He chose neutral in the second period and took me down giving him the lead
He chose neutral in the second period and took me down, giving him the lead. Knowing that he would most likely take me down if I escaped, I spent the rest of the period trying to reverse him to even the match No luck But there I was, third period My team needed me to win I did not even look to my coach before I chose bottom. I talked to the coach after the match and he said he would have suggested neutral considering I failed to get out in either of the first two periods I knew I would get out in the third. Halfway through the two-minute period, I caught my opponent riding high and turned him to his back. I held him there for a five-count, meaning I would get two points for a reversal and three for near-fall.
He fought off his back, but I turned him again, gaining three more points in the process The final score was 10-4 My team came back and won, 28-24 If I lost, we would have lost, 27-25 I told you this story because that is me. I don’t take kindly to people who don’t go out there and leave it all on the field. I like the little man, even if he’s a tall, overpowering lefty like Wayne Arthurs. I like Zach Thomas and Alge Crumpler, Julio Franco and Pete Rose, Tim Duncan and Tyler Hansbrough, Tiger Woods and Kenny Perry. I like anyone who is willing to leave his or her body of work on the sporting surface, even if he or she comes up short.
I don’t root for the underdog just because there is an underdog; I root for the underdog if the underdog gives me a reason to root for him. Wayne Arthurs might have come out flat sometimes, but he still gave his entire self to the match That’s why I rooted for him I would like to think I gave the same of myself.. The big news in Red Sox nation as of late has been Curt Schilling. The man with an 11-2 lifetime playoff record (including a 6-1 record with a 3.28 ERA for the Red Sox) and 3,116 strikeouts is most likely done with baseball.Naturally, this has begged the question of whether or not No 38 belongs in the Hall of Fame. But, in my mind, it is a question that does not even make sense. A man who wasinstrumental in three World titles, along with the numbers he put up as a pitcher (including an impressive career 127 ERA+) absolutely deserves the honor. But this question did serve one real purpose for me.
It reminded me of another man who will appear on the ballot in less than a year. His name: Edgar Martinez.It is near tragic, I think, that there are people who follow baseball that claim he does not belong in the Hall of Fame for various reasons. Of course, there are two that always pop up in these discussions about Edgar:He did not have the Hall of Fame caliber career statsWhile this is true, to an extent, people tend to forget that Martinez did not have the time to amass his numbers compared to many other Hall of Fame players. Let’s compare Martinez to a fairly recent Hall of Fame inductee, Gary Carter:HR: Carter: 324, Martinez: 309 Hits: Carter: 2092, Martinez: 2247 AVG: Carter: .262, Martinez: .312 OBP: Carter: .335, Martinez: .418 SLG: Carter: .439, Martinez: .515 OPS+: Carter: 115, Martinez: 147 (43rd of all time)Outside of home runs (Martinez being a great gap hitter more so than a great HR hitter) his plate numbers trump that of Carter’s.And back to the issue of age, Carter was receiving regular playing time at age 21, while Martinez did not receive this until age 27.
