I HAVE AN AXE TO GRIND (or FALLIN HURTS)
not the most original of titles, but the quote taken from WC3's Tauren Chieftain fits pretty nicely with the events that took place yesterday. It was history in the makin, of course. The great rivalry that is between our CalBears and the Stanfurd Cardinals continued strong with a 105th Big Game. With our team's success this yr (plus how much Stanfurd's team ate it overall), i was pretty certain of the victory at hand. Since i am a bit of a tightwad, i decided not to go to the game personally. Instead, i watched the game w/ my good wushu buddy Jon and his buddies. Come game time, i truly watched history unfold...
The Big Game this time around was exciting and all, and didnt require the use of The Play. If u dont kno what The Play is, it dates back to 1982's Big Game. Stanfurd came back and had a 1 pt lead w/ 4 seconds left in the last quarter. With an insurmountable task on their shoulders, the Golden Bears knew that they had to pull off something no less than a miracle. Whatever it was, they couldnt let the play die so easily... and after some deliberation, they prepared for destiny. Stanfurd kicked it off, a pretty low, onside kick. Cal receives it and takes it up the field... too many defenders... and there goes one lateral. Another CalBear takes off with it, and hes surrounded. Jus as hes about to lower his knee (note: his knee DOES NOT touch the ground b4 he hands it off), another lateral. He takes off. More Stanfurd defenders. Another lateral... and here comes the whole Stanfurd band on the field!! No matter, Cal runs it in, and BAM, right into a Stanfurd trombone player. Cal has pulled off the extraordinary, almost divinely inspired. To this day, Stanfurd does not acknowledge the win, and has tried numerously to discount the Play and calling attention to trivialities. Let it go, Stanfurd. Whats done is done, for all to witness...
Well, anyway, the game was real kick ass. Stanfurd scored pretty early, a little touchdown. But, really, i think that was a throw-away... jus to give Stanfurd a glimmer of hope... hehehe. Alas, Cal had the ball again... and thats when Stanfurd's fate was sealed. A flurry of offensive strikes, most notably from the scrappy runningback Joe Igber. What he lacks in height he makes up pretty well in explosive speed, mad agility and grit. Every single time i saw him take a hit, he sprang back up w/ ease. Nothin to it. In the end, i think his running yardage surpassed that of Stanfurd's entire yardage. Not surprisingly, he holds the record for most running yardage in a Big Game now. QB Kyle Boller was in top form as well, evading sack after sack, runnin it in when necessary and showin poise under pressure. At the helm of all this was coach Tedford, who would eventually give Cal a winnin record for this yr, a feat which has been long absent in Cal football's recent history. Virtually all of the scoring was done in the 1st half, mostly due to horrible play from the kicker. A missed free point, a blocked field goal, and 2 missed field goals. A real bad day for a certain Cal Bear. But, once the game was down to the final 11 seconds (the point at which the crowd decided to run onto the field), destiny was ours. The Axe has found its home in Berk once again, rightfully again. Fittingly, the Axe was a nice finish to a winning season, and also Kyle Boller's last game as a CalBear. The crowd was immense, a sea of blue and gold, takin down both goal posts with its ebb and tide. The day was finished off w/ a pretty nice semi-formal dinner held by Eileen and her roomies, a sort of pre-Thanksgiving dinner (good thing i didnt opt for my original semi-formal wear: boxers. Hey, its semi formal, so i would wear part of my birthday suit... heheh, bad joke).
Which leads us to today, where i learned (and re-learned) a thing or 2 about wushu. Due to a bit of a cold and overall laziness on my part, i havent gone to wushu in virtually a wk and a half. I had to go this time around, and besides, open workout this afternoon was led in part by Qui Dong Xong (or DX), former Beijing Wushu Team member who was guest teaching on Friday's practice. Even though my overall favorite member is HJD (mostly because he's a nanquan guy, heheh), DX was real awesome too. His tornado kick was the most impressive. His rotation was crazy; he would rotate a couple more times after he would finish the kick... thats crazy. Well, since we had the mat room, he decided to show us some basics for ditang quan. Ditang quan is loosely translated as ground boxing, pretty much lotsa get-ups and black dragons and such. So, we started off on foward and back rolls. Familiar territory for me, but i havent been doin it quite right all this time... its not supposed to hurt that much when u roll. Thankfully, i got to tweak my rolls so it didnt hurt. Next came the falls: the side fall, a front fall combo, and more advanced rolling. Again, i wasnt doin the techniques quite right, and sometimes i would land straight on my ass... owww, its not good to localize all the pressure on one body part... Then, we did this spinnin outside kick into a fall. That was pretty cool, and i could pull it off... to a degree... hehe. Then it was head-flips (which i didnt do, i dont even kno how to do a get-up yet). Then, the suicide fall. A suicide fall is essentially a foward tuck, but instead of landin on ur feet, u land on ur shoulders and feet, slappin ur hands on the ground to absorb the shock. Needless to say, i still need to work on this one. And then there was a fall that was pretty near and dear to me: a tornado fall. Its part of my nanquan compulsory set, but i havent put the tornado fall in, mostly because i cant do a get-up. But, i found out that with a little work, my tornado fall wouldnt be half-bad. All in all, i kno i'll get numerous amounts of soreness and pain coarsing throughout my body... but its worth it.
Then, DX elaborated a bit on the basic jumps, and combos of jumps. A combo jump is pretty much when u string together a couple of basic jumps. Dx emphasized having control of ur movements, using the momentum from the jump u did b4 to lead into the next, using a minumum of steps. This one thing made me re-think my perspective on my wushu trainin. Strength comes in many forms. Sometimes it raw strength, rippling, bulky muscles come to mind. The sort of strength im lookin for is something focused, something that will flow and express itself in the most natural way. Of course, i need the physical prowless. Gotta strengthen up the forearms, shoulders and back, abs (constantly), the stability of my stances. Have to be more agile and supple, doin a bridge with ease and increasing flexibility. Then, there is that strength that only comes w/ constant practice and experience. Pretty much, i cannot be lazy anymore... thus again, i must re-think, re-learn everythin up to this point....
Well, yea, Cal gets the Axe, and im pretty darn sore, will be moreso tommorow. Take care yall. More to come later.
