put himself in that position.
Some athletes like the “crutch” of having someone to blame for their failures. We see this time and time again in professional sports, where one athlete calls out a teammate in the news and throws him under the bus for a loss. In bullriding, there is no one to blame for getting bucked off and not making the whistle; the same is true about Jiu Jitsu If you are not prepared, you have no one to blame for yourself.
This man did not approve of blaming teammates for losses
*** more tomorrow ***
PS – Make sure to watch Team Lloyd Irvin’s Phil Davis make his UFC debut tonight! Phil trains out of Brandon Vera’s school in California and enters the Octagon with an impeccable wrestling pedigree!
