Once again, my blog has completely crashed off of the rails of timelines.  This time it was due to a mechanical error with my CPU that left a weird smell of burning plastic near the power jack.  Through a combination of laziness and a ‘technical misunderstanding’ a few weeks turned into a few months, but eventually, and thanks to my extended warranty, it all got sorted out.

With that...

Grappler’s Quest – The Good…
Moving on to more recent news, last weekend myself and Matt Johnston competed in Grappler’s Quest Boston.  This was the second time that I participated in a Grappler’s Quest event.  The first was in 2009 at the UFC 100 Fan Expo in Las Vegas Nevada…an experience that saw nothing but emotionally devastating disaster on the mats (another story for another time). 

This trip however, proved to be a much more successful experience with both Matt and I managing to win first place in our respective No-Gi Advanced divisions.

Matt also took home first place for his Gi Purple belt division, and we made off like bandits with some cool looking samurai swords…and certificates.

Unfortunately, neither of us were able to place in the Absolute division.  Despite this, we each had, what I believe were, some excellent matches in a division that was stacked with some very high level talent that came with some very heavy weight…I mean 230lbs? You’ve got to be kidding me!? I’m tilting the scales at a whopping 163lbs right now.

Also, some of our matches were also filmed by Grappler’s Quest, so check online in a few weeks and maybe they'll be a few highlights.  You’ll definitely be impressed when you see Matt slam a BTT black belt on his chest with a sweet chest-to-chest suplex.

Grappler’s Quest - The Bad…
One thing I really did not enjoy about Grappler’s Quest were the wait times between matches and divisions.  Now, the event staff were awesome, and were very friendly, personable and hard working.  But because they waited for all No-Gi matches to end before they started the Gi divisions it led to some major delays.  At one point there were even five empty mats with refs and table workers ready, but no matches, and as a result we did not finish until 7:30 in the evening.  Worse of all, we were told to be at the event at 1100am, but didn’t actually start rolling until 230pm.  Now anyone who has done a long tournament will attest to how annoying a long wait is.  In fact, as the day drags on, you see an obvious change in demeanour and attitude of the competitors while they wait for their next match.  At first people are focused, warming up while they size up the other guys in their division.  Near the end, however, everyone just has the ‘I don’t care let’s get this over with’ look on their faces and just want to get the hell home.

Oh, and not at any fault of the tournament or its staff, I saw one of the most blatant examples of cheating in my grappling career, followed by one of the biggest douche-bag examples of poor sportsmanship that I have ever seen, involving a ref and a girlfriend getting shoved…I’ll save this one for another time.

The Ugly…well actually it’s not ugly and has nothing to do with rolling, it’s about organic food!

More so a great organic food store! One more item before I sign off, if you are ever in Boston, or the States for that matter, then check out the grocery store called Whole Foods.  It is an all organic food market that sells fresh organic produce.  The store also sells organic free-range seafood and meats (for all you non vegetarians out there) and has a lovely deli and bakery.  Of course, they also have a wide selection of vegan and gluten free products all at some very competitive prices – so check it out some time, you won’t be disappointed (hopefully someone from the Whole Foods franchise reads this and offers me a sponsorship for this advertisement).

Anyhow, that's all for now thanks for reading, check back sometime next Sunday for my update.

Alex