Ray Brinzer

From 6th grade to 12th grade, Judo was a big part of my life. I fought a lot, won more than I lost, and went as high as 2nd in high school nationals. When college drew near, and I needed to make a decision, I seriously entertained the idea of pursuing Judo and putting wrestling on the back-burner.

All of which is to say, the basis of my opinions is a love of the sport, not having been great at the sport. There was no Judo at either Oklahoma State or Iowa, where I went to school, so, with the exception of several months I spent at the National Judo Institute after my freshman year, I fell out of that scene. It’s been about 20 years since I last put on a gi.

Still, the impact on my wrestling was considerable. I became known for foot-sweeps, trips, and some very distinctive throws and matwork. The idea of teaching that stuff to my athletes has been rattling around in my head for years, but the opportunity hasn’t yet arisen. So I started paying attention, and I learned that a number of things had changed since the 1980s.
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It’s been somewhat easier, lately, to get time at the keyboard. Not so much time that I actually write the longer things I’ve been meaning to write, but enough to post this and that.

This place has been overdue for some housekeeping, too. I spruced a few things up; now certain phrases will automatically link to Wikipedia entries (which you can trust; Wikipedia is never wrong). The color scheme goes: yellow for local links, blue for Wikipedia links, green for other off-site links. I am entirely undeterred by the fact that no one will ever bother to learn the conventions for this site. It pleases my taste for bright, happy colors.

I also added a wrestling résumé. I needed one awhile ago, so I did my best to recall what the heck I’d done, and when. Read more »

Well, yesterday McDonald v. Chicago was decided. The good guys won, and the 2nd Amendment was found to apply to the states. It’s not yet clear what this will actually mean in practical terms, but there’s hope that people in, say, New York City (where I am) will actually be allowed the practical means to defend themselves.

Now, I haven’t yet read the decision (it’s 214 pages, and only came out yesterday), but I think I can risk a bit of opinion while it’s still timely.

One of the really interesting things about the case is that Alan Gura, the attorney for the defence, argued for incorporation based on the Privileges or Immunities Clause, rather than the Due Process Clause. Justice Thomas wrote a 56-page opinion “concurring in part and concurring in the judgment”, in support of this. Scalia wrote a concurrence, beginning: Read more »

I created this awhile ago; it seems worth posting. If I did it now I’d probably add Jiu-Jitsu to the Judo season, since I think matwork is very helpful, and the Judo people seem to bring athletes back to their feet quicker than ever, these days.

I’d also do it as an SVG file so I could scale it properly. Possibly I’ll re-do it in Inkscape and update it.

Back when I coached North Allegheny’s junior high team, I wanted to run three full seasons along a similar model. I think the results would have been great. Unfortunately, it’s really hard to make ambitious plans like this happen, even when the athletes are entirely on board.

She sweeps with many-colored brooms,
And leaves the shreds behind;
Oh, housewife in the evening west,
Come back, and dust the pond!

You dropped a purple ravelling in,
You dropped an amber thread;
And now you’ve littered all the East
With duds of emerald!

And still she plies her spotted brooms,
And still the aprons fly,
Till brooms fade softly into stars -
And then I come away.

Having no time to say anything substantive, a picture will have to stand for 1000 words. We had this taken at Idlewild Park.

Historically, of course, it’s a mess. Teddy Bears didn’t come about until, I believe, 1903. Johannes doesn’t match the rest of the family at all, but he politely pointed out that, “I WANT TO BE A COWBOY!” and “I WANT A GUN!” so accomodations were made. And most obviously, one has to wonder where such a well-dressed, brazenly miscegenous family would actually have existed in the 19th century.

Despite which, this pleases me a lot. In my old age, I occasionally manage to put aside over-analysis in the interest of some silly fun.

It’s a good picture. Johannes seems excessively comfortable with a pistol for a 3-year-old, which appeals to my sense of political incorrectness. Felabi’s outfit looks beautiful sitting; standing I thought it made her look a bit too much like the madame of a bordello. And the more I look at it, the more I think Astrid, who would not wear her hat, looks the best of anyone.

Not that I mind, but I’m pretty shabby. I hadn’t shaved, the fake collar was much too loose, and my coat is rumpled. Along with my dolorous expression, the general effect is of a foppish drunk.

Life goes on. Later we can look at this and say, “There we were.”

I received the unwelcome suggestion, yesterday, that it might not be a good time to head to a wrestling tournament, because it was “Mother’s Day Weekend”.

Huh? Mother’s Day… Weekend? That’s a special occasion?

I was informed that, yes, it was the weekend during which Mother’s Day fell.

Now, it seems to me that Mother’s Day is a day… else we’d just call it, “Mother’s Weekend.” But to follow this line of reasoning, why had I gone to practice earlier this week? After all, it was Mother’s Day Weekend Week: the week during which that cherished occasion, Mother’s Day Weekend, fell.

For that matter, I hadn’t realized that we were in the midst of Mother’s Day Weekend Week Month. That’s a short step from Mother’s Day Weekend Week Month Year, at which point we males are all tools of the Matriarchy, ineluctably marginalized. And otherness really isn’t my kind of modality.

Needless to say, these points were not well-received, though I did escape to the tournament, liberating my son with me. Today we’re back, and happy to acknowledge that his mom is actually pretty swell (as, in fact, is mine).

Happy Mother’s Day!

I suppose when I give interviews, I should post them here.

Unfortunately, I usually just scratch the surface in these talks. I have a lot of interesting questions and provisional answers in mind.

Over on xkcd (a great stick-figure webcomic) I find this nifty graphical representation of gravity wells:

It’s hard to read in a format which fits well on this page; the full-sized version is here.

I’ve had very little time to keep up this site, lately. Family does that, it seems. But at least I can throw out some links, here and there.

This is a song I love, from my favorite animated film, Spirited Away. The writer and singer is Yumi Kimura.