Rasslin'

Landon got 5th place in the Regional Wrestling Tournament. This was quite an achievement for his first year in the sport. It also meant that he was one agonizing place away from going to the state tournament. Fifth place guys go as "alternates". This means they have to be ready to wrestle, be at the appropriate weight, all the while knowing that they'll probably not be part of the tournament. So, we all went down to Salem for the weekend knowing that we had probably seen Landon's last match of the year. Nonetheless, we had a great time and saw some really tremendous wrestlers, including the guy who won Landon's weight class. Thankfully this kid will be graduated when Landon takes his shot next year. He was an absolute beast.

I could go on and on about the insights I gained on wrestling, the life lessons on display by these talented kids. I could do that, but I'm short on time and need to share the best line of the weekend. That line was delivered by a waitress at Ruby Tuesdays. After all Harrisonburg wrestlers were finished for the tourney, we took the guys out for some much deserved face-stuffing. She was asking the coach about who we were, etc. When Coach Dickerson related that this was a wrestling team and he had coached them for a few years, she chose an interesting area of inquiry regarding Mike's daily interaction with a room full of sweaty teenage boys. That area was specifically their funk........in her words:

"What's that smell like? It must be some awful combination of AXE body spray and B.O."

Well summarized Ruby Tuesday lady, well summarized. Intellectually, physically and certainly aromatically; teenage boys can indeed be reduced to a combination of AXE and B.O.