Falling off the map blues
December 28th, 2012 by Joshua Scott BeranisDimming the lights, turning up some Robert Johnson on the
stereo, and brewing a fine cup of coffee, I look to an empty
note-pad and an unsharpened pencil on the clean kitchen table. I
see my slight reflection in the window and consider the wet cold of
Washington winter outside. The coffee-maker crackles, and I
remember that I love that sound. I love that smell, like nothing
else on earth, that fresh coffee smell.
Then there is the smell of pencil-shavings, an extra dusty sawdust
scent that tickles your lungs a bit. I push a steak-knife to the
unexposed graphite tip with my thumb, careful to slant the knife
edge back up as I widdle out a dull point.
For a year now, I have contemplated the conditions leading up to
two men entering the sanctioned cage. I came into this field
completely mesmorized and overwhelmed. Other things have also come
to mind, not all of which can be put into a format comparible to
that technical one we would approach MMA with.
Maturity, and what that means, a thought which even bothers me a
bit now. We can’t all be mature, but it would be a good idea to at
least appear somewhat sane or intelligent. This is especially the
case with writing about MMA, following people around asking them
questions, pestering them for information when half of them could
kill you with their bare hands. Don’t be stupid.
Also, how to write about the people regardless of the sport, is
something which has moved me deeply. I have realized that even
those at the highest pinnacle of cage-fighting competition face
many of the obstacles and traps the rest of us are so familiar
with. There is an underlying drive not just to achieve temporary
victory, but to achieve a longer standing position of honorability
which we can take further comfort in. We want our name to be worthy
of the objects it will be etched upon. We are forever planting
seeds, hoping for favorable outcomes.
Following suit, I too, find myself flesh and bone, trying not to
fall off the map.
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
February 23rd, 2013 at 2:21 pm
Interesting, like the probing personal thoughts. And — on the performers themselves — have you interviewed enough of them to write a piece that relects on their emotions, goals, personal backgrounds — the “drive” that moves them into the sport. I’d like to read that. How ARE these “brutes” (LOL!) different from the average guy…and LIKE the average guy?