Misc. Bull$h!t

The most intimidating athlete of all time was not young inger:

His name struck fear within veterans and novices alike.

His nickname? The Experiment.

For someone of his strength and stature could not have been a normal man. A genetic anomaly of the highest degree that made all who attempted to challenge his dominance quiver in fear that they may have made an awful decision as he hoisted them through the air with unrelenting violence.


Alexander Karelin.

If this guy sounds like Ivan Drago or Zangief from Street Fighter, know that you aren’t too far from the truth. I’d even say Karelin was more intimidating than both of those fictional characters and for good reason.

Karelin, a Greco-Roman wrestler for Russia, only ever lost two matches in his entire life.

Compare this with another superstar of the combat sports world, Floyd Mayweather Jr., who lost no matches in his professional career boxing.

The only difference is that Karelin wrestled 889 matches in his career while Mayweather had probably boxed hundreds including his amateur fights, losing some of them.

Karelin neglected to give up even a single point over six years.

For years, Karelin seemed to be an impregnable fortress capable of catapulting his 200+ lb foes across the mat as if they were weightless ragdolls.

Wrestling in the Super-Heavyweight division, Karelin’s strength, athleticism, flexibility, and stamina were extremely uncharacteristic for someone of his size.

His signature move was one that broke his foes mentally before they even went out on the mat. The Reverse Body Lock.


Karelin would grab his opponents up off the mat and fling them through the air for huge points. This was originally a move reserved for lighter weight wrestlers but Karelin made it look effortless on even his biggest adversaries.

A quote from one of his opponents stated this about his signature move:

"I was doing everything humanly possible to prevent him from lifting me off the mat. I weighed 265 pounds. I was in good shape. I was scared—intense fear. I don't like flying through the air like that. I kept thinking, 'Don't get hurt. Don't get hurt.' With him, it's almost a victory if you don't get thrown."

Yeah, could you imagine victory being equated to not being launched by your opponent? That his how utterly petrified people were about stepping on the mat with Karelin.

To this day, if someone mentions a Karelin Lift, they are talking about a Reverse Body Lock. He was so skilled at the move that his own name became synonymous with it.

Karelin was one of the most dominant athletes in any sport ever. His long and victorious career is one that has yet to been matched.

There are not many athletes before or since Karelin’s prime that could be considered intimidating to the level that he was intimidating. Karelin struck primal, anxious fear into each and every one of his opponents without fail. The only equivalent I could draw for a wider audience to understand would be Mike Tyson; it wasn’t if you were going to lose but how fast you would lose and how much of a beating your body would take.

For these reasons, Alexander Karelin remains an incredible example of what dedication, skill, and genetics can do when coupled with a terrifying countenance and legendary status.


Off the mat though, he wasn’t all that terrifying.

Karelin was quoted as saying he didn’t much like himself before wrestling, stating that:

“…Teenagers sneer, 'Look at this guy! The legs! The ears!' And older people see my face and say, 'My god! Look, quick! A criminal!' "

Karelin enjoyed reading poetry and literature as well as listening to music and keeping a generally warm composure. He was the definition of a gentle giant outside of his matches.

In the realm of wrestling though, his name was enough to make even the burliest men sigh anxiously.

The Russian Bear, Alexander Karelin: An indomitable grizzly bear on the mat and incredibly wise, tact teddy bear off of it.

ChiYank warning. Our cold front from today is bearing down on you for tomorrow, and unlike our portion of it, it appears it’s coming in wet for you. We’ve had some high-ish winds and a real chill. It was 27 here this morning and topped out at a chilly (with the wind) 53.

Tomorrow is much nicer here at about 60 with a very soft breeze…

October 13 HOF birthdays.

Trevor Hoffman
Eddie Matthews
…

I know, I've been keeping an eye on weather all week, especially in Detroit, where I'll be on Sunday.   Cool temps, which is good, high % for rain, which is bad.

just last week, it was still in the high 70's here.  Now it's 50's with no sun and too much wind and rain.   Yuck.   The extreme weather changes in Denver amaze me,  one day it's snowing, the next it's 60 and sunny. 

Man, I would still be lamenting the loss of that hat.  The worst weather I played through was a Louisiana torrential rain storm that began when I was farthest away from the club house with no cover to refuge in place.  The rain was so concentrated that my clothes were soaked through within a few steps.  Hugging the right side of the fairway, I took out a three iron from my bag and hit a perfect shot, driving low through the sideways sheets of rain.  By the time I finished the round, I walked straight to my little Toyota pick up truck and started taking off my clothes and ringing them out.  For the life of me, I cannot remember who I was playing with.  I may have been by myself, which I used to do occasionally when I wanted to work on my game.  This was in college, before Tiger Woods, when you could walk on just about any course in the afternoon by yourself and not be paired with anyone.  I will never forget that three iron shot.  The weather was like a scene out of the movie "Caddyshack."  Not hail fortunately.  I think this was in my orange ball phase.