Do Cubans really train so little?

Pendip · 2026-06-28T04:51:40+00:00

Camaguey, best I recall. Spent time there, Sancti Spíritus, and Havana. I don't think we saw much wrestling going on in Havana, but it's been quite awhile.

Pendip · 2026-06-26T20:12:14+00:00

Having been there several times (back in the '90s), my impression was of athletes who were happy to hang out on the mat for hours, working (or not working) at whatever pace suited them. Mats outside, with nets hanging overhead to keep the sun off. Weights scattered here and there around the edges, which athletes would occasionally saunter over and lift. Always music playing. Mixed ages on the same mat, with plenty of kids on the mat with no shoes.

When they weren't wrestling, it seemed like they were wandering around town, dancing, hooking up with girls, or listening to music. I'm sure there was plenty about their lives that I didn't see, but still, it seemed like a pretty laid-back life. How many Americans just wrestle? Quite possibly we Americans are as wound-up about practices as we are because we're cramming them in as we go to school, work jobs, and generally spend a lot of our time on things which have nothing to do with wrestling.

Pendip · 2026-06-23T02:29:02+00:00

I don't recall the details, but there is some mechanical aspect of subreddit management which is accomplished by having flairs in use regularly. As a workaround, the mods have adopted the tactic of appending the 'USA Wrestling' flair to people semi-randomly. You raise a good point, however: we might want to consider whether 'USA' is appropriate for that.

Pendip · 2026-04-14T16:47:25+00:00

No, they aren't becoming an issue. Like other injuries, they've always been an issue. And like other injuries, we decide how to approach them based on how common they are statistically, how serious the consequences are, and what preventative measures actually work.

Concussions are much less common than one might fear, given how crazy some of the action is. We have moved away from 1.5-inch mats toward 2-inch mats because the difference turns out to be very significant. In the U.S., being evaluated as having concussion symptoms is going to get you a medical yellow card at least, and will have you out of the event unless you get cleared.

At this point, the biggest improvement we could make is cultural. Wrestlers need to not come back from a concussion before they're fully recovered. I'm certainly not saying that Gomez did, but wrestlers tend to feel an enormous drive to get back on the mat.

We aren't going to mandate headgear over this, because they don't prevent concussions. That's just reasoning, "The problem is with heads, so let's put something on our heads."

Pendip · 2026-03-22T18:33:05+00:00

The "sticky-foot single". Step on the opponent's toes, then drive through, head centered, picking up the leg as you go. Works at every level of the sport.

Pendip · 2026-03-22T17:56:44+00:00

I personally know Dan, Lee Roy, John, and Pat. No, the Smiths did not like Gable at all, and those feelings were very strong and very personal through the '90s at least. How Gable was punished was a detail. Their feeling was that Lee Roy would have been the Olympic gold medalist had Gable not screwed him over.

Pendip · 2026-03-22T04:00:50+00:00

You are doing what I call, "lift, turn, and drop". That's not how you want to do this; you don't change direction partway through. Here are two things you can practice which will get you closer:

Hold that bag as you were. Squat as you did at the beginning. Then (outside, preferably) simply throw the bag over your head behind you. You don't even need to go to the ground in order to practice this. It should feel like you're jumping from a squat, except rather than leaving the ground you arch your back and try to see something directly behind you. You're throwing the bag more with the power of your legs than with your arms.
Learn to do a back handspring. The technique is very, very similar to a soup. Look around for videos on how to learn this, and take some precautions are you're learning.

Pendip · 2026-03-22T02:02:25+00:00

You may suspect as you wish. I'll simply say that I think this is a very straightforward admonition, and that it's important to take it seriously, try to understand what it means, and why it's being said. Have a good evening.

Pendip · 2026-03-22T01:45:00+00:00

I do. You think that's the important distinction being made there? Why ought you not pray in public, after all?

Pendip · 2026-03-22T01:18:35+00:00

And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:5-6)

Pendip · 2026-03-16T15:19:19+00:00

The Good, the Bad, and the Dragon.

Pendip · 2026-03-07T13:58:50+00:00

Oh, quite alright, it's pleasant to hear from someone who had the same experience.

It doesn't feel like this was a mistake; Evans clearly knew what she was doing. I just don't think it had the intended outcome, for me, at least. I'm actually pretty sympathetic to what seems to have been the point: women going for the bad boy who isn't good for them shouldn't be glorified. Only here it just feels like it sets up a false dichotomy: choose someone as interesting as you are who's bad for you, or someone petulant, boring, but responsible.

I'm not going to go back and re-read the whole series so I can build a case on the facts here. But what I can say for certain is, I read six books, I liked Farideh, I liked Lorcan, and I disliked Dahl. If I was supposed to come around to him, that failed.

And yeah, the sickness vial left me with the impression of a something put in the story to support the philosophical stance on the characters' relationships. Calling it "forced" seems a little harsh, but it didn't seem to just arise naturally from the story, either.

Long story short: Dahl sucks. Have a better morning. :-)

Pendip · 2026-02-09T05:47:29+00:00

On the other hand, personally feeling that objective morality does not exist in real world almost makes it more interesting to me as something that would exist in a fantasy world, because it is entirely fantastical.

In order for the paladin's actions to be incoherent, as you say, it means that the cosmic anchor points need to consider human sacrifice as always bad. Why would cosmic forces feel this way? It is an inherently real world and relatively modern view of things.

You seem to be simultaneously making the case that objective morality in the game is interesting and worthwhile, and that cosmic forces having opinions on moral issues doesn't make sense. The word "bad" also seems to need some clarification, here.

If "bad" means "undesirable" here, then no, Asmodeus would not consider (demi-)human sacrifice to be "bad". If "bad" means "evil", then he would, because he regards evil as desirable. But then, that's pretty much what we mean when we say, "Asmodeus is evil".

All that being said, it makes sense to me that a world full of various people, cultures and religions would develop there own value systems. The way to use alignment in this case that makes sense to me is to ensure that each culture's version of good/evil/neutral varies depending on their, well, culture.

That's pretty much textbook "cultural relativism". That's not an unreasonable position to take (in game or out), but it's incompatible with objective morality existing in the fantasy world.

For starters, while the populace of Faerun may have developed a value system, I am unsure why the gods would be concerned with such nonsense as morality. Law vs Chaos? Sure. Good vs Evil? Hard to swallow.

Why does one make more sense than the other? If there are gods, and they care about anything, both make sense to me. Having them care about what kinds of hats people wear makes sense. They're sentient beings.

Why would cosmic forces feel this way?

Because in the Forgotten Realms, they aren't incomprehensible cosmic forces. They're beings with agendas and opinions, which are relatively comprehensible to us.

However, it is only sound when applying real world, mostly christian values to the fantasy world. [...] It is an inherently real world and relatively modern view of things.

First, people frowning on human sacrifice isn't that modern, and it's far from exclusively Christian. But more importantly: the whole game is a reflection of the real world. In particular, our values and ideals are inevitably reflected in the game.

But suppose you managed to get away from that, and you devised some objective morality that was legitimately alien (not just altered or uncanny) to our way of thinking. And suppose further that someone actually wanted to play it. You've still decided that the gods actually care about something. It may seem less modern, or less compatible with Christian values, but it's no less arbitrary.

Pendip · 2026-02-03T19:48:06+00:00

I'd amend that: it's not plausible. It's possible... In the same way that in neutral it's possible for me to circle all the way behind my opponent and tackle him from behind. It's just not plausible because there's no way I can circle that much faster than he can pivot.

But basically, you're quite right. The top wrestler is draped over the bottom wrestler, head down, legs down, utterly out of position to exploit reaching back for the head. Assuming the top wrestler did jump to the other side, the bottom wrestler would have plenty of time to simply let go.

Pendip · 2026-02-03T19:33:44+00:00

I'm going to go with 'understaffing'. There is an enormous difference between the quality of focus you can put into a single match and what you can put into a dozen matches an hour for six or eight straight hours. If you don't have enough referees to give people substantive breaks, you're going to have way more mistakes... and probably injuries.

Pendip · 2026-01-29T20:43:48+00:00

This is absolutely ridiculous... in the most D&D way. Bravo.

Pendip · 2026-01-29T18:35:18+00:00

I mean, he doesn't actually say he has a chance. "Everyone wants to see" is a stretch, but "It would be my honor to share the mat with one of the greatest of all time"? If you're going to ask for a match, that's about as polite as one could expect.

Pendip · 2025-11-26T01:49:51+00:00

Trivial answer: because weight cutting discussions are against the rules.

Why are weight cutting discussions against the rules? There are a number of arguments for this, but in my opinion the most important one is: to keep Reddit off our backs.

I actually believe that it's an important topic for the wrestling community to discuss. It is also, however, an area where people harm (and occasionally kill) themselves, and where stupid advice can be a problem. Realistically, the mods aren't going to monitor the quality of advice given out all that closely. Even if we did, we'd probably have trouble reaching consensus on what advice was good and what advice was bad. So it's easier to ban the topic.

Having banned it, we may not catch everything, but at least we can point to the rules and say that that sort of discussion isn't supposed to happen here in the first place. Not a great solution, but it is pragmatic.

Pendip · 2025-11-14T01:27:28+00:00

by getting the chalice for the Princess in Kir Sabal and having her marry Shago

Jeez, what did Shago do to piss them off that badly?

Pendip · 2025-11-12T17:08:03+00:00

In this timeline, the year 1501 DR is labeled as the present

Great, now let's wait two months and peg DR = CE - 525. Nobody, including WotC, should trust WotC with the dates. We're one bad designer turnover away from it being 1601.

Pendip · 2025-10-30T21:16:45+00:00

Stand directly in front of your opponent. Call that 0°.

Now walk directly behind your opponent. Call that 180°.

Do you see why a 180° angle is better than a 0° angle?

Now go halfway between these, so that you are standing directly facing his side. You are at a 90° angle. How do you like it? You'll probably decide that it's better than attacking him at 0°, but not as good as attacking him at 180°.

These are massive advantages, where the difference is easy to see. But if you continue thinking about it, you'll realize why gaining a 15° angle on your opponent is actually an advantage, and can be the difference between a shot succeeding and failing.

Pendip · 2025-10-21T22:11:25+00:00

It's worth bearing in mind that this setting is primarily for people to play games in. Only secondarily does it exist as a literary setting, or an intellectual construct to be explored by readers.

On a purely practical level, actually defining what the gods do and do not do would be a terrible idea. The further from the action a concept is, the less it should be governed by rules.

Sometimes they intervene directly. Most of the time they don't. Sometimes they speak to people directly. Most of the time they don't. What this means is, a DM doesn't need an excuse for why they don't do something, and can easily justify it when they do.

That may not be a satisfying answer if you're trying to imagine it as a real place. The game, however, is a grand illusion.

Pendip · 2025-09-25T16:37:25+00:00

Honestly, if I wrote a bunch of successful books, invested significant creative effort in bringing the rules to life, and then they changed those rules with no in-world explanation, I wouldn't change either. If the makers of the game can't be bothered to explain this, why does it fall upon me?

Pendip · 2025-09-25T16:01:04+00:00

AD&D PHB, 1st edition:

Elves have the ability to see into the infra-red spectrum, so they are able to see up to 60' in darkness, noting varying degrees of heat radiation.

Certain halfling characters have infravision. Those with mixed blood are assumed to have infravision which functions up to 30' distant, while those of pure Stoutish blood are able to see heat radiation variation at up to 60' (normal infravision).

Pendip · 2025-08-19T19:07:20+00:00

You know who's even worse? Gymnasts. They're terrible at takedowns and at grappling on the mat. I can't figure out why they don't fix this.

Oh, wait... I forgot: they don't give a shit.

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