The best Soccer Biographies: Reddit reviews

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Nasties were reckless and unsafe as fuck

> I had one more match before the surgery-a Chicago street fight (an anything-goes, falls-count-anywhere match) that would team me and Maxx in a war with the Nasty Boys. I knew it was my last match, but I just couldn’t get up for it. I wondered, “How am I going to get through this without stinking the place up?” The answer was simple. Survival. Jerry Saggs broke a pool cue over my head, and Brian Knobbs nearly dented my skull. The Nasties were sloppy as hell, and more than a little dangerous, but they knew how to brawl. About a minute into this thing, I realized that I’d better start fighting or I was going to get killed out there. About three minutes in, I realized we were in the midst of something pretty special. Saggs attempted to piledrive me on a table for the finish. The table buckled under our weight and we crashed to the ramp. As I got up, Saggs pushed me and I fell backward off the five-foot ramp and onto the cold, hard concrete below. I didn’t land flat, however, and I knew that my shoulder was injured. But at least I’d earned the right to rest, right? Not quite yet. Saggs hopped down off the ramp, and I winced when I saw Knobbs throw him a scoop shovel. It was plastic, but I knew with this crazy bastard swinging, it would hurt just the same. He raised the shovel high overhead, almost like an axe. I remembered what DeNucci had taught us about protecting our teeth and nose, and I turned my head to the side. Saggs proceeded to hit me about as hard as another human being could, but at least I’d be out of WCW.

Have a Nice Day!

according to this book I read https://www.amazon.com/Falling-Hard-Journey-into-World/dp/1590307151

he stated that Putin started Sambo at age 14 and judo around a year later. He won tournaments in Leningrad and took 3rd place at Russian Junior Nationals, and he also became senior champion later. He then joined the KGB where they had to continue some sort of combat training.

Wrist locks have three problems:

1. Most people don't understand them.
2. They can't be done "naked"
3. You can't train them live.

The first problem is caused by the other two. People try to teach them in a naked manner (e.g. the way Aikido trains) and when people see them demonstrated, they see the overly compliant way of demoing it.

As someone that has used wrist locks in a live situation, I'll tell you that they work. I didn't study aikido, but I studied an art that included aikijujutsu.

There's a part in the book Angry White Pyjamas where the guy is out with instructors and they get into a bar fight. During the fight, the instructors use punches and stuff, and the writer asks why they didn't just use the Aikido stuff that they were training in. The instructor responds that an important thing that is missing from Aikido is the atemi waza, or striking techniques, which existed in Aikijutsu.

That's where the second problem lies. People THINK you can just grab a wrist and do a technique, but the reality is that you need to use striking to create the opportunity that makes the wrist attackable or controllable.

The last part is that you can't train them live. I was at a seminar (not aikido) years ago, where we were working on wrist locks. One of the instructors went to show my partner something about a wrist lock and just snapped in on hard. It was a dick move to say the least. Thing is, wrists don't heal that well, and my buddy's wrist wasn't that good for at least a year after that.

Aikido was good back in the day because all the people that were training in it had backgrounds in other arts, so they understood what violence was. Unfortunately you have people taking it as their first art, and it's not that useful without other context. They will never apply it right in a fight because they don't know what a fight is.

Maybe a copy of One L? Might be slightly old, you should probably skim it first. I read it at like 28 so sex/language/etc wouldn't have leapt out at me.

If you are really interested and you like to read, there's the OpTic Gaming book, it covers the history of the org and the general idea behind it pretty well. Amazon link but available in other places too

It's possible for sure! The reason judo is so great is that it's for everyone. My dad has been doing judo into his 60s and while he avoids doing randori with the hard-charging young bucks these days, he has a fun time just moving around on the mat and playing gently.

There will be some clubs that focus on the competition aspect of the sport, so I would try to do some research and find a good judo instructor that is dedicated to teaching judo and not winning judo competitions. A club that does a lot of kata training (these might be a little more rare) would definitely be a place I would recommend you try as you will have an outlet for learning judo in all its forms without the focal point being how hard and fast you throw someone.

Also I would recommend this book! https://www.amazon.com/Falling-Hard-Journey-into-World/dp/1590307151 It's "Falling Hard" by Mark Law. He's a British journalist who decides to pick up judo on his 50th birthday and he writes about his journey in the sport as a new judo enthusiast. My dad has been playing judo for decades, but he got a kick out of it as an older judoka. He recommends it to all of his judo friends. (I also had the random encounter of running into Mark Law at the Budokwai in London maybe in 2015. He was an incredibly nice guy and was still on the mat 6 years after he published this book!)

His book Have A Nice Day: A Tale of Blood and Sweatsocks is a real interesting and entertaining read for any fan of the old WWF

You might like this. 50 year old guy starts Judo, falls in love with it and writes an excellent book about its development and history.

https://www.amazon.com/Glory-Their-Times-Baseball-Perennial/dp/0061994715

In the 1960s the author of this book went around and interviewed all the old time ball players and got their stories. He then transcribed and edited them in this book. One of my favorites.

Here’s a link to the book length version.

I’m generally not a huge fan of sporting events for the mob mentality alone. Perhaps the culture has changed though there were definitely students, alumni, and fans in my day that took an ultimately inconsequential basketball rivalry much too far—well beyond the bounds of human decency and considerate behavior. It’s certainly happened at UNC—I recall discussing our disappointment with the cheers over Zion’s injury with a few old friends. I’ve also seen the Cameron crazies wildly celebrate the blood coming from the face of Tyler Hansbrough. And there’s a reason you never wear Carolina colors when tailgating at Carter-Finley unless you’re traveling in a large group.

People are people. We’re capable of empathy and excellence. We’re capable of heinous, selfish, harmful acts as well. We may vary by degrees from individual to individual, but the potential is always there. I hope you have the opportunity to interact with some more pleasant, down-to-earth Chapel Hill students/residents in the future—perhaps in a less raucous, competitive context. I’d also encourage you to get your passport updated and visit the People’s Republic of Carrboro just a bit further down Franklin Street as you’ll never find a more spectacular assortment of delightfully strange people in our entire state. 😅

Also, give this book a read-through sometime. There’s a lot of great history tied up in the Tobacco Road rivalry. My first dorm-mate practically forced it onto my first semester reading list. The context gave me a healthier perspective on the significance of long-standing sport/fandom rivalries.

https://www.amazon.com/Hate-Like-This-Happy-Forever/dp/0060740248

This whole episode is well covered in the excellent history of the Carolina-Duke rivalry. I highly recommend for anyone who’s a fan of either team or college basketball in general.

The whole book isn't about Cleveland, but Lawrence Ritter's The Glory Of Their Times is a series of interviews with dead-ball era baseball players, many years after their retirement in most cases. A few of the players interviewed were from Cleveland, and the way they describe the city in the late 19th and early 20th century is fascinating. Imagine E 55th being countryside. Great read.

https://www.amazon.com/Glory-Their-Times-Baseball-Perennial/dp/0061994715

There's a good book that covers the story of a guy starting Judo at the age of 50. It's a great read in itself and might cover some realities and what to expect.

Mark Law, Falling Hard: A Journey into the world of Judo (also published as the Pyjama Game)

> On his fiftieth birthday, British journalist and self-described “indolent sportsman” Mark Law decides to take up judo on a whim and ends up getting hooked on the sport. Falling Hard is Law’s love letter to judo—the culture, drama, history, and practice. With journalistic zeal, he delves deeply into the sport’s history and lore, and interweaves his own judo experiences with the development of judo in Japan, the life and vision of its founder Jigoro Kano, the export of judo to the West, the emergence of women in the sport, and detailed descriptions of competition on the world championship and Olympic levels.

> Law’s account is as much for the sports writing fan and armchair enthusiast as for the judo practitioner. With humor and skill, he describes grueling training sessions and matches (including his own), famous Olympic bouts, and legendary rivalries between judo players and national teams, and he speculates on the future of the sport.

The Glory of Their Times: The Story of the Early Days of Baseball Told by the Men Who Played It (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0061994715/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_TGrHk2QO4rggf

No problem. The crime thriller writer, Scott Turow, wrote a great book about his first year of law school, called “One L”, which does a fantastic job outlining what law school is like:

https://www.amazon.com/One-Turbulent-Story-Harvard-School/dp/0143119028

Also, an old movie from the 70’s called, “The Paper Chase”, shows what law school life can be like:

https://www.amazon.com/Paper-Chase-Timothy-Bottoms/dp/B00008UALL

However, take the book and movie with a grain of salt. Not all of law school is terrifying and being a lawyer can be one of the most satisfying career choices you can make.

Hi! Would you like to join the 0L book club? In December we are reading One L and Anonymous Lawyer and discussing them in January :) We have a lot of awesome books on the calendar. If you want to join, just let me know. You can always just lurk and read when you feel like you like book!

Coming in a little late...

One L by Scott Turow is (IMO) the best thing ever written about law school.

https://www.amazon.ca/One-Turbulent-Story-Harvard-School/dp/0143119028

As far as the practice of law goes - its so hard to say. Most of the books are written by prominent litigators (civil liberties types), I don't know that there's much written about the early years of practice or about anythign non-glamourous.

The Big Scrum is one of my favorite football history books. It covers a lot of the early game and Teddy Roosevelt's influence on the game we play today.

Maybe checkout Falling Hard

It has a lot of stories throughout the history of Judo and the authors experience learning Judo, maybe has some stuff that would be fun to talk about.

I'm about 3/4 eat through it and find a fun read.

The first uke's attacks were "good." The second one was just sticking his hand out there and getting thrown. The next couple do the same. People may take issue with the knife attacks, but head on over to /r/watchpeopledie and you'll see that a lot of knife attacks have that large movement. It's once they get a hit on the person that they start with rapid strikes.

The big issue with Aikido is that it really ignores atemi waza (striking), which is supposed to be a big part of what actually sets up throws. I believe it was in the book Angry White Pyjamas where the author is out with his instructors and some people try to fight them in a bar. The instructors prevail, but the author comments on their lack of actions that looked like aikido, specifically their use of striking. At that point the instructor says that in a fight, atemi waza is going to be 90% of your aikido to set up your throw or lock.

J and KR3W basically made OpTic into a clan (back then they were big) which was involved with sniping and casual but semi-serious online competitive gaming i.e GameBattles and then H3Cz and his brother TUMORS came about and joined it, the clan wasn't going anywhere as majority of them kind of lost interest and/or real life intervened but H3Cz stuck with it whilst working and developed into what it is now by making it a sniping clan and then from there a professional competitive team was created like a year or two later, i'm not sure what the roster was but I believe Nadeshot was in there, J got involved more recently and due to him being a long time friend and has knowledge in the esports industry was either given or asked for COO to help H3Cz, Nadeshot retired and asked to be vastly involved with OG but nothing has been released on what happened hence why H3Cz and Nadeshot aren't exactly best of friends, Nadeshot moved to do his own thing after his retirement, but what we know of is Nadeshot did not have any equity within the organization.

I would advise you to purchase the biography book that OpTic (old and new members) co-wrote to get a better in-depth read about the history of the organisation.

The Big Scrum is my go to recommendation for a history style text. You have a players flair so I am not sure The Essential Smart Footbal will be meaningful for you to read, but its a great book nonetheless.

I'm reading this one right now....it had an interesting beginning, and a slow and boring middle, but I hope the last few chapters get fun again. It's about an Englishmans experiences in Japan while enrolled in a tough Aikido class for policemen. It's worth a read, I'd say....just for fun.

https://www.amazon.com/Angry-White-Pyjamas-Scrawny-Lessons/dp/0688175376

First of all have you read Murakami's book on running? just curious, as a book nerd. Surely you've read The Oatmeal?

Ok ok first question. Why do you run Raisin? What do you like about it?

Now a less philosophical one:

So, what kind of stretches do you recommend before running? And after? I've noticed alot of stiffness around my knees and the muscles on the sides of my legs so I'm thinking I'm not stretching properly.

I recommend Mick Foley's (Mankind) book. He has a couple out, but in the first one he talks about that match. It's an interesting read and he talks about a lot of the behind the scenes stuff.

http://www.amazon.com/Have-Nice-Day-Blood-Sweatsocks/dp/0061031011

Just occured to me, Duke players always look like the fuckwit fraternity from Animal House.

That being said, firmly believe coach K is a good guy. (see http://www.amazon.com/Hate-Like-This-Happy-Forever/dp/0060740248)

I read One L by Scott Turow before I started law school and it really helped me prepare emotionally. The stress, competition, and utter bewilderment described in One L was exactly what I felt during 1L.

I also second watching "Paper Chase" and will add "The Verdict" and "Legally Blonde."

The term for live-in student in Japanese is "uchideshi". There are some places that offer an uchideshi program, both in and out of Japan, but before you consider any of these programs, I recommend reading Angry White Pyjamas (Amazon, Wikipedia).

You should be careful in selecting any program; there is plenty of room for cultural mix ups, either as a foreigner in Japan or in your home country with somebody who isn't Japanese.

There's also a book on it, if you're a reader:

<em>The Big Scrum: How Teddy Roosevelt Saved Football</em>