Between work, training, and doing some volunteering, I caught pieces of the IBJJF Worlds over the course of the weekend.
I had the (mis)fortune of being bored to tears by Victor Honorio on several occasions.
I saw Malfacine cut a swath through his division in effortless and masterful fashion simply waxing anyone in front of him while barely seeming to break a sweat.
I saw Lucas Lepri cement another year at the top of his game minus a match of questionable refereeing.
I saw the hard to conceivably defend in any way Keenan vs Gaudio match, and also the Pena vs Meregali refereeing and long counts and gifting of points situation(s).....
Which......all of this coming in....Flograppling is simply a place to watch matches and tournaments.
The commentary and the articles are shill pieces by company men/women unwilling to rock the boat. It is what it is. I recall reading a place about some lesser known names training at Renzo's awhile back: one of them wasn't even in the country and hadn't been for months, another is best there sporadically....and the piece was simply inaccurate in terms of its portrayal of a number of things. I saw this as someone there in person typically 5-6 days a week when not injured.
IN the run-up to the Worlds last week and upon Cobrinha announcing his retirement, I rewatched his matches from last year....and had forgotten the level of favortism that got him that last title: the match with Shane Jamil-Hill in particular. The Saggiori match wasn't as egregious but still bad. The whole run through the bracket was pushing the edge of bias to be frank. Anyhow, I approached this Worlds hoping to see rematches from the Pans and some of the rivalries and masterful grappling I have grown to love and enjoy.
The Worlds is interesting for me....because as the prize money is zero...and former world champs don't have to qualify....I'm left seeing some of the very best only compete perhaps 1-4 matches every 365 days.
Malfacine, I'm excited to watch....but I wait a year to see what? 4 matches. Lepri fortunately has done some events like ACB and Copa Podio outside of the IBJJF worlds date in the past....how excited would you be to watch your favorite basketball team play its rival once a year, or play a series only once per year?
I say this because I love watching the games of these guys. I say this as a JiuJitsu nerd who watches a ton of competition footage and likes to watch the games and careers of the high level talents develop and change over time. I say this out of frustration, not any ill will.
It's an interesting dynamic that as a fan of the sport with the rise of IBJJF events and the Pro and Abu Dhabi Pro Trials, I'm still left unable to see the very best perform sometimes in more than a handful of matches once a year.
Add to that long counts for scoring, mysterious taps seen by referees to build a narrative for a clearly chosen to be the next big superstar based on his last name....and it's hard not to come away with a questionable taste in your mouth. It's unfortunate when the line of the reality that a referee does the best they can with a complex dynamic of scoring and points and boundary management, with athletes trying to game the rule set.......and the very real appearance of bias and favortism due to politics and affiliation(s).....it's hard to look forward knowing that some athletes are left out in the cold due to the aforementioned realities of the current structure of the governing body.
Don't get me started on the Gentlemen's agreement and handshaking it through to the bracket and finals.
THIS is all not even touching on the elephant in the room of the needle in a haystack testing style for steroids. 6 athletes have been popped out of 30 total tested.....and that's when they know the test is basically a year in advance. 20% can't pass a test when they know when it will conceivably be a year in advance.....to say nothing of the lower belts that have literally no testing whatsoever.
The sport continues to grow, and there will always be growing pains....to cast aside doubt and criticism as simply unfounded or for other reasons isn't investing in the sport as a whole, but rather protecting the status quo which long term is not viable nor sustainable.
My hope is that it does become an Olympic sport simply because it will open the door for out of competition testing which I suspect would radically alter some of the feats of competition and endurance we see at events throughout the year....and would also radically change the looks of the podium as well if the current empirical evidence is any indicator.
The drama of how a bracket plays out and guys and girls in the absolute and weight is impressive, nerve wracking, unpredictable at times, and thus makes it one of the most impressive feats in sport. The technical level of mastery necessary to even make the podium with brackets of over a 100 people is simply mind boggling. Upsets, and dark horses, and careers are made on the mats.
At any rate, my hope is that the rabble of the crowd regarding bias/favortism and inconsistency of application of the rules can be cleared up for the long term health of the sport, just as mixed martial arts had to both clean up its image and adopt a unified rule set (and also has struggles with judging and refereeing competency) in order to bring more money and prestige to a sport and competition that is among the most demanding on the planet.
I had the (mis)fortune of being bored to tears by Victor Honorio on several occasions.
I saw Malfacine cut a swath through his division in effortless and masterful fashion simply waxing anyone in front of him while barely seeming to break a sweat.
I saw Lucas Lepri cement another year at the top of his game minus a match of questionable refereeing.
I saw the hard to conceivably defend in any way Keenan vs Gaudio match, and also the Pena vs Meregali refereeing and long counts and gifting of points situation(s).....
Which......all of this coming in....Flograppling is simply a place to watch matches and tournaments.
The commentary and the articles are shill pieces by company men/women unwilling to rock the boat. It is what it is. I recall reading a place about some lesser known names training at Renzo's awhile back: one of them wasn't even in the country and hadn't been for months, another is best there sporadically....and the piece was simply inaccurate in terms of its portrayal of a number of things. I saw this as someone there in person typically 5-6 days a week when not injured.
IN the run-up to the Worlds last week and upon Cobrinha announcing his retirement, I rewatched his matches from last year....and had forgotten the level of favortism that got him that last title: the match with Shane Jamil-Hill in particular. The Saggiori match wasn't as egregious but still bad. The whole run through the bracket was pushing the edge of bias to be frank. Anyhow, I approached this Worlds hoping to see rematches from the Pans and some of the rivalries and masterful grappling I have grown to love and enjoy.
The Worlds is interesting for me....because as the prize money is zero...and former world champs don't have to qualify....I'm left seeing some of the very best only compete perhaps 1-4 matches every 365 days.
Malfacine, I'm excited to watch....but I wait a year to see what? 4 matches. Lepri fortunately has done some events like ACB and Copa Podio outside of the IBJJF worlds date in the past....how excited would you be to watch your favorite basketball team play its rival once a year, or play a series only once per year?
I say this because I love watching the games of these guys. I say this as a JiuJitsu nerd who watches a ton of competition footage and likes to watch the games and careers of the high level talents develop and change over time. I say this out of frustration, not any ill will.
It's an interesting dynamic that as a fan of the sport with the rise of IBJJF events and the Pro and Abu Dhabi Pro Trials, I'm still left unable to see the very best perform sometimes in more than a handful of matches once a year.
Add to that long counts for scoring, mysterious taps seen by referees to build a narrative for a clearly chosen to be the next big superstar based on his last name....and it's hard not to come away with a questionable taste in your mouth. It's unfortunate when the line of the reality that a referee does the best they can with a complex dynamic of scoring and points and boundary management, with athletes trying to game the rule set.......and the very real appearance of bias and favortism due to politics and affiliation(s).....it's hard to look forward knowing that some athletes are left out in the cold due to the aforementioned realities of the current structure of the governing body.
Don't get me started on the Gentlemen's agreement and handshaking it through to the bracket and finals.
THIS is all not even touching on the elephant in the room of the needle in a haystack testing style for steroids. 6 athletes have been popped out of 30 total tested.....and that's when they know the test is basically a year in advance. 20% can't pass a test when they know when it will conceivably be a year in advance.....to say nothing of the lower belts that have literally no testing whatsoever.
The sport continues to grow, and there will always be growing pains....to cast aside doubt and criticism as simply unfounded or for other reasons isn't investing in the sport as a whole, but rather protecting the status quo which long term is not viable nor sustainable.
My hope is that it does become an Olympic sport simply because it will open the door for out of competition testing which I suspect would radically alter some of the feats of competition and endurance we see at events throughout the year....and would also radically change the looks of the podium as well if the current empirical evidence is any indicator.
The drama of how a bracket plays out and guys and girls in the absolute and weight is impressive, nerve wracking, unpredictable at times, and thus makes it one of the most impressive feats in sport. The technical level of mastery necessary to even make the podium with brackets of over a 100 people is simply mind boggling. Upsets, and dark horses, and careers are made on the mats.
At any rate, my hope is that the rabble of the crowd regarding bias/favortism and inconsistency of application of the rules can be cleared up for the long term health of the sport, just as mixed martial arts had to both clean up its image and adopt a unified rule set (and also has struggles with judging and refereeing competency) in order to bring more money and prestige to a sport and competition that is among the most demanding on the planet.
No comments:
Post a Comment