Thanks, tovarisch

Sadly No sets the record straight:

Vox Day insists he never was a Bush fan, and so doesn’t belong on the list of weasels. Fair enough. But Vox still thinks Bush is a socialist. So to the list of idiots he goes. Wait. I write that with a smile, Vox! All friendly-like. So carry on beating the shit out of women and voting Libertarian, pal! Meanwhile, George Bush and I are about to discuss the finer points of dialectical materialism.

It’s fine to call me an idiot, a mysogynist, a repressed homosexual, a Flat Earther, a god botherer or a super sex machine to all the chicks. I don’t care. But for the sweet finchy love of the Galapagos Islands, I would very much appreciate not being lumped in with the past, present or future supporters of George W. Bush.

That’s hitting below the belt, that is.

Speaking of hitting, Mr. Billy Pilgrim’s wish that I run into a “real martial arts master” is pretty funny. I’ve sparred with reigning national champions and fought black belts from many different schools… and discovered that a surprising percentage of them tend to whine because they don’t like getting hit by anything harder than a love tap. And that “imaginary female opponent” is now a second-degree black belt.

It’s been a while since I switched from martial arts to soccer, but the last time I seriously sparred was with an instructor from a big school in the Twin Cities. He was their top tournament fighter, was very fast and far more skilled than me, but I was just as fast and much stronger, so he was very surprised and more than a little upset after I knocked him down with an uppercut for the second time in the round.

“Dammit, you’re one of A’s guys, aren’t you,” he swore. “He never teaches you guys how to take it easy.”

I just laughed. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I was taking it easy.

It’s not as if we weren’t taught the concept of control, it was just the application of a simple equation, F=MA. If you take a D1 sprinter, add 25 pounds of muscle with free weights and then teach him proper striking technique, he’s going to hit a little harder than your average black belt.

And speaking of weights, ay caramba! I did nine sets of squats today, 12-15 reps at light weight, but doing that on top of a game on Monday night and two hours worth of pick-up games with the Africans the day before, I can barely move.