have the ability to selectively remember the exact details of my past
triumphs and gain from them only self-aggrandizing lessons about my
personal awesomeness. After my inglorious cancer patient beat-down
the guilt wore off as a few hours passed and what replace my rightful
shame was an unreasonable optimism about my wrestling ability. I was
in the winners bracket after all and all I needed to do was win 3
more matches and I would be king boss champion of the weight I was.
Unfortunately the other kids in the winners bracket got there by
beating a legitimate opponent. It turned out that my triumph over an
immunocompromised grappler was a
poor litmus of my actual skill set and I was soundly beaten in my
next contest. It was against the kid who would eventually win the
tournament so maybe it was an honor to be wholly outclassed by him.
Like in my previous battle with a higher class of wrestler this guy
realized in just less than ten seconds that he was going to win
easily and started taking me down and letting me up. Every time he
would let me up my well meaning coach would praise me for my escape
even though he and I were well aware I didn't escape, I was released.
There are several ways to win a wrestling match, you can win by pin,
which most people know about, you can also win by a few points –
one to seven, or lots of points 8-14. In rare cases of unusual
technical superiority which doesn't end in a pin for some reason
there is a mercy rule that stops the match as soon as a 15 point
margin is reached. The problem with that for the winner is that it
counts as five instead of six points in team points so a pin is
preferable. He took me down and let me up 6 times to make the score
12 – 6 in his favor. Then he took me down one last time
effortlessly rolled me over and pinned me as I fought like a
significantly outgunned tiger. My coach told me he was proud for
fighting so hard and I had scored 6 points against one of the best
kids in the state. We both knew that was a lie but right then it was
okay. I was back to the losers bracket for another swing at a glory
and what I got was more pitiful victory.
