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Just curious and bored at the same time. What kind of sports do you guys like, be it watching or doing, or wishing you could do?
I'm a skateboarding junkie, lol. Or rather a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater junkie, but I have a non-virtual board now, so I'm a junkie in that too. I can't do too many tricks at the moment, but I just love the feeling of riding. It's like surfing on gentle waves, like gliding. It's also like the difference between getting to class and getting to class but being marked absent anyway, lol.
I love watching the X Games and used to really be into pro-wrestling. If Florida had snow, I would so learn to snowboard... I mean, what's a couple spinal fractures? :P
We used to have a rather "realistic" pro-wrestling team at my high school. Let's just say being KO'd was more literal than you'd like to think, lol. I didn't stick around those guys long...
What about you guys? Oh, and you could throw in a hair element and talk about how your hair affects your sport, lol.
I used to love skateboarding when I was in my teens but don't really do it anymore. I'm into drug-free powerlifting now - I don't think that when my hair is longer it will affect it that much!
ps if you follow the link below the benchpress foto on the first page is me with a shaved head before deciding to grow my hair.
I dont know if I'd call this a sport but I used to do a lot of rocketry stuff when I was still in Texas.... I really enjoy building rockets and stuff, especially getting into higher powered rocketry which is really fun because the rockets are huge and they fly like those things you see in October Sky. The only downside is that its a very costly hobby... Everytime you launch one (which you HAVE to do it with a club because launching them requires FAA clearance, and thats too much for one person to do) you would run like mad after those things cause you got something like 200 dollars in hardware and avionics and not to mention rockets in them, so losing them is not fun.
I also like fishing but I dont do that much because I never got anything... but at least the good thing about fishing in Taiwan is that you dont need to buy fishing license, just cast a line and fish... laws are suggestions in Taiwan. I walk by the river by my place and there are signs that clearly says "no fishing" and yet you see hundreds of people fishing along the river...
i was into skateboarding for a while. not so much now though.
if you can consider online gaming a sport then that is my favorite =)
oh, and i love the tony hawk video game series much like you. American Wasteland is great but i think my favorite was the first Underground. yeah, ill definitely be bringing the ps2 to my dorm in august lol
well i prefer e-sports ... especially ego-shooters and strategy games ...
preferrably fast, stressing ego-shooters which requires a good hand-eye-coordination and a quick reaction ...
i don't do any physical sports ... not regulary ...
sometimes i play soccer or volleyball with friends but i can't only run around or sit in a gym and train - too boring ...
maybe it's not a sport but i like walking around - preferably outside of cities ... it's quite interesting where u arrive if u only walk and walk and walk ... :)
and u can relax in the quiteness and lonelyless e.g. in a wood ...
ALH
oh yes the hair topic: only thing i can say that there are a lot of "e-sport" people here who have at least shoulder-length ...
on lan parties i often see lots of longhairs here ...
I surf and kayak..
and love chucking a pigskin around now and then.
Snowboarding, scuba diving, cycling and hiking. If you like skateboarding, you'd definitely love snowboarding!
MAN YOU ARE MISSING OUT! snowboarding is very enjoyable believe me. Skateboard junkie? You'll love the snow. And I don't know...but snowboarding + long hair = good times, for some reason.
you HAVE to try it.
I don't like cold weather, especially snow! I love to surf all year round.
When I was in school I played basketball, football, and ran track. That was long ago.
Now I like to play tennis, basketball, and run sometimes. Take walks (not really sport), go cycling.
I will watch football if the UGA Dawgs are playing, baseball is alright sometimes.
If you consider auto-racing a sport, I sometimes drive racecars and am the crew chief (crew of one!) for my friend who has the money to race alot more than me!
I haven't drove though since I've been grown some hair however. I've almost gotten my new car ready, so I don't really know how I'll deal with the hair at that point. There is an older guy I know too who has long hair who races. He just ties it back and puts it down inside the racing suit and then dons the helmet.
We will see how it works out.
I love rugby, it's a great sport. I've also been snowboarding a couple of times, it rocked!
First off, thanks for all the responses! There were a number of really interesting and unexpected sports/activities you guys are engaged in. Rockets, racing, weight-lifting, even just a good old peaceful walk - that's really a great mix of things. I also really love just going deep into Nature to collect my thoughts.
I saw a lot more snowboarders than I thought! Wow. So, I've got to ask - do any of you guys know any fundamental differences between how you use the board in the two? (Besides the whole range of things you can't do with your legs strapped on, I know.:P) For example, do you still turn by shifting your weight on the back foot to where you want to turn? Is the kind of turn stopping you have to do really as difficult as some people make it out to be?
Thanks! Keep playing/riding/launching/lifting/driving (okay, I'll stop there, lol), guys.
I'd say I place pressure on both feet equally to initiate turns. I found the heel-side turn easiest to learn but now I enjoy toe-side turns the best.
With your skateboarding background, I bet you'd pick it quick. I've never skateboarder but came from a skiing background. The key is to go 3-4 times fairly close together rather than just trying once or twice a season. I found that it just clicked in on my third day of it and once you get the technique, it's like riding a bike, you'll always have it.
My ultimate snowboarding experience was last year when I stayed at Sugarloaf, Maine. While there, they got a 3 foot storm of light, powdery snow. Since I was staying on the mountain, I was one of the first ones down some of the trails so I got to make first marks on unbroken powder fields. Snowboarding in powder is the ultimate. Any snowboarding is fun but powder takes it to a new level.
I ride a bike to stay fit. This is the best exercise for me, being much less damaging to feet, knees, and ankles than running.
To keep my hair fron tangling I tie it in a segmented ponytail using about 10 ties.
Absalom
I actually always wondered about cycling and long hair. Lots of paperboy shows where the guy has long hair have the guys with their hair all over their face and you wonder how they can see.
Even with a segmented ponytail, do you still tuck your hair into your shirt sometimes? It seems kinda dangerous for your hair if it's out, particularly if you're going at high speed or near to objects.
To keep from sitting on it, I have to fold the last foot of it and secure it with a mini hair clip. Even when folded, it hangs several inches past my waist, but I don't end up sitting on it.
Absalom
Ice hockey and beats watch 22 girls playing football on a Saturday afternoon!!!
hey
i'd like to see you call bobo balde (celtic player, weighs more than you) a girl!
I'm not going up to Glasgow!!!
hey
Well, I'll give you three good guesses.... (well, if you haven't already figured out from my username)
And for this picture - that is me on the right in the blue with the yellow strip. The other "long hair" is Rokko, my totally kick-ass instructor that was showing me how to ski the really narley stuff, as in steeps and bumps. Both of these pics were taken at Sun Valley in Idaho during the last week of Januaray of this year. I wish I had a good picture of myself dropping in through some steep bumps. I am also a member of the ski patrol at a ski area some 80 miles to the west of here. Other sports I do when I cannot go skiing is hiking and swimming as well as I do work out at the gym lifting weights (do need it to keep in shape during the off season).
Hmm, pretty cool! I've always seen skiing and snowboarding as enemy sports of sorts (for some reason, all the one-board sports just appeal to me more), but I wouldn't mind learning to ski. The exhilaration of speed must really rock hard.
lol, Rokko, cool name. :P
How gnarley is gnarley for you? Like, how big of an air do you think you've ever gotten, or what's the toughest run you've done?
I don't look at it that way as much now. There are a number of guys on the ski patrol of which I am a part of that do both. For groomed and bump runs, I much prefer skiing. However, for deep powder, I'd love to get the board out. Unfortunatly, being in Virginia, deep powder is a very rare thing (although it can happed - just last winter, had 12 inches of fresh powder one weekend, and the skiing was just unreal - at least for what you can get on 1,110 feet of vertical.)
Yeah, that guy was a character! And that Austrian accent he had was just so much fun to listen to. "Yaaa! Veee schki vhen vee angulate zee knees!". Really is an awesome guy and I learned quite a bit about skiing. Not only that, he is also a longhair! Not only did he pretty much confirm what I already knew, but he did point out some mistakes I was making in the bumps that once I corrected them, it made it sooo much easier to ski them. Here is a picture of me and him.
I don't do much big air anymore. I used to do it when I was younger, but after one particularly bad mishap that nearly blew my knee out, I pretty much decided big air was just no longer in the cards for me. I prefer to ski the steeps and the bumps whenever possible. Unfortunatly, again, being in Virginia, that kind of terrain is pretty rare, thus the only time I get to ski the "good stuff" is the few times I can get out west.
The most difficult run that I've done in recent times is probably the Palavacinni (sp) wall at A-Basin. Also, a couple years ago, a few of us went up to Vermont. One of the places we went to was Magic Mountain. There was one run, and I don't even remember the name of it (if it even had a name) we skiied down was friggan rediculously steep, full of rocks and trees, and several bare spots. It had to been one of the most difficult things that I definitly remember skiing. We got to the bottom and looked up and was like, "Did we just ski THAT?". I've been skiing for 25 years now, and still always looking for ways to improve and looking for new challenges.
I swim bike and run (triathlons). Its kind of a pain to put my hair in a swim cap, but I manage.
It feels cool to run wearing a sweat band keeping hair out of my face, I feel like I am out of the 70s.
I also enjoy Yo-yo, juggling, footbagging, frisbee and more when I get the chance.
Footbagging, yo-yo'ing and triatholons, huh? It's really fun to read these responses; there are so many activities that don't come to mind when we think of sports. I didn't even know what footbagging was, so I had to look it up. Hacky sack. Small world.
And I love skateboarding with my hair just all over my face. It reminds me of circa the 70's as well, when long hair and skating was pretty common. I feel like Tony Alva, lol.
To flaunt my new footbag knowledge...do you play over the net or do tricks or what?
I do tricks, i havent played footbag net much.
ALthough Im a bit out of practice, I gotta get back into it.
I haven't played an "official" sport in years.
The sports i like playing are :
- walking the dog around the block
- keypad bashing in playstation console games(good workout for the fingers)
- Practicing on guitar running up and down the fretboard, attempting to play some Joe Satriani or Malmsteen(now that's what you call good exercise for your nimble fingers!)
Sports i enjoy watching:
League, Golf, Pro Wrestling(WWE), and some boxing.
I enjoy watching basically every kind of sport from rodeos to baseball. However I don't like races such as Nascar, motoGP etc.
I do have some favourites though, such as Tennis, Golf, AFL, Athletics, Cricket (especially the One-day format) and Ultimate Fighting (Pride, UFC etc.).
I especially enjoy major events e.g. The Masters, Wimbledon, The Olympics etc.
I can't wait for the Soccer World Cup!
I also am completely passionate for the art form that is Professional Wrestling, and I truly respect its athletes.
As for me, I used to play Table-Tennis and Volleyball in High School. I am excellent at Putt-Putt and I am acceptable at Squash (which I play regularly today), and golf.
I am also crazily into Bodybuilding and aim to go to the gym 3-5 times a week. My gains have been decent, but seeing as I'm not using anabolic steroids etc. its going to take me a lot of years to get where I want to be.
I love watching the World's Strongest Man competitions on ESPN. & I wish that Australia would broadcast the Mr. Olympia!
The X-games are pretty cool and I catch em every year.
Fallen Angels: Can you please relate to me all the details on the professional wrestling stuff from your high school?
Personally, when I was in Grades 8-10 (1998-2000) and living in Melbourne Australia, myself and a bunch of my friends formed the backyard (although we used the living room areas especially as our 'main arena') wrestling group known as the FWF (Fatal Wrestling Federation). It was all filmed, although sadly I only have 4 of our events on tape. The other 6 or so have been lost to posterity.
Ahh those were the days....
and on that note, I'll sign off with my old wrestling name (which I still use to some extent today!).
The Reaper
Keep training drug-free and you will keep becoming progressively stronger for years and years. Steroid users have to stop sometime because of health problems and when they do they lose so much strength and become discouraged, so that many give up training all together. I know a guy who is 60 and has been training drug free since he was 18 - he's benching around 300lbs and squatting around 500lbs.. Amazing guy!
Nice! That is awesome that that guy can keep it up. I thought I was doing good at 36 squatting nearly 300 and benching close to 200. A lot of my weight lifting is just to try to keep in shape more than body-building, though, as having the strength and endurance really pays off when skiing the difficult stuff. Some of those runs can be some real thigh-burners!
Skiers seem to have fantastic leg power - i remember reading a book by Arnold Schwarzenegger and sometimes he used to train legs with a skier as the skier was able to keep up with him in the poundages!
I went to your site. Very interesting. It's strange that i didn't consider the fact that there would be a drug-free powerlifting assocciation, but it really does make a lot of sense!
And you have some great lifts there.
I've only been training seriously and consistently since January 2004. Yet I was very on and off before and didn't even have access to proper equipment till I became serious about it.
Its good to hear your point on strength for 'natties'. I'll take strength from it!
(By the way are you still going for personal bests these days?)
All the best in your lifting (and the hair growing :-)
Thanks for the compliments! Hoping to do more work on the website soon, get some more photos and routines up. Today we had a great workout & a few of us set some new personal bests - i managed to bench 140kg for the first time in strict style. Im going to compete in the Irish single lifts in July so hopefully I'll make that 140 benchpress official.
Happy lifting!
lol, indeed I can. We essentially had a federation called DEW - Dominica Extreme Wrestling. This was in high-school, but there were some older guys in the federation, including a chokeslamming physics teacher(LOL, don't ask). We even had a website at one point, but it's been down for quite a while.
Essentially, the basic focus was on putting on a convincing show for spectators but still being able to walk afterwards, or at least, being alive. The problem was that "convincing" started being taken way too literally. Chair shots, for example, not only used really freakin' heavy steel chairs, but often required you to actually be hit hard with them, particularly on your back. You could shield your face at the last second with your hands, but back chair shots were full force. A guy once got hit straight in the head with a chair and got knocked out for quarter of the match. He was fairly high at the time, though, so it didn't hurt as much as you think. :P In fact, he seemed more sensible after he woke back up, lol...
Punches were shots to the neck, not face, and although they usually weren't hard, being jabbed in the side of the neck kinda sucks after a while. Slaps and backhands were real, and dropkicks had to be shielded or they hurt like hell. All aerial moves, from my Swanton Bombs and leg drops (yes, I'm an avid Hardy Boyz fan) to 450 splashes and elbow drops were real, although leg drops were done relatively safely since we shifted our weight to the back and the actual leg attack was painless. Slams and submissions, however, were totally real. Hell and brimstone, man! I don't know who thought that powerbombs onto concrete and tile were fun, and sleeper holds would literally choke you. If you were in a submission, you had to literally give up unless you fought out, and by "fight out" I mean really beat the guy off you.
But back to the weapons..that was the most glaring part. Those guys got banned from using the school classrooms for matches (the main reason the federation doesn't exist anymore...we didn't have anywhere to wrestle! One guy tried "legally" ordering the parts for a ring online involving some strange racket where we pay him a quarter a day, but that didn't really work out:P) because they frequently broke brooms on each other, including a wooden desk once...don't ask. A historic first blood match (yes, it was whoever actually bled first) involved video tapes as the only weapon. The two guys kept nailing each other in the head with the tapes, making rather large purple bumps they were trying to pop open. *shudders* I can't remember if anyone won.
Match-wise, there was no preset winner, and we worked together to make matches look good, but there was no time for fanfare, like Ric Flair's insanely long dance number before doing the figure 4 or Scotty 2 Hotty's pre-Worm routine - waste time and you'd be blocked or superkicked or the like. It was a surprisingly good system, but still really dangerous against the larger opponents. One of my worst memories is being put in a rather painful sharpshooter by a 210-pound guy, and then having him fall backwards, still holding me. My spine nearly cracked, I swear. Another time, my neck seemed to telescope when I did a stunner badly and the guy's head fell down on mine. I think I was a few inches shorter that afternoon, lol.
Dangerous as it was, I still miss those days too, lol.
I'll sign off as my old name too.
Enigma
Bloody fantastic!
Really dangerous, but still...fantastic!
The system you are describing is more like Japanese Wrestling (e.g. New Japan Pro) than traditional American wrestling. Yet it also seems to combine the hardcore or 'extreme' elements of an ECW for example.
It must have been really fun (apart from the injuries I'd imagine) to be involved in a match where you're really going at it and there is no predetermined winner.
In the FWF we had predetermined winners, but only a few key spots per match. The rest was improvised which I loved.
We did do some 'hardcore' spots including the purchasing and subsequent breaking of wooden tables (fun!-although a bit painful :-) and the use of the odd golf stick and folding chair.
We did incorporate perfomance aspects though like entrance music, fake facial hair and the odd use of a cheese grater that never really touched the skin, fake blood etc.
In the WWE for example most winners are predetermined but you do get the occasional match where the ending is unknown beforehand. I can spot these matches very occasionally. Yet in the end the most fun matches for me to watch involve the guys really not holding back (while still being professional. That is why I really enjoy watching guys like Benoit, Finlay etc.
(Booker T and Matt Hardy had a great match on the last Smackdown. Did you catch it?)
Anyway, what were your crowds like?
Did you put on your shows for free?
Did you videotape them?
As the Reaper, my finishing move was 'The Torture-Lock' which involved crossing a guy's legs over (think an 'X'), but instead of steepping through to the left or right (thus creating a Sharpshooter or Scorpion Deathlock) I just turned them over then and there and sat back on it.
One time I was attempting to put it on my friend who must have weighed 250pounds (of fat!) at the time.
I couldn't get him over and eventually his legs burst out of my hands, thrusting me back into the corner of the nearby couch spine first!
Once I was put in a sharpshooter and a Crippler Crossface at the same time--> you really want to speak about cracking backs.
Ok, I better stop here, because I could go on and on about this stuff.
In hindsight though, wouldn't it have been great to have been a longhair in our days as The Reaper and Enigma?
Nice topic you bring up there.
I don't play any sports unless it's with some friends or in class at school, but it's one of my big hobbies.
I'm from Denmark, but a lot of sports I like, are sports originally from USA.
I like:
Soccer (which we call football here)
Football (which we'll call American football)
Baseball
Hockey (just a little bit)
Basketball (not so much anymore, though)
Here's something a bit different... I'm into fencing. Not the ritualized, in-line fencing like you'd see at the olympics, but "your whole body is a target, your oppponent can come at you from any direction" fencing. We use a variety of weapons (rapiers, daggers, etc) along with a multitude of parrying devices (cloaks, sticks, hats, mugs, etc... I even used a large rubber rat once, LOL).
My other major thing to participate in is racquetball.
Jim
