Crown Tourney #90

I hate myself.

I was planning to start this blog by saying "I hate myself," because in the fight that knocked me out of Crown yesterday's did something stupid and paid the price by losing. But that was yesterday. Today I hate myself because I just left my bag on the train. It was my best Eagle Creek bag, and it had my regalia in it, along with my only pair of 501s. It gets worse. I put it on an overhead rack in Seacaucus to go one stop to NYC. I was on the phone when I got off the train. I walked a block to the subway. I was about to get on the F train when I realized that I didn't have my suitcase. I hurried back to Penn Station but I wasn't sure what track it was on. The track I though it was turned out to have an Amtrak train on it, but the track next toy hat one had a train going to Trenton that look right. I rushed over to that track. The train was crowded no it was about to pull out. I pushed my way on and looked around. The door started to close. I didn't see my bag. I wasn't even sure if this was the right train, so I got off. The doors closed. As the train pulled out I saw my bag through the window. It was like a scene from some pathetic comedy, like a sad-sack (literally) Woody Allen or Harold Lloyd movie, and there I was, running down the track, watching my bag roll out of my life forever. I wanted to scream and hit things. I am angry and depressed and angry. If I'd just stayed on it and gone back to Seacaucus I would have gotten my bag back. The station agent said there was no way to contact the train. I filled out a report, but I don't hold out hope. My coronet was in that bag. 

So I guess I will have to win another. 

Crown #90 was, as I have indicated, frustrating. We fought in a mud puddle, in the freezing rain, with some wicked injuries and some serious screw ups (William McCrimmon suffered a detached biceps, Duke Randal was dropped from the list by mistake after only one loss and by the time it was discovered the response was "its to late to do anything about it now" which really infuriates me)--all to see the four guys most people expected get into semi finals, the two dukes most people expected get into finals, and the duke most people expected to win win. My day was ok but, as I said, I made some mental errors and they cost me.  This photo kind of sums up my day, even though it was taken at the beginning (I fixed that shoulder on Thursday--Ha!) .

WORKOUTS

My plan had been to take it easy the week before crown, but in fact I had a great week. I rode my bike to Coney Island and back, I went to yoga, and I ran a 5k fun run at school (several students complained that they couldn't keep pace with me). I rehabbed my shoulder and did push ups every day. 

FIGHTING

The important fights were in the rounds I lost.

The format was double elimination, best two out if three each round. It's not as format I do well in, but my endurance and defense are both good right now. I beat Duke Randal for the first time (a long time quest) and went to sixth round. I suffered my first loss to Breeder and got knocked out (again) by Culann Mac Cianain--two great fighters and contenders. That's a pretty good line and, for the most part, I'm happy with my fights, except for how I suffered my two defeats. 

Against both Breeder and Culann, I lost two zip. The first fight in both those rounds I fought well (against Breeder extremely well), but in both I had my leg taken and was then killed. They were good long fights in which I simply got beaten. The second fight is each of these rounds, that is where I was frustrated. Perhaps it's because I was mentally tired. I think it's just because I screwed up. 

Against Bredder in both our fights I had been fighting him with a boxer style. It worked well, and I almost got him with a thrust that I threw like a right hook. In boxing, a right hook (upper hook?) is a good attack against a south paw. Witness this video that's been floating around the interwebs:



Breeder said that he finds the boxing style confusing, and it seems to work pretty well against him, even if I did lose. In our second fight I ducked behind my shield to do the circling leg attack I've been learning from Gui. I noticed that he opened up his right leg when I did that, but to the inside of his shield--I could see the target past the bottom of my shield: only I focused on it. I got target lock and instead of moving out and looking for it later I just targeted the spot as though I was waiting for the opening to be perfect. It was just a fraction of a second, but it was all Breeder needed, and he threw a big dropping wrap that killed me. 

In my second fight against CulannI decided to change things up. My A frame defense had been really good up to that point, but Culann'sis better, and with that big kite shield covering his left side there are zero openings. In our first fight I almost got him with an inside dropping shot, but that shot works even better from a high open form, so in our second fight I fought my old fight, a Western heater style. It was working too, but I was fighting on automatic--that is my style, and the offense was just flowing. I stopped using molinees a few years ago becuase they don't work well against big shield fighters and they expose me too much. I've pulled a couple out recently, but they don't set up well from an A frame, so I use them sometimes as second or third shots ina  combination. I often use a set up where I throw two off side molinee leg shots then change the third into an on side head shot. I used it in the second round, although it did not work. I did not plan to use it against Culann, who is a trigger fighter, but in the flow of things, on auto pilot, I did. I through that low molinee leg shot and he threw a snap to my face. It was light and tippy, but right in the grill at about cheek level. I said "I hate myself," and bowed. (It was way too muddy to fall dead). Lucan saw it from clear across the field, rushed over and said "you know better than that!" I just hung my head in shame. "it's not like you were fighting Beck!"he said. We both laughed--he recognized that Duke Stephen of Beckenham was who I learned a lot of that technique from--or rather with, since we came up together and authorized on the same day. Of course, Beck is a Wulfsagan Von Ostensee student, so he's an even better trigger fighter than Culann. He'd have fired right through that weak ass shit as well. 

Argh! 

The fights I won were less informative if more fun. I beat Randal both times with a hook-thrust. In between that we legged each other and he killed me with a wicked backhand.

I fought Griffyn and I controlled the fight well. I don't know how I won those fights, but they were energetic and a lot of fun.

My second round opponent was really really tough. He jumped into my shorts and killed me with a face thrust our first fight. Then I bore down and tightened my defense up. I killed him with  awrap to the back in our second fight, then took his leg, stepped off line, and hit him in the head in our third. I was trying to use the technique below, but I blew it. However, he dropped his shield after the pass and I hit him. I could tell he was frustrated, and after the conversation I'd had with Tycho a couple of weeks ago, I was worried that I had stepped too deep on him. He and the marshals insisted that that was not so. I offered to keep fighting and he declined. Afterward he came up to me and explained that he had dropped his guard because I had been throwing on technique, stepping out, resetting,a nd coming in again, and that that time he had expected me to do the same thing so he ahd started to re-set while I was still in range. He was frustrated at himself. He gave me a very nice arm ring as a gift for having taught him a lesson--protect yourself at all times.

My first round fight was against Haakon Ragnarson. I controlled that fight well. I forget how I won the first bout, but thankfully Tally got out second fight on video. This is nice because I used two clear techniques that I talk about a lot. First, I use a leg shot off a faked face thrust. Then I use the mis-direction trick, where I flash the thrusting tip and get him to look at that while I pass forward and wrap to the back of his head. Check it out.



The video was yet another from Tally. He's got a lot of them up on his YouTube channel. Check them out.

It is 82 days until Birka. I don't know when I will next be in armor. I may take some time off for hunting season.