Playing Baseball once Again

Once again i am strapping on the spikes to play ball. This time i will be playing with my friends on a Babe Ruth team. our team name is the Wild Screaming Rapta's. our mascot is a huge Raptor painted red we are nothing less than amazing. yesterday was our first game and we beat the team into submission 17-1, i went 1-3 with a walk, stolen base, RBI, and a shot and a half to right center off the wall.

Our team has great chemistry and we all get along and don't mind sitting the bench to let other kids get in the game. we all already have nicknames, mine is lumberjack because i am a powerhouse batting clean-up in the lineup.

One of the major reasons that i joined the team was because now that i am an umpire i wanted to see what it would be like from both sides of the plate. i want to see how other umpires call their strike zone and how they react to certain plays so that i can adapt to what i see and do it in my games. and i really respect the umpires now because some of them just do it for fun and give up their free time to be there.

I think this team will really help me with umpiring and in reverse it will make me a better hitter because i will be seeing balls and strikes all the time.

From Reffing to Umpiring?

Reffing wrestling has been my job for the last few months but now that it has come to an end i found a new job. i am now an umpire for baseball. i really thought there was going to be a major adjustment but it really is easier than my last job.

Here are the pro's and con's for both jobs

Wrestling Referee
Con's
Every call you make is a judgment call and it is hard for all referees to be consistent with their style of calls.
You have to be very mobile and at the same time you have to stay away from the action, so basically you are running the whole time.
Even when you make the right call, you get fans that heckle you.
Pro's
100 dollars a match cannot be beaten by any other sporting official job.
i wrestled in High School, so it was really easy to adapt to the rules.
i know most of the coaches so i really don't get bothered with my calls.

Baseball Umpire
Con's
It gets hot with all the equipment on and you roast out on the field.
I don't Know any coaches so i really hear it on the calls.
You get hit with the ball a lot. Now i feel bad for Major League Umpires.
Pro's
There are specific rules for every part of the game the only judgment is fair foul safe and out.
You also get paid very well and before the games even start.
It is so easy to get into the game and you can have a lot of fun and time flies.
You don't have to be very mobile.

Takedown Autism

Every year Msgr. Farrell sponsors a wrestling tournament in the last week in April for autism. It is a special tournament that helps raise awareness about autism and raises money to help find a cure. This isn't just any tournament, its a take down tournament dedicated to Dillon Braus.

A take down tournament is a modified rules tournament where you only get points for taking the opponent down. there is no mat wrestling.

Dillon is the son of one of the coaches for the Farrell Wrestling Team Jason Braus. Jay as we call him is a hard working man who gives up his time after work to come down to farrell and share in his wrestling experience. he really cares about the guys on the team and the sport. Dillon has autism and we try to help Jay as much as we can when he brings Dillon to practices.

So as a tribute to his son and the sport of wrestling, Jay started the Takedown Autism fund. Every year we sponsor a tournament for Dillon and we try to raise money for the fund. This tournament has become very popular and it gets larger and larger every year. The whole wrestling community comes together for Jay to support his cause and i know that this is worth mentioning in my blog because it is a great thing to support and i want to get this out in the open for all other wrestling fans to know about.

The tournament was very successful this year and even though they had it inside, because usually thay have it outside but because of weather had it inside, there was a really great turnout and i know it made Jay Happy.

Last Season at Yankee Stadium

new stadium above

old stadium above

This is the last year that the yankees will play at yankee stadium. next year they will move to their new stadium across the street... also called yankee stadium. The new stadium will replicate the old stadium from when it was originally built almost 90 years ago. the field will be the same dimensions and everything else will pretty much be the same.

then why are they building a new stadium. well the old one is very old and has gone under renovations, but it is still really old and not up to par. the new stadium will bring a fresh look and it will fix many errors that the old stadium had. for example, the interior where the vendors sell food will be enlarged and there will be more suites and boxes put in for season ticket holders.

the yankees will no doubt have to adjust somewhat to the new stadium because of the change in wind. this could prove to be very hard because it is weird to change the way you are playing. i dont think it will be to hard because the yankees are the best team in baseball and i am sure there bats wont have a hard time finding the bleachers.

New York Yankees

i know this is off topic, however before wrestling my first love was baseball and i am a huge yankees fan, and for the rest of the school semester i will be writing bout baseball and the yankees. i love to play, watch, and live baseball during the season. every year i am very optimistic but i think this year might be the year when the yankees can finally win the world series and bring it back to new york city.

the yankees have the best offense in the mlb. when you go through the lineup there are no sure outs because everyone can hit and most can hit for power. our 4 best players by far are alex rodriguez, derek jeter, melky cabrera, and jason giambi.

Alex Rodriguez is the MVP of the american league. he can hit, field, run, and comes in in the clutch. he is the best player on the team and with a-rod at third base and batting clean up, the yankees will have no trouble scoring runs and making great plays.

Derek Jeter, Mr. November himself is back again in prime condition ready to start off where he left off last year. Jeter is also a triple threat on the field, on the bases, or at the plate. Jeter doesnt hit with as much power as a-rod, but definitely leaves it all on the line every game and plays like its the world series everyday.

Melky Cabrera is one of the new yankees and plays center field. he has a cannon of an arm and runners are scared to challenge him on the bases. he is a decent hitter and is very fast. Jason Giambi has the most power on the team and is able to put the ball over the fence at any time. he bats behind a-rod so he gets great pitches to hit and will also bring the yankees many runs this year.

Overall the yankees are a great team and only have trouble with there last 2 starters so this year will be a great year for baseball fans because the yankees are at full stride and are gunning for a championship.

NCAA Mens Finals

Congrats to the guys who won Nationals this year. the tournament was really tough with a lot of good guys this year many of the top 8 in each division already placed in the tournament or won it last year. The top 8 guys are now All Americans and get an exclusive invitation to tryout for the Men's National/Olympic Team.

The Winners were: 125 Angel Escobedo , 133 Scott Coleman, 141 J Jaggers, 149 Brent Metcalf, 157 Jordan Leen, 165 Mark Perry, 174 Keith Gavin, 184 Jake Varner, 197 Phil Davis, 285 Dustin Fox.

Congrats gentleman you really deserved it. Too bad the mass media doesn't care about real sports that demand hard work and excellence even perfection. they tend to stick with the basketball tournament all march long and don't even show other championships that deserve mentioning like hockey for example. I am really disappointed that it isn't on television a lot because it is a great sport to watch. don't worry guys true fans know who you are and appreciate what you do for the sport.

Creative Nonfiction

Creative Nonfiction

Creative Nonfiction is a style of writing that blends the literary techniques of fiction with the truth of nonfiction. This style of writing is very interesting and it makes the book become more real. Using this style of writing the author can write more of an interesting view or spin on the nonfiction.

This new genre of writing, you have more freedom to bend the book. It gives the writer a way to express the novel their way while still saying the truth. With more freedom you can make the book more interesting and get the reader more involved into the story. The author uses creative nonfiction to make the factual parts of the book more interesting for the reader. Using this method of writing you are freer to write.

A great example of creative nonfiction would be John McPhee’s “The Curve of Binding Energy”. He uses a true biography of Ted Taylor to explain the dangers of nuclear technology. He makes the terminology easy to understand and read. He also makes a dull subject interesting for the common people who really don’t know much about it. This book is proof that creative nonfiction works and it helps the reader stay into the book longer.

By using creative nonfiction, McPhee can get his point across better than if he placed an article in a magazine or newspaper. By using the creative nonfiction he made the subject easier to understand and read.

Creative nonfiction is sort of like journalism. You write about a subject just like an interview. You’re telling a truthful story about a certain person or thing, and explaining to the reader what you got out of that interview. The difference between creative nonfiction and journalism is that with journalism you are asking the questions but with the creative nonfiction you are observing the object and writing about what you see. This makes it more interesting because creative nonfiction takes the story and makes it more appealing.

I see this genre as a tool for young writers to use when they need to write about a certain subject. It forces you to become more informed about the subject you are writing about. If you are more informed with the subject you know more about it and can thus write a better paper. This would be a great tool for me personally because sometimes I find that I can’t write much about any subject.

In conclusion, by using creative nonfiction the writer can find it easier to get to the point and get that point across. It makes the reader more interested in the subject and it helps him or her understand it better. It helps you find a way to express the truth in ways that make the reader and writer connect. Creative nonfiction is easier to write and easier to understand.

Cael Sanderson wrestling's A-ROD

Cael Sanderson is a wrestling legend in the making. this man like other legends of the sport has made a deep impact on the way people look at the sport. Cael is a living legend in the sport meaning that he still wrestles today. He is an Olympic Champion, World Champion, a National Champion, and a 4 time NCAA Division 1 Champion.

Cael is amazing to watch. some describe it as poetry in motion when he steps on the mat. He wrestles at 197 but has the quickness of a 125 pounder. his signature move is an ankle pick. He always finds a way to hit the move even though the opponent knows it is coming. He has been on the national team and Olympic team since 2001 when he graduated college.

In college Cael went 159-0. That is amazing and has never been done before. he was truly unstoppable and to some point still is today. One way that the sport shows that a wrestler is in sort of a legend caliper is to get a shoe names after them. Cael has the most popular selling shoe on the market.

Cael also runs training camps for wrestlers aspiring to get better and better. he makes special appearances at other camps also. he gives lectures all the time about the importance of hard work and the constant training it takes to become a great champion. he is a great athlete to look up to as a role model.

Cael is one person to show the importance of wrestling all different styles instead of specializing in one.

One Sentence Story

Standing at the top of the podium looking out at the cheering crowd, i knew all the hard work was worth it.

Rulon Gardner Man Myth or Legend??

Rulon Gardner was an olympic wrestler for the united states of america. he was one of the greatest heavyweights in the sport. he is credited for beating the soviet legend Alexander Karelin, who was previously unbeaten in his life. Not only was Gardner a great wrestler but he was also a great outdoorsman with superb survival skills because he has been in 3 life threatening disasters and has walked out unharmed. this man is a legend and is a great hero to look up to.

Karelin pronounced "crellan" was the soviets best wrestler ever. this man was undefeated his entire life. he had won 4 olympic golds in freestyle and greco and has won the world tournament like 7 times. he was deemed unbeatable. Rulon was a farm boy who grew up working on his parents farm, he wrestled as a hobby but became quite good and went through college and so on as a wrestler. he eventually made it to the olympic team for the USA. no one thought that Rulon had a chance beating the soviet at all and figured he would take the silver if they made it to the finals. Rulon was smart and studied the soviet's best 5 moves and drilled the counters to them for months until the olympics, and when they finally faced in the finals he beat the soviet by 1. this was one of the greatest upsets in wrestling history. after that match he retired and became a coach.

if you think thats great you wont believe what happened next.

Rulon has been in three near death experiences and has survived them all. some people refer to him as superman.

In 2000 he was flying a plane with his friends and crashed it in a lake at the arizona and utah border, he helped his wounded friend and swam for over and hour in 44 degree water until found by a fisherman.
In 2002, he went snowmobiling in Wyoming and got stranded overnight after falling from a 50-foot cliff onto a frozen water hole and breaking through. He hopped back on his ride but couldn’t make it out, so he spent the night in the field as his body temperature dropped to 88 degrees.
In 2004, his motorcycle slammed into a car and he went across the hood. He got up and rode away.

This man is truly a legend and deserves his nickname "Superman"

Wrestling Arenas

I always wonder what normal people think when you say that your going to a wrestling match. I know they don't find it exciting but i think they are misinformed. Sure most High School teams wrestle in there cafeteria and have no fans, however when you get to a higher skill level or even just a better school team it is something quite amazing to see.

First off, it is one of the most exciting things that your can attend. When you feel the emotion running through the teams and the crowd you get energized and, especially if your new to the sport, and i feel it brings a new attraction and you get sucked into the sport. A lot of this has to do with the arena.

In my school we wrestled in the gym and had a full crowd cheering at the top of there lungs for you. it is a great experience to feel when you know that all your fans are behind you. Most colleges that are serious about the sport of wrestling have special stadiums for just wrestling matches. My favorite is "The Pit" at Oklahoma State. It is a pitch black stadium sort of like madison square garden but like a square and much more steep. the sections are not separated either. The only light is at the bottom on the mat all the way down. that is why this arena has became known as the pit.

This is a great arena and i would one day like to go there. i suggest going if you can even if you are not a fan.

You Know your a Wrestler if....

I found this on the internet and i think it will help set the mood of how different it is to be a wrestler than any other sport.

YOU KNOW YOUR WRESTLER IF....

1. you look on the wrapper to see how much every piece of food weighs before you eat it
2. you refer to the wrestling room just as "the room"
3. you spend more time in "the room" than you do at your house
4. you roll your eyes when people say "you have to lose all that weigh by TOMORROW?"
5. you get pissed off when people say that the wrestling team is anorexic
6. you don't "play" wrestling
7. bloody noses, fat lips, and black eyes are daily encounters
8. From November to March, your natural response to anyone talking to you is "Shut the hell up. Don't talk to me."
9. I HATE TWO DAY WEIGH-INS!!!
10. you know your weight to the tenth of a pound at all times
11. when it comes to practice shorts, the shorter the better
12. you LOVE hot managers
13. there is no offseason
13. you laugh at football/basketball "two-a-days"
14. You know what somebody means when they ask "What you goin' this year?"
15. you miss school on most fridays during the season for a tournament
16. It's a freakin SINGLET!!!...not a onezie or a leotard
17. cauliflower ear
18. for any injury...tape it up and ur good
19. the first thing you say when someone walks in THE ROOM is "no shoes on the mat"
20. all the shirts in your dresser are from wrestling tournaments
21. Whenever someone says "wrestling is gay" you want to punch that person square in the face.
22. November to March your diet consists of food in bar form, ice, and gum.
23. During season, when someone asks "what are you doing this weekend?", you just laugh
24. you split an orange with 7 other people after practice and its the highlight of your week
25. you usually go to the library during lunch to avoid the sight of food
26. and then when you are in the library, you look up rankings and read the state wrestling forum online
27. the first thing people say to you when they find out you wrestle is "i was going to wrestle but..."
28. you feel completely normal wearing spandex
29. you have gained 15 pounds in the course of an hour (obviously after weigh-ins)
30. You are one and/or you know at least one person who was "held back" in eighth grade and won middle school states...again
31. you get up in the morning and ur really excited because u "floated" half a pound more than u expected over night
32. you plan a list of restaurants you want to go and food you want to eat for after the season


this is a joke parody on cutting weight and the "language of wrestling" enjoy

Wrestling season coming to a close

This is the last 2-3 weeks of the wrestling season. It is all an individual sport from now until next season. Now all the city champions go on to state and the state champs go on to federations, regions, and nationals. This is also the last month for college seasons.

After 2 weeks the whole high school and college season will be over and 3 new seasons will start. They are Middle School, Freestyle, and Greco-Roman. Middle school has the same rules as the high school and college wrestling with a few exceptions about some potentially dangerous moves. they go on for about 2 months and have a small state tournament but no national tournament.

Freestyle and Greco are completely different. new rules and even a new type of singlet uniform. there are 10 weight classes starting at 112 and moving to 220 and the heavyweight ends at 285.

Freestyle is almost the same as Collegiate but the scoring is different. you don't wrestle a whole match, you wrestle rounds and the best of three wins the match. if you pin a man the match is over. when you take a man down, you get 1 point. for exposing the back you get 2 points, and if you hold him for 5 secs, you get 3. 6 points is all you need to win the period, and you can lock around the body on the floor. the no slam rule doesn't have effect in this style so technically anything goes except punching kicking and biting.

Greco is along the same rules as freestyle however you cannot touch the legs of you opponent. this style is mostly throwing because you cannot even trip a man. there is a penalty for touching the legs, and in a tie the match goes to a clinch position and the first man with a take down wins.

Very Important Weekend

ok so this weekend is by far the most important weekend for a wrestler. this weekend will decide who goes on the the state championship and who is done until next year. NY is made of 12 sections with section 12 split up into CHSAA and PSAL. the rest of the sections are numberd 1-11. every section sends one wrestler to the state tournament in albany on march 8th and 9th. section 12 sends 2. these tournaments are gighly competitive and there is really a lot of emotion and tension running through everybody there. it is something that should really be experienced. however before you go out and see a tournament like this, you should know some of the basic rules to the sport.
First thing first, the object of the sport is to pin your opponent. if you cannot pin your opponent you must beat him on points. there are many different ways to score points, one way is to take down your opponent. you must take your opponent down to the mat and have control of him to score. that is worth 2 points. after taking you opponent down you can score near fall points by putting him to his back and holding him for 2-5 seconds. for 2-4 seconds you get 2 points for 5 seconds you get 3. if you have been taken down and you escape you get 1 point for escaping. also if you reverse your opponent you get 2 points.
now if you perform an illegal hold or move your opponent gets 1 point. if you perform 4 illegal moves you lose the match. if you intentionally hurt the opponent you lose. the sport was created so men could dispute arguements fairly and with class.

Developmental League and CHSAA qualifier

The PSAL or public school athletic league, has a plan to make NYC wrestling amazing in the years to come. as of now there are 45 teams in the public league, however for the next 4 years there will be 15 more teams added each year at the high school level and 30 at the middle school level. today was the championship for the developmental league this year. the wrestling was horrible and every team was horrible, but it is a step in a good direction because with more and more schools in the league the more competition there will be and the better the kids will become.

As a former catholic league wrestler i can tell you the public school league will never come close to being anywhere near as competitive as the CHSAA because the PSAL teams lack the strict dicipline needed to have a well oiled machine. In catholic schools coaches can be more strict on practice policies and so on, but in the public schools they do not penalize for lateness or missed practices. that is why they will never be as good as the CHSAA.

also i would like to give much deserved props to the islanders who qualified for the catholic state tournament. Monsignor Farrell is sending 18 wrestlers to the states and had 14 kids in the finals winning 8 weigh classes. that is monumental not only for the catholic league and Staten Island, but it means a lot for NYC because of the reputation were getting as a bona fide city where wrestling is now one of the most popular amateur sports. Congrats Farrell and good luck at the state tournament.

Wresling Movies

If you are a movie buff i suggest seeing Vision Quest. It is one of the only wrestling movies out there and it is just as motivating as all the rocky movies. It isn't just about wrestling it has a love story intertwined in it along with the wrestling and the problem of cutting massive weight. The star of the movie is Lauden. He is a wrestler who decides to cut down two weight classes to wrestle the defending state champion. He also has a love interest in a 20 something year old played by madonna. i dont want to ruin the movie for you so i am not going to tell you much more other than that it is possibly one of the greatest underdog stories out there, and if you have no idea about how wrestling works it is a great way to start because most rules are explained in the movie and you learn how hard it really is to be a full-time wrestler. the soundtrack for the movie is also amazing.
It is great movie and i would definitely suggest seeing it.


use this link to find out more http://imdb.com/title/tt0090270/

wrestling and reffing

in high school i wrestled for msgr. farrell high school. now in college i am a referee, and now know how it feels to be on both sides of the sport. these last 2 days have been the mayor's cup championships, and this year was the first year i was there as a referee. the tournament brings all three sections of new york city together for one big tournament to see who is the best in the city. the three sections are the psal which is all the public schools, the private leagues which has all private schools and the chsaa which has all the catholic schools. the winner at each weight division is crowned the true city champion.
the weight classes are as follows. 96, 103, 119, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, 152, 160, 171, 189, 215, 285. a wrestler must be below that weight to wrestle in the weight class. today each weight class had about 60 kids in the brackets. that is why this tournament takes so long. wrestling alone is hard but refereeing is harder because you are on your feet all day long match after match, and it is very tiresome. it isn't even that easy because of all the calls you must make. wrestling referees make more pure judgment calls than any other ref or umpire in any sport. you must always be alert and paying attention to detail. one mistake on your part could cost the opposing wrestlers a match.
all and all the tournament was run very well and i did a good job as a referee for the first time. here are some links from the tournament where you can find some more information.

http://www.silive.com/siadvance/stories/index.ssf?/base/Sports/1201869902106520.xml&coll=1
http://www.silive.com/siadvance/stories/index.ssf?/base/Sports/1202038230311740.xml&coll=1

Welcome to the world of Wrestling

The giant world of wrestling is basically unknown to the common person. i am here to shed some light on the secrets of the sport that many people wouldn't know. First things first wrestling is one of the only sports that is a team sport and is also an individual sport. This means that you don't rely on anyone to help you your on your own the entire time. there are many different rules for the sport which i will go over throughout this semester, but the subject that i would really like to specify on is the amount of training, hard work and discipline, and the massive weight cutting each and every wrestler is exposed to.

There are 15 weight classes in the high school division and 10 in the college level. A wrestler must be below a certain weight in order to wrestle in that weight class. this calls for serious dieting and exercise to always maintain a specific bodyweight. It builds character, but it is also very harmful to ones health if you don't cut right. there have been many serious injury's and even deaths that have occurred because of cutting weight, so there have been many rules added for the safety of the wrestlers.


All the rules are very complicated and will be saved for another post. In general I would just like to say that compared to other sports wrestling is in a league of its own.